Below is a recent press release from the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.  I am quite thrilled to be in this new position and look forward to helping implement trails within the City of Detroit.

New Detroit Greenways Coordinator: A Boost to City Trails

Detroit’s greenways, existing and in the works, will get a boost with a new greenways coordinator set to begin today.   A lead grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan for $20,000 was awarded to Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MTGA) to provide the mechanism for coordination and collaboration among eight individual non-profit groups with greenways in various stages of implementation within the City of Detroit.

MTGA has contracted with Todd Scott from Royal Oak to serve in the position.  Todd was formerly Executive Director of Michigan Mountain Biking Association and has held numerous advisory positions related to trails and on-road bicycling, including the Citizen’s Committee for Michigan State Parks, Oakland Trails Advisory Council, MDOT Metro Region Nonmotorized Advisory Committee, City of Ferndale Bicycle Committee, and the League of Michigan Bicyclists.  “Todd’s skilled advocacy, wealth of knowledge about nonmotorized transportation and recreation, and understanding of and enthusiasm for the revitalization of Detroit are key ingredients that he brings to this project,” stated Nancy Krupiarz, Executive Director of MTGA.  Todd has spent a great deal of time in the City, as a recreational participant and an advocate, and he is passionate about the economic, health, and transportation benefits that an interconnected greenway system will bring to the area.” Read the rest of this entry »

American Cycle and Fitness is expanding on their 2007 Ride to Work Day this May 14th. Rather than just one ride, they’ll have three. You can register for free and one rider will win a Trek 7100 commuter bike.

The ride from Walled Lake will include LIla Lazarus from Fox 2.

From their web site, the three rides on May 14th are::

• Walled Lake American Cycle & Fitness to Fox 2 News. The route will takes us past Southfield Town Center for those who work there or nearby and end at Fox 2 News on 9 Mile in Southfield . Leave at 6:30am.
• Royal Oak American Cycle & Fitness to Campus Martius. The route will take us straight down Woodward. Leave at 6:30am.
• Grosse Pointe American Cycle & Fitness to Campus Martius. The route will take us down Mack Avenue in. Leave at 6:30am.

Note that these rides are weather permitting, so keep watching the American Cycle and Fitness web site for updates. There will be rides back to the stores at the end of the day.

There is no better time to start riding your bike to work and elsewhere with today’s high gas prices and great weather.

To help answer any questions you might have, consider attending REI’s free upcoming Bike Commuting workshop on May 14th at 7pm at their Troy Store. Here’s their plug:

Save thousands of dollars per year, improve your physical and mental well-being, and never get stuck in traffic.

These are all benefits we have realized by commuting to work by bike. Would you like to ride your bike to work? Do you think there are too many impediments to make this a reality? Join our year-round bike commuters at this free clinic designed to help you eliminate the reasons for driving a car to work. Richard Knakal and James Kimball have been navigating the suburban jungle of roadways to commute by bike to work for over 40 years combined. With experiences derived from commuting in Metro Detroit, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington they have the expertise to provide you with information you need to make your bike commute both successful and enjoyable.

Don’t forget that Detroit Synergy’s Bike to Work days are coming up at the end of May.

• May 16th – Royal Oak – via Woodward
• May 23rd – Dearborn – via Michigan
• May 30th – Grosse Pointe – via Kercheval/E. Jefferson

Unlike car dealerships, most bike shops don’t take in used bikes towards a new one.

Those with nice bikes in good working condition often sell them at swap meets, in on-line classified ads, or on eBay. For older, used bikes, you’re usually better off donating it to a friend or a group.

Back Alley Bikes

There are at least a couple good groups looking for bikes in the Metro Detroit area. The first is Back Alley Bikes. They offer programs where kids can refurbish a used bike by themselves then get to keep it. They also offer bicycle repair training for adults.

If you have a kids bike or anything with fat tires, this is a great place to donate it. They are also looking for bicycle parts, too.

Back Alley Bikes is located on Cass at Martin Luther King. The entrance is from the alley behind the building. Just look for the painted sign.

Re-CYCLE for Kids

The Oakland County Sheriff’s office has developed a program as noted in this Detroit Free Press article, Bike recycling gets a push in Wixom:

[Lighting Supply Co.’s Wixom store] is a drop-off location for the Oakland County Sheriff Office’s bike rehabilitation program, Sheriff’s Re-CYCLE for Kids. The program takes in bikes from donors and then has low-level offenders at Trusty Camp, a correctional facility, fix them up. The bikes then go to needy children.

Lighting Supply is the only private business in all of Oakland County that has volunteered to be a drop-off site for the 2-year-old program, according to the sheriff’s office. For volunteering to be a drop-off site, the company received a community award from the City of Wixom in late February.

The Lighting Supply Company has stores in Ferndale and Wixom.

Yesterday was the public announcement regarding DTOGS, the Detroit Transit Options for Growth Study.

We had concerns about the study’s proposed Woodward renderings. They appeared to remove the wide curb lane that makes Woodward more bike friendly. On other streets they removed the traffic lanes altogether.

On a positive note, they did have bike racks at the light rail stations.

During Monday’s announcement we learned that the light rail trains would allow bike roll-ons. This is a major benefit. It means cyclists could bring their bikes right on the train without the hassle of external racks like those currently on SMART buses. It also eliminates the two-bike limit those SMART racks currently face.

We also spoke with the planners afterwards to discuss wide curb lanes and in some cases bike lanes depending on the available road right-of-way constraints. Fortunately the planners are from Minneapolis and are familiar with light rail/cycling issues.

For further reading, the DTOGS announcement was covered by the Detroit News and Free Press.