From the Conner Creek Greenway web site:

Join the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative for the first annual Cycle into Spring!

Enjoy a pleasant pedal from the Detroit River to Eight Mile and back along the Conner Creek Greenway (CCG), nine miles of cycling infrastructure that traces the original Conner Creek and links people, parks, green spaces, neighborhoods, schools and shops. Five miles are complete; funds raised at Cycle into Spring! will support programming and the development of the final four miles of the greenway. Refreshments provided at rest stop.

Sites along the route include Chrysler Mack Assembly, Wayne County Community College, Chandler Park, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Conner Playfield, Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport, Better Made Snack Food Factory and the Milbank Trail.

Cost: $25; $35 includes a full lunch from Slow’s Bar B Q post-ride. $15 lunch only.

Register now!

Check out our event on Facebook and tell your friends.

Detroit-based MASH Magazine is starting a bike club.

Haven’t heard of this publication? “MASH Magazine fuses modernism, beauty, high fashion, and design for the multicultural audience.”

Their recently published second issue includes the article, “Changing Gears: Detroit to go from four wheels to two.” It mentions the recent and forthcoming improvements that are making Detroit an even better place to ride.

The article also mentions their new summer group ride.

MASH is going to continue to encourage out young and fabulous women to partake in this wonderful past time – join us for a MASH ride.

The MASH Bike Club rides are from June 2nd though September 22nd on every other Saturday.

The ride meets at the LaSalle Garden Park at noon. The Park is between Linwood and 14th, just north of Grand Boulevard and a couple blocks west of Henry Ford Hospital.

Get your wheels and wool ready. This Sunday is the next Detroit Tweed Ride.

You can RSVP on Facebook.

Photo from the Detroit News / Todd McInturf

Another record turnout at yesterday’s Tour de Troit bike ride. This organized ride began 10 years ago with 43 cyclists and has grown to 4,500 this year.

The ride is attracting many riders from Metro Detroit and across the Midwest as well as Ontario.

The Tour de Troit is much more than a huge group ride and a greenway fundraiser. It’s an up close introduction to the city of Detroit — the good and the bad — and one you just can’t get from driving through the city on the expressway or from the media.

Along those lines, the Detroit News quotes Kevin Kerwin of Ann Arbor: “I wish we spent more time in Detroit. We like getting the big city feel.”

The Tour is also kid-friendly. The Detroit Free Press coverage mentions two young Detroit participants turned cyclist enhusiasts.

Just before the race, Tyler Davis, 12, was running from bike to bike, filling tires with air. Along with Naja Nile, 10, Tyler built his bike from spare parts through a program at the All Saints Neighborhood Center. Both kids earned their bikes through sweat equity — 20 hours each. Supervising them was Paul Krystyniak, 27.

“I learned how to repair a bike the right way,” said Tyler, wielding an air pump. “It saves air pollution and money.”

Wayne State University’s South End and Michigan Radio also covered the event.

Governor Synder rides

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was encouraged to join the Tour de Troit on Twitter, but he had a ride of his own. At the Michigan Republican Conference on Mackinaw Island, the Governor led a group of 100 on an 8-mile ride.

Billed as part of his recent Michigan health push, we wonder if he was just training for next year’s Tour…

The city of Berkley is primed for becoming more bike-friendly. It has a solid street grid pattern throughout the city. You can bike most anywhere using residential streets. Biking to downtown Berkley is relatively easy, while routes to downtown Royal Oak, Beaumont Hospital and the Detroit Zoo could be made better.

There is room for other improvements as well. Some ideas include:

• Redesigning the arterial streets as Complete Streets
• Improving connections across Woodward Avenue
• Adding meaningful bike route signs (with wayfinding) on those residential streets
• Proving more bike parking

Berkley did pass a Complete Streets resolution last year.

Also, Berkley Live community magazine just published an article on biking in the city.

“Biking is easy, especially when anything you need is within two square miles,” Berkley City Councilwoman Lisa Platt-Auensen says.

That’s why Auensen can often be seen around town, peddling to and from the grocery store, the video store, the pharmacy, her job in downtown Royal Oak, and even city council meetings.

“Being on a bike helps you notice things you wouldn’t, like ‘Hey, there’s a new store opening up on the corner,’ or, ‘Oh, look, the neighbors did something nice to their yard,’” Auensen says. “It just adds so much to your day.”

Berkley Bicycle Dinner Cruise

And on Wednesday, September 14th at 6pm, the Berkley Environmental Advisory Committee is hosting a 6-mile Dinner Cruise bicycle ride.

Not yet ready to give up on summer fun? Then join the members of the Berkley Environmental Advisory Committee for a casual, low speed, relaxed dinner cruise for the whole family! We will follow the Berkley Bicycle Route on a short tour Berkley neighborhoods on our way to dinner at Bagger Dave’s followed by ice cream at Clarks Ice Cream.

The ride begins at the Community Center Parking lot on Catalpa next to the Jr. High tennis courts. The rain date is the 15th.

More information on this ride is on Facebook.

MDOT Training Wheels

Berkley is also hosting a highly-recommended MDOT Training Wheels program this year.

Training Wheels is an educational course on the planning and design of on-road bicycle facilities. It will consist of two hours of classroom instruction on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, followed by an on road, on bike portion. During this portion we will casually ride through the cities of Berkley, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods, analyzing types of on-road facilities available. There will be many stops to point out potential facility types, followed by a group exercise and discussion, questions from participants and a brief wrap-up.

More information is on the City of Berkley web site.