The Trinity Community Presbyterian Church in Detroit (4849 W. Outer Dr.) is having a Blessing of the Bikes event this Sunday, May 22 from 12:15 PM to 12:30 PM. This is after their regular service, which begins at 11 AM.

According to the Church, these are “special Services to fellowship with all bikers and pray for a safe summer for all bike riders.”

Both motorized and non-motorized bikes are welcome — as are roadies, downhillers, and gold-plated fixie riders. Now that’s diversity!

Irregardless of your beliefs, this is a great excuse for ride on Outer Drive this Sunday.

Despite all the depressing news of late swirling around the city of Detroit, one bright spot remains — the Dequindre Cut.

Let’s start with an excerpt from Jeff Gerritt’s Freep blog:

The cut is one more reason to feel good about Detroit’s future, if we can start looking at things differently. The city’s population is less than half of its 1950s peak, and it continues to lose more than 10,000 people a year. But its land mass streets, sewers, lighting and the like are still spread over the same 140 square miles geared to accommodate a city of nearly 2 million. Roughly a third of the city is now vacant. To survive and thrive, Detroit must creatively downsize. The Dequindre Cut Greenway shows us how.

The Cut was also mentioned during last Sunday’s Blessing of the Bikes ceremony at the Spirit of Hope Church in North Corktown. Here too is an excerpt from the Blessing:

Shower your blessing on cyclists across Detroit, from the Riverfront to Belle Isle, from Rouge Park to the Dequindre Cut, from downtown to Eight Mile, across Michigan, and all around the world. Amen!

And finally, Model D Media published an article highlighting the big ten greenway efforts in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck.

So despite all the doom and gloom from GM to Chrysler and now to Old Tiger Stadium, we still can celebrate having one of America’s most unique and beautiful urban trails right here at home.

Link: Grafitti art from the Dequindre Cut

For the first time, the Spirit of Hope is having a Blessing of the Bikes event in Detroit’s North Corktown neighborhood.

The event will be held this Sunday, May 31st during 11 a.m. worship. The church is at the corner of Trumbull, Grand River, and Martin Luther King.

If the weather cooperates, this will be held outside, otherwise we’ll be bringing the bikes inside the church.

This is open to bicycles and motorcyclists.

In fact it was the latter that inspired this event. According to the Reverend Matthew Bode, a member of the church suggested this event last year. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and that member was involved in a motorcycling accident that summer.

Reverend Bode is not sure how many cyclists to expect but is hoping for a big crowd.

As we noted earlier, we think this sort of event puts a much more positive spin on cycling.