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Cultural Diversity Council Bike Ride 8/22/09
Another Saturday, another chance to bike Detroit! Join the Cultural Diversity Council on Saturday, August 22 for a ride around the city. They'll pick up riders at the Towers Residential Suites entrance at 3:00 p.m. and at University Towers at 3:30 p.m. After the ride, food and drinks at Cass Cafe, around 6:30 p.m.
Contact the CDC at CDC@wayne.edu.
Beevis & Butthead
...er, Deminski & Doyle, two radio shock jocks made some stupid comments last week on-air about throwing things at cyclists. Unfortunately they've incited that lovely contingent of bike-haters that already like to yell and honk at cyclists. Several cycling organizations have contacted the radio station and its owner, Greater Media Inc., to talk about the hateful language the disc jockeys have used but have not yet elicited a satisfactory response. The League of Michigan Bicyclists have started a petition to demonstrate to the owners and their advertisers that cyclists exist, are sane and have the same rights and, lest we forget, responsibilities as motorists.
Read more and sign the letter here.
Tackle the Dream Cruise by Bike
This weekend is the Annual Dream Cruise, not really our cup of tea! But there are two group rides this Saturday, August 15, that will give you the chance to pedal Woodward. Detroit Bikes! is hosting its inaugural Pedal Woodward Dream Cruise. It leaves from Rivard Plaza (Wheelhouse's home turf) at 9:00 a.m. and will return at 1:00 p.m.
There is also a Critical Mass ride, Crash the Cruise, that will take off from the Ferndale Public Library at 2:30 p.m. Costumes and noisemakers optional!
It's more fun than it looks!
Karen & Kelli are big about talking the FUN aspect of cycling. It's not all about calories and cadence, spandex and Slipstream. Biking is good for you and for the environment but, as far as we are concerned, it's a really good time. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful attorney, Steve Roach, who is with Miller Canfield and is also the Region 1 Rep for the League of Michigan Bicyclists. He is a great guy (with an exceedingly dry sense of humor and a penchant for spandex) who we love. He is a regular Grosse Pointe-to-Downtown bike commuter, and GrossePointeToday.com interviewed him and shot a video of him commuting.
Excerpt:
Motorists may pity the cyclists they pass, especially when it's clear the folks on the bike are not on their way to pick up ice cream. Those who choose to commute by bicycle may strike drivers as masochists, weird fitness freaks or possibly suicidal.
It probably never occurs to the people behind the wheel that the people straddling the wheels are having a good time.
A really good time: "If you get any sort of aerobic exercise, you get enough endorphins you get like a buzz," said Steven Roach, two-wheeled commuter.
Check out the full story here and, in the accompanying video, watch him talk about his helmet and components before getting down to the good stuff: riding!
Women's Night at the Hub 8/11/09
The first Women's Night at the Hub is set for August 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. It's a bike repair workshop for women and trans only.
The Hub is at 3611 Cass, just north of MLK.
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/.
