Saturday, August 11th is the Colin Hubbell Ride in Midtown.
This is a great ride that raises funds for causes that were important to Colin, which of course included cycling. And if riding is not a good enough motivator, consider the great food at the finish from the Traffic Jam and Snug.
There is a 22 mile and an 8 mile option — or you can just make a donation.
Participation in bike rides within the city of Detroit continues to skyrocket.
Bike the Bridge had 180 riders last year and over 300 riders this year.
Colin Hubbell ride more than doubled last year’s numbers with over 200 cyclists.
The Tour de Troit started with a few dozen riders is now having to close registration with over 3,200 riders last year.
And if the weather holds out, this Friday’s Critical Mass ride could be the largest yet with nearly 700 people attending or maybe attending on the Facebook page.
Like most U.S. cities, there is no reliable data on how much people are bicycling, but these rapidly climbing participation rates show Detroit’s heading in the right direction.
A Christopher Tremblay of Canton, Michigan recently wrote in to the Detroit News with his recent experience.
When I just returned from a 33-mile bike ride throughout downtown Detroit — it was the Bike the Bridge event that linked us to our Canadian neighbors, I was reminded how great Detroit is. We saw some incredible sites of the city and learned about some historical locations, which made me an even prouder native Detroiter. Events like Bike the Bridge and the fall Tour de Troit remind us of how bike-friendly Detroit is and how it is becoming even more receptive to cyclists. To everyone who is advancing the bike trails and mission, thank you!
Colin Hubbell Ride
And speaking of last Saturday’s ride, the South End has written a real good article about it.
“This event had two purposes,” [Trish] Hubbell said. “First, to give the riders a glimpse of Detroit — because being on a bike is a much different experience than being in a car — and second, to promote Midtown and support small businesses and entrepreneurship. In Midtown, everybody comes together to help one another and we want to keep that spirit going.”
“These routes give people a flavor of the good, the bad and the ugly of Detroit,” Trish Hubbell said, “but mostly the good, aiming to take the scaryness out of the city and change how people view it.”
Fortunately I had the opportunity to ride with Trish she shared a great number of stories about Colin and his love for bicycling as transportation.
One has to imagine that he’d be quite thrilled to see more and more people on a bike in Detroit.
The 2nd Annual Colin Hubbell Memorial Bike Ride takes place this Saturday, June 19th. It starts at 10 AM at Traffic Jam on Canfield at Second Avenue in Detroit’s Midtown area.
Ride organizer Brian Hubbell notes, “It’s a leisurely jaunt (about 13 miles) through Midtown, Wayne, Woodbridge, Riverfront (a Wheelhouse stop), Dequindre Cut, and then back through the Market and Med Center. Food and beverages (Yes, beer!) afterwards at the Traffic Jam.”
This is a fundraiser which in the past has benefited the Hub of Detroit and paid for new bike racks in Midtown.
There are additional details on the Detroit Midtown web site and you can register for the event on-line as well.
Hendrickson Video has an inspirational video about Colin and his huge contribution to Detroit’s reinvention.
There are also a couple photos of Colin (wearing a “Got Love” T-shirt) at a July 2004 Detroit Synergy coffee talk that discussed the future of biking in Detroit.