The Metro Times has a best of Detroit 2011 issue which lists winners based on a public survey and staff picks. As in years past, some of these awards are bike-related.

Readers Poll

Best Bicycle Shop in Detroit — The Hub won this for the third time. “How can you not love a place that’s making a difference on, with and for two wheels?

Best Bicycle Shop in the Suburbs — Downtown Ferndale Bike Shop grabbed this award, which was a bit of a surprise given their that they’re new. Last year it went to Continental Bikes in Hazel Park.

Staff Picks

Best Food Delivery Business — Hot Spokes, the group delivering food on bike in the Midtown/Downtown area, was picked by the MT staff.

Take-out delivered via bike may not be big news in most major cities, but as are many things, it’s a bit of a novelty in Detroit. But novelty or not, it also makes sense — pedaling from Midtown to downtown takes noticeably less time than fighting traffic and hunting down a parking spot (and who ever has change for the meter?)

Best Antidote to a Beer Belly — Staff chose the indoor Roller Races which have been hosted at various bars around the Detroit area. And last week the Hub hosted a very unique tandem roller race.

The new trend that popped up in the last year of racing on stationary bikes in bars allows for just such a thing — drink, race, drink some more. Bikers who usually hibernate during fall rains and winter snows can stay in shape, maintain their skills and show-off in front of bar flies and curious first-timers. It’s a new way to pick up chicks, settle scores and challenge friends and strangers for free beers.

Best Blog for Bicyclists — m-bike.org won. We’re blushing. It’s recognition like this that makes the late-time, labor of love efforts worth it.

The stated goal, says author Todd Scott, is to promote safe and convenient bicycling in metro Detroit. Whether it’s announcements of community forums, analyses of master plans and their inclusion (or exclusion) of cycling, collections of media reports about cycling events and policies or just plain funny cycling tidbits, find it here.

Thank you, Metro Times — and all that you do for cycling coverage in Southeast Michigan.

The Metro Times continues to do a tremendous job covering the cycling scene in Detroit. They get it.

This week they added another great article to their resume called Two-wheel revolutions: New options for nomotorized traffic on the way in Detroit.

The articles stitches together stories on the Strategic Framework, Greater Riverfront East project, Tour de Troit, Complete Streets, and this info on MDOT’s new bike lanes.

Along Michigan Avenue west of downtown, bike lanes should be painted by November as a “trial,” says Matt Chynoweth, a development engineer with the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Detroit Transportation Service Center.

“We’re going to evaluate for a year and if we have a spike in pedestrian accidents out there then we may have to evaluate it and take it out,” he says.

Bike lanes are an easy way to increase safety by helping motorists realize cyclists are nearby. And some planners say they could be introduced all over the city for little more than the cost of the paint.

Chynoweth will be at the Corktown Residents’ Council meeting will be Tuesday, October 5 at 6:30pm to discuss these new bike lanes. The meeting is being held at the Most Holy Trinity School at 1229 Labrosse in Detroit.

More on GREEN

Sandi Svoboda also blogged about the Greater Riverfront East Environmental Network (GREEN) last week. This project has the potential to transform Detroit’s lower east from the Dequindre Cut to the Pointes: greenways, road diets, bike lanes, and much more.

One of the big focuses is extended the Detroit RiverWalk east to Detroit’s border. Given the marina district, it could be crazy expensive to develop the route along the river’s edge, so the routing may be creative.

The city of Detroit has added another couple miles of bike lanes this spring on St. Jean between Jefferson and Mack Avenues. (Two miles? Yes, we count both the northbound and southbound lanes.) The city was repaving St. Jean using federal stimulus funding and suggested adding the bike lanes.

These bike lanes help complete a portion of the Conner Creek Greenway, which will eventually stretch nine miles from the Detroit River to Eight Mile Road (and hopefully beyond!)

Sandi Svoboda sent us this photo of her giving them the thumbs up while riding on St. Jean. Sandi is a staff writer for the Metro Times and authored the recent articles on cycling in Detroit. She’s also a dedicated bike commuter.

She also added a Metro Times news blog entry titled Streets Completing.

This week’s Metro Times produced a very comprehensive look at the state of cycling within the city of Detroit. It’s a must read.

If you’re live in or near Detroit, this will hopefully motivate you to get on that bike and ride in Detroit.

If you’re a suburban cyclist, perhaps you could drop a copy on your city manager’s or county executive’s desk with a note, “If Detroit can do it…”

The article is superbly quotable, but one of our favorites includes quotes from Tom Woiwode of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, which has invested millions into greenways throughout Southeast Michigan.

“The city has really embraced the idea of investing heavily in nonmotorized transportation, and it’s been a terrific transition.”

What? Detroit outpacing the suburbs in a civic improvement? Woiwode responds with an emphatic “Yes.”

You may want to highlight that in yellow marker for your city manager and county exec. It seems many of the cities, townships, and counties think they’re doing plenty for bike friendliness when the reality is much different.

In addition, this Metro Times includes articles called Bike seat conversations and Reading in gear.

Sandra Svoboda, the author of these articles, was also on WDET’s Craig Fahle show. That’s available via podcast. Sandra’s interview begins at 1:34.

The Metro Times just released their 2009 Best of Detroit lists.

Among the staff picks was Best Place to Break a Sweat with the winner being “bicycling”.

Detroiters have been getting more and more serious about bicycle love in recent years. First came the flirtation. It wasn’t love at first ride. No, it’s hard to fully commit to a self-powered two-wheel approach when you’re dubbed the Motor City, when coney dogs, cheap beer and Flaming Hot Chee-tos are local fare and, well, let’s face it, there aren’t too many bike-friendly paths. But flirt we did. After a couple dates, we started to grope the spokes and pump the brakes. One thing led to another and here we are … With the HUB of Detroit – that funky full-service (not-for-profit) bike shop set in the pit of Cass Corridor – the seed was planted. Then came “bike gangs” such as Ferndale’s Defying The Law B/C, and city-wide races like Alley Cat. Last year (almost to the day this goes to print) we witnessed the birth of Wheelhouse Detroit, a bike retail, rental and repair shop that lives right on the river and offers a wide array of bike tours that take riders through the architectural anomaly that is Detroit, through Corktown, Hamtramck, along the river and a number of others. A missing piece was put into place a couple years ago when the Dequindre Cut project was announced. The Cut runs along the Grand Trunk rail line, through Eastern Market, and ends at Detroit’s riverfront parks. The paved, lit, emergency phone-equipped bike-walk-jog stretch from Gratiot to south of Jefferson will get its grand opening May 14.

In last year’s polling, the Dequindre Cut won for the best project that’s not yet completed. Phase I will be completed this year, and as noted, the grand opening is May 14th at 10AM.

And in the Reader Polls, Best Place to Buy a Bicycle went to The Hub of Detroit.

The Hub of Detroit grew out of Back Alley Bikes, a youth program designed to get low-income youths their very own bicycles. The volunteer organization needed a way to fund their philanthropic endeavors and saw a need in Detroit for a bike shop. So the Hub was born, killing two birds with one ultra-cool stone. Not only do Detroiters now have a place to purchase a used bike, fix up an old set of wheels and to buy biking accessories, but all proceeds from the shop go directly to Back Alley Bikes. The staff which consists primarily of volunteers runs a variety of classes and programs for area youth, including having kids 13-18 clock volunteer hours in the shop to earn their own bike.

To see all the other 2009 “Best Of” winners, check out the Metro Times web site.