The eleven annual Tour de Troit is scheduled for September 15th this year. If you haven’t registered — unlike the thousand that already have — you’ll want to do so today. The price goes up $10 after today.

And you can only register for the shorter ride. The Metric Century filled up weeks ago.

Congratulations to the Tour de Troit team for bringing in such a great field of sponsors. This sponsorship means more entry fee can go towards building greenways in Detroit.

We’re also appreciative seeing the WM graphic on the list. That’s a memorial to Woody Miller, a Detroit cyclist and coach that helped lead the Metric and left a positive imprint on many youth cyclists. He passed away a couple years ago and certainly would be excited and proud to see where this event and the entire Detroit cycling scene is today.

This is the fourth week for a youth earn-a-bike program in the Osborn community, more specifically at E. Outer Drive and Van Dyke Avenue. Once again, Mode Shift has covered this program quite comprehensively in this article.

Basically, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy directed a $12,500 grant to the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) to run a youth earn-a-bike program that also did community service. This DECC program was 2 two-week sessions for kids 10-14. Thirty used bikes, parts, and tools were purchased through The Hub of Detroit. The youth learned how to repair a bike – which they kept – and did work in the community along with group rides. They also got helmets, bike locks, and bike lights.

Why Osborn? There have been earn-a-bikes in various parts of Detroit, but not in Osborn despite it having a high concentration of youth. And, the Milbank Greenway is located here along with a new segment of the Conner Creek Greenway, which is being constructed this year.

Also, this area was the focus of a series of Free Press articles on Safe Routes to School. For some, being able to bike to school might be a safer, quicker alternative to walking and the DDOT buses. A related note, The Hub of Detroit did a survey of students at the School of Performing Arts in Detroit. Not having a bike was the second most common reason for not riding to school. (Number one was the fear of bike theft and bullying.)

Part of the community service involves a pop-up bike shop where the youth and instructors will do free minor repairs on bikes. The shop be on the Milbank Greenway at Van Dyke (just north of E. Outer Drive) this Thursday, August 16th from 10am until noon.

What happens next? DECC has tools and workstands to keep this program running on Detroit’s east side. More funding would be needed for the bikes, parts, and instructors. Stay tuned.

Zak Pashak and his new Detroit Bikes company has been getting some well-deserved media coverage of late.

On Monday, the Windsor Star published this article:

After two years, Pashak and his current stable of 10 employees have settled on a prototype.

Detroit Bikes will make one model, a commuter bicycle with three speeds and a coaster back brake, that only comes in black. It has a curved top tube to give it an ‘old school’ look and will sell for around $500.

Pashak plans to have bikes available by spring 2013 and hopes to eventually produce 100 a day.

He will start selling bikes in Detroit, with plans to quickly spread out. He’s also eyeing Windsor and other Canadian cities.

Just black? That reminds us of the quote from Henry Ford’s autobiography, “Any customer can have a [Model T] painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

Creating Jobs

Detroit Bike’s 10 employees is significant. Given the high unemployment in the city, the question of whether something creates jobs is often asked. As a part of Detroit’s burgeoning bicycle culture, this is something advocates can point to.

No, this isn’t a huge number of jobs compared with Detroit’s auto industry, but it’s better the jobs are here rather than other cities or countries.

New Live, Work, Play bike racks on Detroit’s Broadway

And, these ten jobs are not the thousands that Dan Gilbert and friends are bringing to Downtown. However, those jobs are also related to Detroit’s bicycle culture.

Young adults want to live in urban environments with transportation options. They’re willing to embrace biking as transportation rather than something that just happens at a Metropark. According to one study, Gen Y was taking 24% more bike trips as of 2009.

This is not a subtle trend. It’s an “automakers beware” trend according to the Detroit Free Press.

More than 30% of American 19-year-olds in 2010 (30.5% to be precise) did not have a driver’s license, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

That’s the highest percentage ever, and a sharp increase from the 24.5% in 2008 and only 12.7% in 1983, based on data from the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau. The unlicensed population is almost certainly larger today.

“Detroit has become a magnet for ambitious young people” and many?Metro Detroit employers have taken note and moved to the city. Some are starting to contribute to Detroit’s bike infrastructure and planning.

It certainly will be interesting to see the results all these trends produce over the next couple year.

The Huffington Post also covered Pashak and Detroit Bikes.

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.

On-line registration is available through EventBrite.

Detroit River ferry service was back in the news last week – the Windsor news that is.

This CBC video and article provide a good background on where we stand with ferry service, including its potential to help bicycle tourism.

Gord Orr with Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island said the idea holds great promise.

“The potential of the bicycle tourism part of it is very exciting as we start to look at more trails and routes and see how we can increase more of that healthy lifestyle,” Orr said.

We agree. We need to connect the Detroit RiverWalk and Windsor River trail, as well as provide a crossing for the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and future U.S. Bicycle Routes.

The CBC ran a similar article that spoke with MP Brian Masse of the Canadian Parliament.

“To me, this would be an exciting opportunity to put pedestrians and cyclists back and forth along the water,” Masse said. “Detroit has a marvellous waterfront now. They’ve worked hard on it and need to be commended for it. Ours, of course, is really nice and has been remodelled recently. This could be an exciting time to share both of our cultures again.”

The Windsor Star also chimed in with an article that also quoted Orr.

“I think that allowing passenger travel on ferry and bicycles included would also help the interest in cycle tourism. We have a number of trails to be enjoyed by cycle tourists and obviously this would eliminate the hassle of parking, crossing an international border at the tunnel or the bridge.”

It sounds like we’ve got the message out about the importance of this crossing, at least on the Canadian side.

What about the new bridge?

Progress continues to be made on a new Detroit/Windsor bridge – the NITC.

As mentioned earlier, the plans call for a bicycle/pedestrian path on one side of the bridge. We spoke with State Representative Rashida Talib. She said that if it’s in there, it’s unlikely MDOT can renege.

On the Windsor side, bicycle advocates are now making sure Canadian Customs is prepared to handle bike and pedestrian traffic. They also want to ensure their new greenways connect with the bridge. MTGA submitted comments to U.S. and Canadian officials asking that greenways are connected to the bridge.

Do cyclists need a bridge and ferry service? We think so. The bridge would be a 24/7 option, but it comes with a steep price – a steep climb. It’s also located a short distance away from the riverfront trails and downtowns. Ferry service would be more centrally located and you’d only have to climb on board a boat. However, ferry service might not be available year round. The bridge would also provide some amazing views.

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Bridge path a greenway?

Also, one suggestion is to create a name for this trail connecting Detroit and Windsor. Something like the International Freedom Trail sounds much better than just calling it the bike path on the bridge. Who could be against a trail with a name like that?

Or can you think of a better name?