BLOG
Tour de Dearborn 8/8/09
Join Detroit Bikes! for one of their monthly rides, this one taking in our friendly neighbor to the west: Dearborn. Tour Times and Location: Tour will start @ 10 a.m. PROMPTLY at the East End of Ford Field (in Dearborn) near Brady Street. This tour is at beginner-level cycling speeds.
This free tour of Dearborn's landmarks will focus on many of the Ford destinations, as well as city heritage sites, and fashionable cultural locations. Take in the fabulous views of Dearborn and its surrounding neighborhoods and districts including these sites: Greenfield Village, West Dearborn, Fairlane Mansion, Dearborn's Ford Field, Dearborn City Hall, East Dearborn, the Ford Rouge Complex, Mediterranean Village, Gelato and more! The end of the tour will be at Ford Field to celebrate the Dearborn Homecoming Festival.
Green Cruise 8/8/09
This Saturday, August 8, join the Sierra Club's Green Cruise. It's a 21-mile ride from Ferndale to Birmingham intended to draw attention to non-motorized transportation -- in the face of serious gas-guzzling taking place concurrently with the annual Dream Cruise on Woodward.
It starts at 8 a.m., but there is also a 5-mile family ride that starts at 9 a.m.
Both rides begin at the Green Alley located just west of Woodward Ave. at W. 9 Mile and Planavon St.
After the ride, there's a bunch more stuff going on: a climbing tower, face painting, massages, skateboard demos and free bike check-ups.
Learn more here.
Complete Streets for MI
What are Complete Streets? They're streets designed with not just automobiles in mind, but bikes, pedestrians and public transport as integral components of their safe usage. A coalition of health and cycling organizations are working to encourage the Michigan Department of Transportation to adopt a formal Complete Streets policy. A petition for which they are currently collecting signatures reads:
The streets of our cities and towns are an important part of the livability of our communities. They ought to be designed for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shopkeeper. It is time that our state's transportation planning agencies - including the Michigan Department of Transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, local road agencies, and local arms of government - Complete Streets policies and build a safer, cleaner, more sustainable transportation system.
This seems particularly apt today after getting yelled at by a DPD officer last night to "Get on the sidewalk!"
Sign the petition here.
3 Chances to Ride on August 1
It is obviously in our own self-interest to remind you that this Saturday, August 1, is our Henry Ford Birthday Tour led by Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance's Todd Scott. (BTW, his blog M-Bike is really, truly a must-read.) It's going to be really interesting and informative, for sure. But there are two other cycling happenings on the same day we'd like to share with you as well.
In the AM, it's the City to City Kick-Off Ride! Join Kevin and Emily as they head off to Chicago, raising money for Cystic Fibrosis. Join them at Campus Martius and ride them out of town!
From Chicago, Emily will head to Denver. Read this:
Rocking cystic fibrosis so hard that CF will one day stand for "Cure Found" is Emily Schaller's mission in life. In September, 2009, Emily will take her mission on the road. Heading west from Detroit, Emily will ride her bike on a month-long Emily to Ellen for Cystic Fibrosis campaign with the hopes of ending up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Ellen DeGeneres is Emily's hero and being on The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been her dream for years. "Her show is the perfect vehicle to deliver my story," says Emily, founder of the Rock CF Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to finding a cure for CF. "I want to educate as many people as I can about cystic fibrosis and emphasize how the never ending fight of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has made it possible for me to live my life to the fullest."
Emily will ride her bike 1,400 miles from Detroit, MI to Denver, CO. The first 300 miles from Detroit to Chicago will be part of her Rock CF Foundation's City to City Ride with six other riders. From Chicago, she will head west to Denver. Because Emily and her CF doctor decided that riding through the desert is not a great idea, her modes of transportation from Denver to Burbank, California will be adventuresome. A canoe trip down the Colorado river? A donkey ride through the Grand Canyon? A moped along Route 66?
Swallowing forty pills a day, taking breathing treatments and undergoing chest physical therapy are all part of her daily routine. And because her body can't absorb nutrients normally, she expects her daily intake of 3,000 calories to almost double on the ride. Exercise has improved Emily's lung function and has allowed her to complete two half marathons in one year. Riding across the country, she hopes to shine a light on what the future holds for the cure of cystic fibrosis.
Emily, you rock!
Read more about City to City and register for the send-off ride here.
Then, in the afternoon, you can hit up The Hub's Safe Streets Youth Ride Fundraiser. It's a 2:30 p.m. start time, and you'll be riding with graduates of The Hub's Earn-A-Bike program. The ride ends at the U-M Detroit Center for refreshments and snacks. Register online at http://safestreetsyouthride.eventbrite.com/.
Bike Snobbery Gets Its Day in the Sun
BikeSnobNYC got some props in today's NYT. If you aren't familiar with his harsh and funny blog, do yourself a favor. Snob dishes out snark on all of cycling's absurdity, particularly when it comes to marketing and gross consumerism. Good stuff.
On that same note, Outside Magazine recently published a hilarious -- and apt -- article lamenting the death of the Angry Bike Mechanic. An excerpt:
The humiliations go like this. You walk into a bike shop with a crisis: a brake pad that's rubbing. A greasy-fingered mechanic with a chainring tat and a Cinelli cycling cap takes a quick look and says something about a barrel adjuster. You ask, "What's a barrel adjuster?" He glares at you—and then at your carbon-fiber ride—as if you've just ordered a Shirley Temple in a dive bar.
You feel invisible. You fork over the bike and your credit card and skulk out, worried that the laughter coming from the back room is about you. Of course it's about you.
Read the entire article here.
We can relate. Of course we try to be nice to every single customer...but sometimes it's hard. For example, people that demand instant service. Which is unheard of. Sometimes if Ron is all caught up, he can do a flat or a simple adjustment while someone waits, but it gets to the point where we don't even want to do that lest people begin to expect it. We have to be firm and say, "Sorry, you are just going to have to drop your bike off!" We work our tails off to get bikes back the same day or next day. And that is really fast. But some people are always going to want more..and the inner snob comes out! <end rant>
Corktown Music Fest
This afternoon and into the evening, Wheelhouse will be offering free bike parking at the Corktown Music Festival, located in Roosevelt Park. The lineup includes Mike Clark, Greg Mudge, an Enemy Squad reunion and Terrence Parker. The fest runs 3 to 11 p.m. See you there!
Scraper Bikes!
One of the Bicycle Film Festival shorts was about the scraper bike movement in Oakland, CA. It started off with a video for the scraper bike song, which pretty much has been stuck in our heads for the last few days. Have a watch and listen...
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geIsWq5xOSE]
(Karen wants a Bits O' Honey bike real bad.)
Weekend Recap
Wow! What a wonderful weekend for cycling in Detroit. The Bicycle Film Festival was well-attended and fantastic, we had a blast dancing at the Park Bar at the after-party on Friday, the Alley Cat was good times and we spent all day Sunday biking and beaching Belle Isle.
It might have been cloudy, but it was still lovely.
BFF Alley Cat!
Saturday, July 18, 3:30, Hart Plaza. Be there or be L7! Read more about Bike Film Festival Detroit here.
CityFest Parking Report
