Yesterday, The Hub of Detroit led a group ride around the city of Detroit as part of the U.S. Social Forums. Starting at bike tent city on Woodward and Temple, the ride went past the Joe Louis fist, the RiverWalk, Dequindre Cut, Eastern Market, and more.

About 50 people participated. Many of them had ridden to Detroit. Everyone was super friendly, including the many motorists who yielded to the parade of pedalers.

Allison Mannos, an Urban Programs Coordinator at Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition was in the group. Allison gave an excellent presentation on diversity at the National Bike Summit earlier this year. She gave us big kudos for the Dequindre Cut.

The U.S. Social Forum is coming to Detroit and begins on Tuesday, June 22nd.

The BikeIt group has helped organize and encourage people from across the U.S to ride their bicycles to Detroit.

Imagine 5,000 bicyclists riding into Detroit, the Motor City, to help bring about a different world. We see thousands of cyclists coming from every direction converging on the United States Social Forum next June, voting with their legs for a greener, cooler, fairer society. We’re taking that ride, and we invite you to join us.

Many of the cyclists will be staying at the bike tent city at Woodward and Temple.

Also, the Hub of Detroit is organizing a ride for Tuesday, June 22nd. Cyclists should begin gathering near the tent city and the 16 mile bike tour around Detroit will begin at 1pm. Experienced local cyclists are needed to assist in the guiding the group. It’s expected to be 2 hour ride that will join up the the U.S. Social Forum Grand March at 3pm.

The U.S. Social Forum is also really pushing bicycles as transportation. Their program strongly promotes biking in Detroit and will leave a positive impact upon it’s completion:

One way Another World is Possible is through our commitment to bike more – using less gas, putting less pollution in the air, and improving our physical health as a movement! Detroit is a fairly flat city, therefore it’s easy to get around. If you brought your own bike, this is the best way around town. We have bike racks for parking at Cobo Hall, Youth Bike Village (Woodward and Warren), the People’s Village and Hart Plaza.

Limited bike rentals are available for the duration of the forum for $15-$60 sliding scale at King Solomon Church (6100 14th Street). Pickup is on Tuesday June 22, from 10am until 2pm.

We are grateful to Bikeit.org, The Hub and everyone who contributed bikes to Detroit for use during the Forum and as a long-term contribution to the community. Bicycles and funds will be used to improve the community bicycle infrastructure in Detroit during and following the Social Forum. Bicycle donations are still accepted, and greatly appreciated!

There are also some bike-related workshops at the social forum, including the following:

• La Bici Digna/A Bike Worth Living For: Community Bike Co-ops as a Resource for Community Empowerment & Innovation
  June 24th from 10AM to Noon
  This is organized by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, who was quite impressive at this year’s National Bike Summit when presenting on building diversity in the bicycling culture.
• BikeIt: Pedal to the USSF – Testimonials & exploration of the Bicycle as a Tool for Social & Environmental Justice
  June 25th from 10AM until Noon
• Organize, Build & Dream on 2 Wheels – Social Justice Bike Touring
  June 25th from 10AM until Noon

There are some Urban Agriculture bike tours planned as well.

For those who’ve ridden to Detroit, here’s hoping you enjoy our bike friendly city (except for the difficulty in getting across the river from Windsor.)

There were 180 riders for the 2010 Bike the Bridge event this year. One big reason for the increase is Canadian bicyclists could start in Windsor, ride over the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit, turn around and ride back — a neat option.

Once over the bridge, both the U.S. and Canadian cyclists enjoyed a breakfast at Windsor’s Mic Mac Park. Afterwards, 49 cyclists rode to Amherstburg, Ontario for a quick guided tour of Fort Malden. Many of the other cyclists rode to Walkerville where they heard about the local history of prohibition and Hiram Walker — and got to sample some Canadian whiskey.

Both groups re-converged at the Carousel of Nations event held along Windsor’s river front park. The U.S. cyclists then boarded chartered Transit Windsor buses for the return voyage back to Detroit.

The Metro Times provided from-the-saddle coverage and highlighted the uniqueness of this event for cyclists.

A special thanks to Sue Moretto, the Bridge Company, Windsor Bicycle Committee and all the volunteers for helping make this happen.

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.

De light? Okay, bad pun, but it certainly seemed that most of the 2,000 cyclists who rode in yesterday’s Tour de Troit were enjoying themselves.

And for many, it shined a light on bicycling in Detroit and the city itself — the good stuff along with the blemishes.

For one reason or another, this event has not received a great deal of media coverage. That seemed to change this year as WXYZ had live TV coverage during the morning of the event, some of which is on their web site.

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press also published post event summaries with photos.

State Representative Rashida Tlaib was also at the start and seemed very pleased to have so many cyclists in her Southwest Detroit district.

One very memorable (albeit unplanned) event during the ride was when the 100+ metric century cyclists passed the 30-mile riders heading the opposite direction on E. Grand Boulevard. Video of the larger group is on YouTube and it gives some idea of how large this event has become.

Compared with last year, this event grew by a whopping 80%. What’s going to happen next year? Will there be 3,000 cyclists?

It’s a great question and one that the Tour de Troit leaders are already discussing.