The number of group bike rides in the city of Detroit is rapidly increasing. Here are six interesting rides on tap for this month.

Bike the Bridge on June 13th

Registration is already closed for this event due to the customs requirements. That’s to be expected on an international bike ride. With nearly 300 registrants, this should be a huge success!

Claytown Neighborhood Tour on June 16th

Bridging Communities and the Detroit Collaborative Design Center are having an open house from 4pm until 7pm at their offices at 6900 McGraw. The open house is to review the recently developed Green Links for the Claytown Neighborhood non-motorized plan. Yes, more bike lanes and routes, but this time in the neighborhoods west of North Corktown and Woodbridge. They will provide light refreshments and a bicycle tour starting at 7pm.

Collin Hubbell Ride on June 18th

This ride is a fundraiser for the Hubbell Fund which provides grants in Midtown.

Many of you knew Colin Hubbell, a dedicated Detroiter, midtown developer and community advocate! Colin passed away in 2008 after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer. We created the Hubbell Fund to carry on his passion for Detroit.

The Hubbell Fund provides small businesses, entrepreneurs and community groups with grants in an effort to revitalize Detroit’s Midtown community.

You can register at www.bikedetroit.eventbrite.com. More information is available on the Midtown Detroit web site.

Critical Mass on June 24th

Rainy weather dampened the turnout for May’s ride, which still attracted a few hundred bicyclists. Watch the Facebook page for more details.

Conner Creek/Lakeshore Drive Ride on June 25th

This 36 mile ride begins at 9am and is hosted by the Sierra Club. This may be a nice opportunity to check out the new additions to the Conner Creek Greenway on Detroit’s Eastside.

Slow Ride to Slow James

This ride occurs every Monday at 8pm and leaves from the Woodbridge Pub on Trumbull just west of Wayne State. It’s led by the Bikes and Murder crew, but don’t let that put you off.

From their web site:

No course is set and all skill levels are invited. The ride ends with the smooth sounds of Erno the Inferno and EastSide Jon – plus many special guests. We’ll be doing this every Monday till it gets too cold and maybe after that.

The also host the Bikes and Movie night on June 21st at Peck Park, which is just east of CCS.

The group Bikes and Murder is presenting a free showing of the movie We Are Traffic which “chronicles the history and development of the Critical Mass bicycle movement – one of the most spirited and dynamic social/political movements of the apathetic 90s.”

The movie is showing tonight, Saturday April 2nd at 7pm in the Boll Family YMCA in Downtown Detroit, 1401 Broadway.

We will be forwarding this information to Rob Morosi, a spokesperson for MDOT.

In a recent Metromode article about an MDOT road project in Rochester Hill, Morosi gave the following quotes:

“When we’re developing a Complete Street project we’re required to meet with the local community to take into account non-motorized uses and facilities. The idea is to make it a more walkable community,” says MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi.

“Even before the Complete Street legislation we would meet with local communities to see if there’s something we can include that the local community has always wanted but has been prohibited to do because of the way the road is constructed,” he says.

This M-59-Crooks project is “a great example of what we’re doing to address that,” he says. “So now people riding their bikes or walking won’t be in conflict with traffic…People can ride, their bikes, Rollerblade, walk safely.”

First, from what we’ve learned, this project is not a Complete Street. MDOT is simply adding sidewalks. In fact, the bridge itself will be less bikeable when this project is completed because it will no longer have a wide curb lane. It will not have bike lanes.

Second, we aren’t in “conflict with traffic.” We are traffic.

With the weather taking a turn towards colder temperatures, it’s a great time to pull on a Halloween costume and bike with others.

There are two rides this weekend in Detroit.

Friday is the Critical Mass ride — this month called the Detroit Critical Massquerade. As usual, the ride leaves from Trumbull and Warren at around 7pm.

Saturday at 2pm is the Devils Night Alley Rat Costumed Bike Race. That ride meets outside The United Specialty Produce Door at 1501 Division near Riopelle in Eastern Market.

According to the flyer, there are “Trophies for Podium, DFL” and “Awards for Best/Worst Costume.”

Just catching up on some Detroit biking stories in the news on World Car Free Day…

Critical Mass Detroit

Last month, Real Detroit Weekly had some coverage on Detroit’s Critical Mass ride.

Biking in from the suburbs may not be an easy task, but once you make it down to Detroit you realize how friendly the city can be on two wheels. Every last Friday of the month, an ever-growing group of bikers take back the streets for a little ride called Critical Mass.

This first paragraph highlights one major point. Detroit’s Critical Mass ride is fun and is becoming hugely popular — but it’s not about taking back the streets. Detroit bicyclists already have it quite good on the streets.

If this Critical Mass were about making a statement for cyclists rights, it would be in the suburbs during rush hour. It would be in Rochester Hills, Canton, and Sterling Heights.

The ride is more like a mini-Tour de Troit without the food and T-shirt — and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Conner Creek Greenway Update

Model D has a brief greenway construction update from Detroit’s east side.

The Riverfront Terminus of the Conner Creek Greenway is currently being built. This segment follows Clairpointe from Jefferson south to Maheras Gentry Park and includes bike lanes and landscaping along Clairpointe and a new trail and landscaping on the west side of the park. Construction is slated to be complete by end of October.

This summer, another segment of the greenway, one mile of bike lanes along St. Jean between Jefferson and Mack, was completed. The next stretch will run alongside Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Conner. The entire trail system is slated to be complete in 2013.

Motor City Road Diets

The Free Press has been publishing excerpts from John Gallagher’s new book, Reimagining Detroit. Gallagher discusses road diets and how they can lead to more bike lanes and improved pedestrian safety.

We almost never focus on the wide-open spaces of our main streets. Making Woodward, Jefferson, Gratiot, and the other spoke streets nine lanes wide (three lanes for traffic in each direction, one in the middle for turning, and a lane along either curb for parking) may have made sense in the 1950s when the city boasted a population near two million people.

But with Detroit’s population less than half its 1950s-era peak, these main streets now are absurdly overbuilt for the amount of traffic they carry.

Pedestrians, particularly seniors or parents with children in tow, find it all but impossible to cross one of these nine-line gulfs before the light changes. By narrowing the streets from three traffic lanes in each direction to two — by putting many of Detroit’s streets on a road diet — the city could make it easier for pedestrians to cross.

Since the 1950’s, Detroit’s urban freeway network also pulled many cars off these main roads as well, hence the great biking conditions.

Biking: a central theme

The Hamilton Spectator reported on this year’s Ontario Bike Summit. Jeff Olson from Alta Planning gave a little plug for Detroit.

A biking ‘guru’ who helped transform Portland into a cycling oasis has offered his expertise to Hamilton, a city he believes has “progressive potential.”

Jeff Olson, partner at Alta Planning and Design and a speaker at yesterday’s Ontario Bike Summit 2010 in Burlington, said a number of U.S. cities are using bicycles as a central theme in their shift from manufacturing hubs to modern urban centres. Included in that list are Buffalo, Dayton, Detroit and Cleveland.

Olson did some consulting on Detroit greenways last year and was truly awestruck by the biking potential.

The August 2010 Critical Mass Ride in Detroit had nearly 500 riders

Without a doubt, this weekend has more Detroit riding opportunities than any other.

Friday’s rides

• 7 PM: Critical Mass ride from the corner of Warren and Trumbull near the Wayne State University campus.
• 9 PM: University of Detroit-Mercy Midnight Bike Ride. Registration begins at 8:00pm in Kassab Mall at the McNichols campus at the Livernois entrance.

Saturday’s rides

• 6 AM: Beat the Train ride. The group rolls out at 6:30 AM from historic Fort Wayne on the Detroit River.
• 9 AM: Tour de Troit Metric Century
• 10 AM: Tour de Troit. Over 2,700 cyclists have registered as of yesterday. Registration closes tomorrow, so sign up now so you don’t miss out.