Nature Tour of Detroit

Despite the cold temperatures, I took my girlfriend's family and their friends who we vacation with every summer on another two-wheeled tour of Detroit. This is part of our monthly group outings. Our last tour was focused on Detroit's history so I figured this time we would see the beauty in Detroit's nature.

As with every tour, we started out at The Wheelhouse Detroit where most of the group rented bikes. From there we continued up the Detroit River Front and through Milliken State Park.

Detroit's Milliken State Park is located along the River Front is the first urban park in Michigan, providing a 31-acre green oasis in the midst of downtown Detroit.

The first phase of the park - the harbor - opened to the public in 2004 and offers several covered picnic areas, shoreline fishing and a 52-slip harbor. A 63-foot light tower that is a scaled down replica of the Tawas Point lighthouse marks the harbor entrance.

The second phase of the park opened on December 1, 2009 and includes a wetlands demonstration area that shows how wetlands act as nature's water filtration system. Interpretative signs explain how the wetland naturally cleans the water and then returns it to the Detroit River as clean water - without going to a wastewater treatment plant.

The RiverWalk passes through the park in the area closest to the Detroit River, along fishing platforms and a memorial to Peter Stroh, a noted conservationist who was a tireless advocate for the opening Detroit's waterfront the public.

There is a very nice 3.5 mile bike path that laces through the the wetland and waterfront, linking the park to Atwater Street or back to Rivard Plaza.

After riding north up the River Front, we headed towards the bridge to Belle Isle.

Belle Isle is a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, between the United States and Canada. It is connected to Detroit by the MacArthur Bridge and is the largest city-owned island park in the United States, however, the park is currently leased to the State of Michigan for use as a State Park.

Not only is the park a great place to spend the day riding your bike, there are also a lot of sights to take in. The island is home to the Belle Isle Aquarium, the Belle Isle Conservatory, the Belle Isle Nature Zoo, the Detroit Yacht Club, the James Scott Memorial Fountain, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, a Coast Guard station, a municipal golf course and numerous monuments as well as a swimming beach.

In good weather, Belle Isle is the perfect place to spend a quiet Saturday away from the city! However today it was a windy autumn day, in the low 40s so we breezed through and spent most of our time on the island inside the buildings and staying warm.

This will be our last group tour of the season, due to the weather, but I'll keep biking all year-round!

Similar tours can be booked through The Wheelhouse Detroit, located on the Detroit River Front. 

Cyclocross Training at the Detroit Endurance Lab

As my first cyclocross race draws near, I'm starting to kick up my off-road training.

Yesterday I attended the Detroit Endurance Lab's Cyclocross training, which was held at Milliken State Park on Detroit's River Front. Taught by Landall Proctor, owner of DEL, attendees were taught the fundamentals and the finer points of Cyclocross (CX) racing.

During the session we focused on basic riding tactics and dismounts. Landall broke down the basics of the dismount and how to handle barriers and situations you may encounter on a CX course. He also covered different approaches to hills and how to tactically and efficiently run up a hill in race-type situations.

This was my first real cyclocross training and everything I learned helped quite a big coming from Landall, a Cat 2 cross vet. We went through the motions with some real hands-on trainign and coaching to help instill some confidence in my competing. There was a set of barriers where we could pracgtice dismounts, proper carrying techniques, as well as getting back on the bike quickly without causing any mechanical or or physical problems. We ended the class by making a small loop through the park to get the feeling of riding with others and beome familiar with fighting for positions. It was the clsoest to an actual race that I've ever been.

I've taken a few other classes at the Detroit Endurance Lab, but this was my first CX focused session. It was tough but I learned a lot and I feel a lot more confident in next week's race.

Located in Detroit, near Milliken State Park, the Detroit Endurance Lab is a training studio for cyclists and runners. Their indoor cycling classes use CompuTrainer, which provides the most interesting indoor bike experience ever, which will help you see improvements over the course of your training. Cycling and triathlon coaches worldwide use CompuTrainer as their primary testing instrument. Even USA Triathlon and USA Cycling test and train their team athletes with CompuTrainer.

They also offer personal coaching for area triathletes, cyclists, and runners, offered for both beginners, experienced athletes, and every one in-between.

I'd like to give a big thank you to Landall for taking the time to help all of us and make sure we are ready for our race come the weekend!

Detroit Ranks 44th in Top U.S. Biking Communities

download report here

Commuting trends have changed dramatically over the years. More and more Americans are turning to alternative means to get to and from work and school.

According to the League of American Bicyclists—a group of bicyclists advocating for
 safer roads, stronger communities, and a bicycle-friendly America—Detroit has been ranked the 44th in a list of the top 70 U.S. cities for bicycle commuting, based on population.

The list is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS), who gathered data on bicycle communited in the United States.

According to the ACS, 0.62% of commutes are made by bicycle in 2013, which represents a modest 0.5% increase from 2012. In total, the Census Bureau estimates that there were 882,198 bicycle commuters in 2013.

Since 2000, ACS data shows a 62% increase in bicycle commuting. According to a report from the Census Bureau released this spring, bicycle commuting is the fastest growing commuting mode in the last decade.

Detroit, Michigan is ranked 44th with 0.6% of its population as bike commuters. This is a 438% growth from 1990 to 2013 and a 255% growth from 2000 to 2013.

According to these trends, bicycle commuting will continue to rise in years to come.

Historic Tour of Detroit

Today I gave a bike tour in Detroit to my girlfriend's family and their friends who we vacation with every summer. I give a lot of tours through The Wheelhouse Detroit but this was a nice pace since we are all friends.

They are a great group of people so I knew this tour would be fun before it event started.

We started out at The Wheelhouse Detroit where most of the group rented bikes. From there we continued up the Detroit River Front, through part of Milliken State Park, and across to the Dequindre Cut.

The Dequindre Cut, an below-street level urban recretional path, is one of my girlfriend's favorite places to ride. Officially opened to the public in May 2009. The greenway, developed through a public, nonprofit and private partnership, offers a pedestrian link between the Riverfront, Eastern Market and many of the residential neighborhoods in between.

This path is well-known for it's artwork. She loves all of the commissioned grafitti and mural paintings that cover the walls of recessed trail, which was formerly a Grand Trunk Railroad line, which connected with the river front.

She probably also likes riding here because it's a fairly short ride, just over a mile, right now but there are plans to expand it in the future. The 1.35-mile greenway is expected to expand further north in a Phase II project.

From there we cut over to Indian Village, a historic neighborhood located on Detroit's east side and is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The district has a number of architecturally significant homes built in the early 20th century. Many of the homes were built by prominent architects such as Albert Kahn, Louis Kamper and William Stratton for some of the area's most prominent citizens such as Edsel Ford. Many of the homes are very large, with some over 12,000 square feet. Some of the houses also have large amounts of Pewabic Pottery tiles, a staple among the elite of Detroit's oldest estates. The neighborhood contains many historic homes including the automotive entrepreneur Henry Leland, founder of Lincoln and Cadillac.

I like taking people through this and similar neighborhoods because it shows another side of Detroit. Many people think of Detroit as either a busy, urban setting where people live in apartments and walk to everything or they think of the complete opposite, urban decay. This area shows people who are used to more traditional living arrangements an example of a great and vibrant neighborhood perfect for professionals and families alike.  This weekend was also the neighborhood's garage sale weekend so we got a sneak peak at a lot of old estates and antique furnishings.

For even more history we headed to Elmwood Cemetary, the oldest continuously operating, non-denominational cemetery in Michigan. The cemetery was established in 1846 and incorporated in 1849 as a non-profit corporation by an act of the Michigan Legislature. Founded by some of early Detroit’s leading citizens, Elmwood quickly expanded from its original 42 acres to its current size of 86 acres and became the final resting-place of tycoon and laborer alike.

Some of Elmwood's more notable and prominent Detroit burials include Lewis Cass (1782-1866), Michigan Teritorial Governor and U.S. Secretary of State, and Coleman Young (1918-1997), Mayor of Detroit.

From here be made the trip back to where we started. All-in-all we rode about 14 miles in just under 2 hours. Along the way we stopped to talk about the areas in which we were visiting, photo ops, and to enjoy the scenery--all which made for a great afternoon!

Similar tours can be booked through The Wheelhouse Detroit, located on the Detroit River Front. 

Welcome to Bike Stuff

Welcome
Bike Stuff a new blog for avid city cyclists. This will be a go-to place for urban cycling tips, advice, gear, and stories from the road.

Meet Marc
Living in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, I am deeply ingrained in the local cycling community. Having spent quite a bit of time riding mainly fixed gear, I have recently made the switch to a Surly Cross Check bike. My cycling hobbies range from giving guided bike tours on the streets of Detroit to touring trips, covering hundreds of of miles over several days. I bike to work, I bike for work, and I bike for fun.

I'm looking forward to sharing the things that I've learned and what I've experienced with both new cyclists and the lifers.

I have some great content planned and will be unveiling over the next several weeks so stay tuned!

Questions and suggestions can be sent to bikexstuff@gmail.com.