Woody Miller volunteering at the 2008 Tour-de-Troit

We recently received some terribly sad news. Detroit cyclist Woody Miller passed away on Saturday.

Here’s more information from fellow cyclist Reg Modlin:

I discovered yesterday evening by accident, that Woody Miller passed away in Seattle on Saturday [July 17, 2010]. From what I can piece together, Woody had cancer. He apparently had it for a while and fought it. I saw and spoke with Woody in early June and he did not mention it.

However, by mid to late June it had spread, putting Woody in hospital for surgery. Following that he went to Seattle to continue chemo treatment and to be with his son, David, his daughter in law and grandson. Apparently, the cancer spread to his liver and Woody passed last Saturday.

According to his family, his remains will be cremated in Seattle and a memorial service will be held in Detroit at a later date.

Woody will be remembered by a great many people in the Detroit area. Many cyclists rode with Woody over the past twenty years or so, on rides all over the metro area and Canada. We trained for racing and high speed riding on Belle Isle, and made many, memorable Sunday rides from Dearborn to Ann Arbor, and from Windsor to Colchester (Canada).

Woody mentored many young riders even up through this year, and I recall him riding through the winter this past year to his workplace at the downtown Bolle YMCA. Woody also coordinated the rider support for a number of years in the annual Tour de Troit.

Another great Detroit cyclist will be missed, but will never be forgotten in the peleton.

Woody was an active and dedicated bicycle advocate both on and off the road.?He was at city council to help repeal Detroit’s onerous bicycle registration ordinance and pass the non-motorized transportation plan.

And we never saw him not wearing cycling clothes. In fact we teased him for addressing city council in Lycra once. He made no apologies and said, “Hey, I’m a cyclist and this is what I wear.”

As of now, the memorial to Woody will be occurring at Belle Isle on August 14th. As more details become available, we’ll post them.

And in spirit, he will certainly be on the Tour de Troit again this September.

Assignment Detroit

Time Magazine recently bought a house in Motown as part of their Assignment Detroit project. Why? In their words, “As a story, Detroit has been misunderstood, underreported, stereotyped, avoided and exploited for decades. To get it right, we decided to become stakeholders.”

Their project includes a blog and one of it’s early entries was about biking in Detroit.

In Detroit, there are cars. And then there is something known as non-motorized transportation.

That means bicycles, y’all.

Believe it or not, people in the Car Capital of the World love their bikes. And there is a huge movement to create a culture here that is friendlier to two wheels than four.

Yep. Believe it.

Alleycats in Detroit

Model D once again has some great coverage of Detroit’s biking scene, include this article on Alley Cats (which also drifts into the Tour de Troit and greenways…)

Since 2006, [Ron] Shelton has organized Alleycats in Detroit. These unsanctioned cycling races draw riders from throughout the metro area to compete in a crisscrossing sprint down streets and through intersections. Participants fly from checkpoint to checkpoint, collecting clues and directions to their next destination while dodging cars and other riders. The course tests both the riders’ knowledge of the city and their guts as they navigate a virtual collision course that backtracks and veers over 35 miles.

“People don’t realize it, but in Detroit, we have ridiculously wide roads that are ready to be converted to include bike lanes,” [Shelton] says. “Michigan has a lot of potential for cycling and has many fantastic trails already.”

Aaron Wagner, an organizer for the annual Tour De Troit agrees. “Definitely there’s been an upswing in biking in Detroit,” he said. “With the opening of the Detroit RiverWalk and bike shops like the Wheelhouse and the Hub, it’s gotten a lot more people into it. We’re seeing more people leaving their cars at home and riding their bikes to work.”

Don’t forget that the next Alleycat is in Hart Plaza on October 30th. The time has not been posted yet but we’re guessing it’ll be after the critical mass ride.

Tour de Troit

And finally Model D and Tom Hendrickson have made a great video on this year’s Tour de Troit bike ride. Tour Director Bil Lusa provides some commentary on the ride.

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.

Don’t forget to register for the Tour de Troit ride scheduled for September 19th.

This year promises to be the biggest one yet. Just before noon this morning, there were 900 riders registered. That’s just 200 rider fewer than last year’s event and there are still nearly three weeks to go.

This event raises fund for the Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink: 16 miles of mostly bike lanes and street improvements. This project is moving forward and will likely break ground next summer. This would double the bike lane mileage within the city of Detroit.

Corktown is already a very bike-embracing neighborhood. The oft filled bike rack in front of Slow’s is a testament to that. These bike lanes are just going to add to that momentum.

The full Tour de Troit press release will additional details is below the fold…

(more…)

Next Thursday, May 14th at 5 PM I’ll be giving a presentation at the Model D Speaker Series.

The topic is greenways and trails in Detroit and Hamtramck. I’ll bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going on through my work with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

I’ll also be introducing our brand new Detroit Greenways Network brochure, a hint of which is shown at the right.

The location is the Green Garage in Midtown at 4444 Second Avenue, conveniently located just around the corner from Motor City Brewing Works.

Bil Lusa will also speak about this September’s epic Tour-de-Troit bike ride.

This is a free event though you’ll need to sign up.

Link: More Information