The Eighteenth Annual Celebration of Cycling Ride will be held on September 18th, 2010 starting at Warrendale Shelter in Hines Park. Routes range from a traffic-free 12-mile course to a challenging century ride. This ride is truly for everybody, including competitive cyclists and families.
PEAC is a great organization that not only helps cyclists with disabilities, they were instrumental in getting the Complete Streets legislation passed in Lansing.
From PEAC’s John Waterman:
Three youth with disabilities (Conor Waterman 9 , Katie Birchmeier 9, and James Kleimola 17) stood up for all cyclists in Michigan to help pass Complete Streets Legislation.
Conor, Katie and James wrote their own speeches and testified in front of the House Transportation Committee, Senate Transportation Committee and The Disability Caucus. Their testimony and hard work was instrumental in the passage of Complete Streets and Senator Basham stated, “Conor, Katie, and James helped me make up my mind.” After their presentation the Senate immediately moved it out of committee.
Now you can help these students by riding in the Celebration of Cycling Ride on September 18, 2010. Join hundreds of people grabbing their bikes to help individuals with learn to ride. If you cannot ride please sponsor a cyclist with disabilities for $20.00, so Everyone Can Ride. Thank you for helping individuals with disabilities improve cycling for everyone.
The Henry Ford blog has a new post which gives a basic but brief early history of bicycles.
“Hurry out to Greenfield Village — the summer season with all its old-fashioned games on the green, period-clothed strollers and ordinary bicyclists ends this Sunday, August 22!”
It’s too late to see the bikes firsthand, but you can see them in this video.
If you do get a chance to visit Greenfield Village, don’t forget to see the Wilbur and Orville’s Wright Cycle Company building, which Henry Ford bought and moved to Dearborn in 1937.
This is a short survey about Belle Isle that seemingly overlooks the value of its bike lanes. If you ride on Belle Isle, you may want to let them know. We noted that the lack of walking paths means many pedestrians are using the bike lanes. This is not a safe solution for either group.
The Detroit Recreation Department and several private groups that support Belle Isle – the Friends of Belle Isle, the Belle Isle Botanical Society, the Belle Isle Women’s Committee and the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium – are conducting a survey about Belle Isle. Your participation in this survey will help the City and its supporters to set priorities for Belle Isle management and capital improvements. To take the survey go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BelleIsle
League of Michigan Bicyclists Survey
From John Lindenmayer of the LMB:
The Board of Directors and staff of League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB) are currently in the process of developing a five-year plan for the organization. The process will look at the internal and external environment we exist in today. We will identify key issues facing the organization in the following areas: Advocacy, Education, Promotion, Financial Resources and Human Resources. Once these issues are determined we will develop goals and action steps over the next five years to address these issues.
We need your input in helping us with a SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths/Weaknesses and Opportunity/Threats. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out our online survey form. We have posted a slightly different survey for LMB members and a separate one for nonmembers. Please use the appropriate link below:
The Michigan Citizen has an excellent story on some of the pedicabs or rickshaws operating in the city of Detroit. Pedicabs weren’t allowed in Detroit until some entrepreneurs worked with city council to change the ordinances.
After 12 years of traveling with the military, Walker brought back a new perspective on entrepreneurial opportunities. The one he settled on has increased the level of charm throughout Detroit while addressing some complex issues with transportation and the environment. This old method of transportation seems forward-thinking in today’s increasing emphasis on alternative sources of energy.
“This is one of those rare opportunities to start a business right out of the box,” [Terry L.] Walker says. “But ultimately, it adds to the quality of life.”
Detroit Greenways
The Time Magazine blog recently gave coverage to the growing trails and greenways scene in the city of Detroit — something we’ve been bugging them about for a long time. It also gives much deserved mention to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the group that really kicked off the greenway movement in this area.
Recently, I met with the Tom Woiwode, director of the GreenWays Initiative for the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. We took a tour of this project, which is connecting the city, Mexicantown, Corktown and part of Dearborn’s Salina business district. It is one of the first projects these groups have ever worked on together. And, chances are, it won’t be the last.
“It’s always been about the community,” Woiwode emphasized. “You start connecting these groups, and you’ll connect the community.”
And on a related note, an upcoming Detroit City Council agenda includes a resolution to apply for a half-million dollar grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. That grant is “to acquire the Right-of-Way (ROW) needed for the construction of Dequindre Cut, Phase II Project.” Yes, that’s the Dequindre Cut extension from Gratiot to Mack Avenue. One doesn’t apply for such grants until you have a willing seller, so this is positive news.
Detroit’s “Big Bikes”
Detroit makes stuff, so it’s no surprise we have some nice big bikes. Really nice.
1. Tell us about the project you’re bringing to Maker Faire.
A wonderfully impractical assemblage of bicycle, go-cart, and golf-cart pieces and parts, drainage pipe, steel tubing, and patio chairs. This four-wheel vehicle allows four passengers to travel in minor discomfort at speeds approaching a brisk walk, for relatively short distances, on completely flat terrain.
There’s also a video of the BigDog roaming Vinsetta Boulevard in Royal Oak. The new bike looks lighter and faster than the Dog Sled.
Congratulations to the Hub and all their volunteers for giving away 123 kids bicycles! They expect to have another bike giveaway in the future and there’s an opportunity to help.
If you have a youth bike in your basement that isn’t being used anymore, bring it to us so we can help it find a good home. The best times to drop off donations are during our volunteer nights (Wednesdays and Thursday 6pm-8pm). Bring them to our Back Alley Bikes entrance (first alley West of Cass on MLK).
There’s something beautifully old-fashioned about the Joybox Express — it’s more 1910 than 2010. Yet the joy of shaking it to a Jelly Roll Morton stomper — or, hell, the bliss of riding down a country road on a bike — will never be outdated. And let’s face it: A band of bicycling minstrels is pretty awesome. Guitarist Brian Delaney says, “When bicyclists go by, they usually pump their chests or stick their fists up in the air in approval.”
The band is biking to Detroit along Warren Avenue on Tuesday for a show at Cliff Bell’s that evening. They’ll be at the Scarab Club for a show on Wednesday.
Gushing Oil, New Habits
John McCormick is a columnist for Autos Consumer. His recent column in the Detroit News, Gushing oil must finally create some new habits, asks the question, “What does the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico mean to you as an automotive consumer?”
And his answer is soaked in realism.
There are plenty of voices arguing that although this spill was accidental, it’s fair to say that Americans’ greed for oil is at least partly to blame…
But as Jason Henderson, a San Francisco State University geography professor, has suggested, there is now a moral imperative for U.S. consumers to do something meaningful about their fuel consumption habits. In a recently published statement, Henderson argues that the hazards of deepwater oil drilling are too great to continue and that ‘far-off miracles’ in hydrogen, wind, solar or nuclear power will not meet the country’s immediate energy demands.
Instead, Henderson proposes that we, American drivers, reduce our daily gasoline usage by 20 percent.
We agree.
And we also like McCormick’s suggestion that “there are strong arguments for greater use of public transport, more investment in high-speed rail systems and even more prosaic solutions, such as bicycle lanes to encourage Americans to use two wheels rather than four.”
Bike lanes are a prosaic solution? Okay, compared with hydrogen fuel cell magic, bike lanes themselves are a little ordinary and dull, but biking in them? Not always prosaic — especially if you’re pulling a piano.
This Saturday is PEAC’s Celebration of Cycling ride in Metro Detroit.
