Ah, the old days when it was rare to find others to ride with in the winter in Detroit… If you were lucky you might find another couple diehards riding a Critical Mass.

Those days are over and now colder months are getting their share of bike-related events.

Last weekend was The Hub’s 24-hour bike ride fundraiser event.

CAID Anti-Auto Show

Starting January 12th this this interesting Contemporary Aid Institute of Detroit (CAID) event at 5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard:

The Fourth Annual North American International Anti-Auto Show opens to the public on January 13, with a private formal charity Gala Preview on Friday, January 12 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., and open to the public from 9 – midnight.

Tickets to the future-themed Gala include sneak peeks at this year’s rollouts, drinks and hors d’oevres, entertainment, and a chance to say you attended the hippest party of the brutal winter. Last year’s guests are still talking about car karaoke, so this is an event not to be missed!

Tickets are $25 and can be reserved by calling 313-898-4ART.

The preview event on the 12th helps support CAID’s Community Bikes Project:

CAID Bikes Project is run by CAID Board Member Professor Nic Tobier from the University of Michigan. Students at Detroit Community High in Brightmore will build bamboo bicycle trailers and utility tricycles (among them a pedi cab, a recycling business and a landscape/gardening vehicle)!

There’s also this intriguing video about the event.

MLK Ride

On January 21st is the inaugural and free Martin Luther King Jr. group ride.

Join Tour de Troit and Detroit City Council Member Ken Cockrel, Jr. in a cycling celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. This will be a free ride. Families are encouraged. The ride will begin and end at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Campus of Wayne State University.

The route is approximately 10 miles and will take in the length of the 1963 March to Freedom and several historical sites relevant to King and other local activists that were integral to the March and and the impact of the I Have a Dream speech delivered at Cobo Arena afterwards.

Registration is FREE, but required.

Bicycle Bicycle!

The Detroit Creative Corridor Center is opening their Bicycle Bicycle! art show on January 23rd. They are still seeking submissions!

The Huffington Post wrote this article about this event:

Katherine Maurer, curator of the gallery, said the increasing popularity of bikes in the city inspired the show.

“Bike lanes are cropping up, new companies are designing and manufacturing bicycles, while at the same time organizations that have been involved with bicycles for years continue to do their work,” Maurer told The Huffington Post in an email. She added that Detroit’s upcoming annual auto show also played a role because of the dialogue it generates around transportation and vehicles.

“In January so much of the city is all about cars, cars, cars and while given our history I certainly think that is valid,” she said, “it is important to remember that cars are not the only mode of transport that power the city and the people in it.”

Correct, cars are not the only more of transport — even during January in Detroit.

Detroit Wheelmen Clubhouse at 53 E. Adams

The Detroit Bicycle Club was the city’s first in 1879. These were the day’s of highwheeler bicycles that appealed to young adventurous men but few others.

In fact L.J. Bates, the club’s first president wrote in that tricycles would eventually become more popular since they attracted a wider audience. A Free Press editorial from 1883 made the same prediction with this verbose attack on highwheelers.

Its demands upon the skill in balancing are too great to tempt many persons; those who indulge in it present a grotesque appearance in a garb which makes them look like convicts escaped from the penitentiary and which few care to display for the benefit or amusement of their fellowmen; while the dangers, or the necessity of guarding against danger, deprive the rider of much pleasure from scenery and wayside objects of interest.

However, tricycles never took over the market and interest in highwheelers faded. Detroit’s bicycle clubs faded as well.

The Comeback

But everything changed when the safety bicycle was introduced, a design not unlike today’s bicycles.

The safety bicycle not only kicked off Detroit’s golden age of bicycling, it helped revitalize the bicycle club scene. In 1890, the older clubs reorganized as the Detroit Wheelmen. In 1891, Detroit hosted the national convention for the League of American Wheelmen.

And with more women riding and the Detroit Wheelmen being for men only, the women-only Unique Cycling Club was formed 1893.

How close were the Detroit Wheelmen and Unique Cycling Club? In 1893 J. H. Gould was president of the former, while Mrs. J. H. Gould was president of the latter. Both clubs shared clubhouses, too.

The Clubhouse

Speaking of clubhouses, the growing interest in Detroit cycling meant a larger one was required. In order to build it they needed to raise funds — and they came up with a interesting idea. Since the circuses at the time didn’t tour during the winter, they could bring them to Detroit for a huge indoor show from Christmas to New Years.

According to the Free Press, “the Detroit Wheelmen have banished all thought of their favorite steeds for the time being… and [their] one-ring amateur circus grew into ‘the greatest show on earth,’ with three rings, clowns at all angles of the enclosure and elephants, trained lions and other wild beasts until you can’t rest.”

The circus was a “unqualified success” for the Detroit Wheelmen, raising over $2,000 in 1894 and $1,700 in 1895. It seemed they held their final circus in 1896 after they had begun construction on their new clubhouse.

The Unique Cycling Club played a role as well. They were in charge of the candy, popcorn, and flower booths. It appears they also oversaw the games of chance.

The Free Press published an article on December 26th, 1896 that describes this history and the Detroit cycling culture:

What a change has come over the Detroit Wheelmen in six short years! The old Detroit club disappeared from view, the Star club followed and for two or three years there was no bicycling organization in the city. Then several leaders organized the Detroit Wheelmen and for a long period the members met in modest quarters on Miami Avenue [later renamed Broadway.] The safety came into the field and proved such a success that the membership swelled and the club was warranted in securing splendid quarters on Washington avenue. Three years there showed an increase which necessitated more room and the old Strassburg Academy on Randolph street near Madison avenue was leased. Since moving there the organization has grown right along, until now there is paying membership and the future promises nothing but success for the organization. For a year the spirits who guide the destiny of the Wheelmen have thought of a club house of their own and after much hard work an arrangement was made whereby the club came into possession of a desirable piece of property on Adams avenue near Witherell street. On this site will be erected a $25,000 club house, work to commence next month if the weather is at all mild and by next summer the Detroit Wheelmen will own and occupy the most modern club house of any cycling organization in the west.

As it turned out, they spent $40,000 on the club house. That’s $1.1 million in 2012 dollars.

One interesting piece of trivia: They broke ground on the clubhouse on the same day Charles Brady King drove the first car in Detroit.

Shrine Circus

There’s one more interesting piece of this story.

Having seen the success of the Wheelmen’s circus, the Detroit Shriners decided to also raise funds with an indoor circus. They relied on Dr. Russell Pearce who organized the Detroit Wheelmen’s circuses. In 1906, they held the first ever Shrine Circus in Detroit which has grown across the U.S. since then.

From the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative:

Job Title: Executive Director

Reports to: Chairperson or Appointed Representative, Board of Directors

Job Term: One-year contractual engagement. Full-time work schedule will include a set of core hours, but will require accommodations for some evenings and weekends.

Job Scope: Manage the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative and direct the planning, design, construction, programming, and general operations of the Conner Creek Greenway and related greenways with a goal of developing a linked network of greenways to connect people and places on Detroit’s Eastside.

Required Qualifications:
o Minimum Bachelor’s degree, preferred Master’s degree, in planning, natural resources, public policy, health or other related field.
o Familiarity with greenway operations including design, construction, programming, maintenance and fundraising
o Excellent project management and organizational skills
o Demonstrated ability to manage staff or interns
o Demonstrated experience fundraising and managing organizational and programmatic budgets
o Excellent communication and interpersonal skills both verbal and written
o Proven ability to take initiative and work independently
o Experience with computer software including Microsoft Office Suite and social media including Constant Contact and Facebook

Desired Qualifications:
o Resident of Detroit
o Familiarity with Detroit’s Eastside

Key Responsibilities
o Serve as chief executive officer of the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative overseeing financial and administrative work
o Conduct and manage fundraising efforts
o Manage Conner Creek Greenway Operations including design, construction, programming and maintenance
o Coordinate greenway operations with partners such as City of Detroit, Greening of Detroit, Detroit Greenways Coalition, etc.
o Support development of related greenways such as the Elmwood Connector and Belt Line Greenway
o Support city-wide greenway efforts through the Detroit Greenways Coalition, Food & Fitness Initiative and GREEN Task Force
o Coordinate events to promote awareness and use of the greenway as needed
o Oversee Farm to Head Start Program
o Monitor Earn-A-Bike Program
o Work with community partners, community organizations and residents to support clean, safe and well-used greenway(s)
o Provide regular reporting, program analysis, budget updates and course correction to the Board of Directors as needed.

Compensation
Contract range – $45,000-$60,000 commensurate with experience. Contractor is responsible for covering his or her own benefits.

How To Apply
Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative is an equal opportunity employer. Interested individuals should send a cover letter, resume and three (3) references to:

Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative
4401 Conner Street
Detroit, Michigan 48215-2201
connercreekgreenway@gmail.com

Please submit resumes by January 18, 2013

Revised 12/12/12

Once again Greater Grace Temple is really stepping forward to help get more Detroit kids on bikes. With the help of Happy’s Pizza, Detroit Lion Joique Bell, and Tigers mascot PAWS, they’re giving away 150 bicycles “to children from financially struggling families.”

The bicycle giveaway is this Sunday after church service. The families in need have already been selected.

This giveaway has done on for many years now. Greater Grace Temple has given out over 2,500 bicycles.

“For many people, one of their fondest childhood memories was receiving a brand new bicycle on Christmas morning,” says Greater Grace Temple’s Senior Pastor Bishop Charles H. Ellis III. “We want to do something to help those families that have been hit hard by this economy.”

Last year Greater Grace Temple also hosted a walking audit with the Michigan AARP and Dan Burden. They’re not only giving away bikes, but supportive of making the neighborhood a better place to walk and bike.

Prior to the advent of auto racing in the early 1900s, bicycle racers were the fastest men alive. And from 1895 to 1900, no Detroiter was faster than Tom Cooper.

Cooper was born in Birmingham, but moved to Detroit with his family at age 18. He became a pharmacist by trade but eventually switched to bicycle racing.

Turning professional

Friend John Colquhoun told the Detroit Free Press about Cooper’s breakthrough race when he beat champion racer Eddie “Cannon” Bald in Battle Creek on July 22nd, 1895.

“Cooper was a low salaried drug clerk at the time, fair and ruddy faced. He had no racing wheel [i.e. bicycle] of his own — he couldn’t afford it.

“As they were lining up for the pistol, Cooper could scarcely keep his admiring eyes off the great Bald. Finally Bald took offense at the individual ovation and asked the ‘kid’ what he means.

“‘I was just thinking,’ Cooper replied, ‘how fortunate I would be if I could finish second to you, Mr. Bald.’

‘”Get t’ell out of my way,’ was all the satisfaction Cooper got, ‘or you’ll not finish at all.'”

That apparently inspired young Cooper who soundly beat Bald. Afterwards Cooper was approached with a sponsorship deal.

“‘How would you like to sign for the rest of the season at $50 a week?’

“‘For $50 a week!’ cried Cooper. ‘Come sign me for life.'”

The bidding began and he was eventually under contract earning $200 a week (~$5,500 a week in today’s dollars) while also getting paid $1,000 to use a sponsor’s saddle and $500 to use another’s chain.

After six years of professional cycling — and most likely being the highest paid athlete in Detroit sports — he’d saved $60,000 to $100,000.

Cooper was the pride of the Detroit Wheelmen cycling club.

He set world records in 1897, was the National Cycling Association (NCA) U.S. Champion in 1899, and spent the 1900 season racing in Europe.

After returning from Europe he agreed to a match race against Marshall “Major” Taylor, who was the League of American Wheelmen champion and world champion in 1899, and the NCA Champion in 1900.

Taylor wrote in his autobiography, “If there were two riders on earth that I wanted to meet in match races above all others, they were Eddie Bald and Tom Cooper.”

The race was held in front of a 10,000 spectators at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Taylor won the first two races to take the best of three. Cooper left humiliated.

He continued to race the U.S. circuit in 1901 but retired afterwards at the age of 25.

Interestingly enough, his last bike race may have been at Detroit’s first major automobile race on October 10th, 1901. He and Barney Oldfield raced a motorized tandem bicycle against the clock, which received “scarcely a ripple of applause” according to the Detroit Journal.

Henry Ford was in that first auto race. He had Tom Cooper ride with him during his warm up laps. The champion cyclist advised Ford on how to best race the track and handle his machine. Ford won the race.

Afterwards, Cooper headed to Colorado to manage a coal mine but he would be back the next summer itching to race once again — this time in automobiles.

Read more about Cooper’s return to Detroit and his partnerships with Henry Ford and Barney Oldfield