Good evening all!
A fairly simple one for you - I’m looking to join a fast group ride / chain gang that rides from/near Manchester City Centre.
I’ve got a decent amount of group riding experience, but I moved to the city late last year (from Devon) & haven’t joined up with a group up here yet.
I’m happy to ride out to meet a group & I’m aware that Rapha run one, but as a MSc student, I can’t really justify the yearly membership fee at the moment.
Any help would be hugely appreciated!!
I ride with Chorlton Velo who ride from Didsbury in South Manchester. There’s a few guys who come out from the centre, it’s not too far. We don’t run any chaingangs at the moment but the fast rides can be very fast 
Friendly bunch and I would recommend. You can find them on British Cycling - we ask that people do an introductory Saturday ride before joining the other rides. Organised rides are Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday and split into Social, Intermediate and Fast - the Fast group has quite a few guys who race and are very quick.
I am not very familiar with groups in the city centre, I would have guessed Manchester Wheelers but I don’t see them around much these days.
The Rapha lot are a lovely bunch and I’m sure they’d be happy for you to join a few without membership to welcome you to the area.
Team Chronomaster used to do fast group rides from Bolton but I’m not sure what’s involved there.
As mentioned above, Chorlton Velo seem to be a great bunch.
Welcome to Manchester anyway! I’m based in Urmston, so let me know if you want any route pointers 
Tagging on to the thread, I’m based in North Manchester (Prestwich) if anybody has suggestions for up here as well, would be appreciated.
I don’t ride with them because they are not my local club but I would also recommend Chorlton Velo based on anecdotal evidence.
Not sure what has happened to Manchester Wheelers but it seems they don’t do as many group rides anymore and I know a few people who have switched from them to Chorlton Velo.
Thanks for all of the replies chaps - I’ll try to link up with Chorlton Velo in the next couple of weeks; I’ll contact them via the email on the BC website first to let them know.
Yeah the email on the BC website is the way to go. See you out there 
I was just thinking, I know there’s a Tuesday chaingang that goes from Alderley Edge but I can’t immediately find who runs it. Thought it might be Cheshire Maverick, but I don’t see it on their website.
I’m from Prestwich and I ride for East Lancs. We started with a chaingang on Weds from Rochdale/Littleborough at 7pm.
A bit more local to you could be Bury Clarion or even Rossendale RC - you could contact them to see what they’ve got on offer
That’s not far from me, where abouts do you meet and where do you head out to?
Are you thinking of the Will’s Wheels one? Not 100% its back after covid…
We meet in Littleborough centre near the memorial and usually head towards JJ’s (Burnley) and back. That’s an hour long loop.
We also plan on longer loops to Sowerby Bridge and back via Ripponden and Blackstone edge.
You’re welcome to come and have a go with us
Yeah, could be. They’ve changed their name now, SKCC. It used to be quite a big ride I think.
I’m an SK postcode myself but ride with CV because I joined when I lived in Didsbury so I know a lot of the guys.
CV weekend rides tend to be very hills focused. We do a chaingang on the fast group Wednesday rides occasionally but they’re normally just fast group rides.
That’s so cool, one day soon I’ll be fast enough to join rides like that
@bobmcstuff I’ve emailed Chorlton Velo this afternoon with a view to joining the social ride this Saturday before linking up with the Wednesday group (as per the club guidelines on the BC website) - weekends are a bit of a tricky one for me, so hopefully I can get involved in the midweek rides asap!
Thanks for the help & I hope to see you out there soon!
I think if you explain that you struggle to make weekends and give a bit of riding history, they may sort something. I’m not responsible so I couldn’t say for sure - but I do know the guys you’d be dealing with and they are good guys so I expect they would want to help.
There is a scheduled social ride on Weds (although the Intermediate ones are much more popular at the moment), so possibly they could arrange something there.
I also know we did have a backlog of new riders as we obviously couldn’t do the introductory rides over lockdown, so that may affect things unless it’s been worked through. Seems to be more people on the club whatsapp every day!