Detroit – Music, Murder and … Bicycles?
Detroit, MI (PRWEB) July 10, 2013 -- Detroit is known for a lot of things such as music, automobiles and murder, but bicycling? Not really. Until now that is.
Detroit residents, Mike Mackool and Jason Hall realized that the city was perfect for bicycling.
"Everybody rides a bike. Who doesn't ride a bike? Why wouldn't you ride a bike?" asked Mackool. "If you don't ride a bike I feel like you're missing a major part of what's fun in Detroit right now."
In an article in The Detroit News from June 30, 2013, Mackool says, “We're the Motor City; the streets are huge. It's hard to find something that doesn't have four lanes in the city of Detroit. It makes for a really bike-able city. Now that there aren't as many cars, we feel it's built for bikes."
Mackool and Hall came to the conclusion that Detroit needed a major bicycling event so they came with the title Bikes and Murder featuring shirts that stated "Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten."
However, the two realized that maybe funders would not want to sponsor an event featuring bikes and murder, so they toned it down and embraced the name Detroit Bike City.
This year, the second annual Detroit Bike City doubled its vendors to 90 and had about 2,000 attendees. Held at the Cobo Center, it featured custom bike builders, bike clubs and collectors as well as a bike swap.
Although Detroit Bike City is their main event, throughout the summer the two will lead a free group ride called the Slow Roll every Monday night. The Slow Roll is a casual bike ride through Detroit so riders are able to able to enjoy the sights of the city. Every week they choose a new area to explore and showcase certain neighborhoods.
"Detroit has this reputation of being uninhabitable," Hall said. "We try to show people it's a valid place to live. We want people from the suburbs to understand our environment so they're not afraid to come here."
The first year, Slow Roll started with five to 10 bikers each night and now the number has jumped to 300-450.
Bicycle Accident Lawyer Sean Murphy of http://www.bicycleaccidentlawyersusa.com attended both Detroit Bike City 2013 and Slow Roll nights.
“Slow Roll nights are a unique, exciting way to experience bicycling in the underrated city of Detroit. Having attended Detroit Bike City at Cobo and Slow Roll events including the Pedals Under the Stars Homecoming Dance,” said Murphy. “I’ve been continually impressed with the organization, fun-loving spirit and inclusiveness of this community of bicyclists and look forward to what’s to come.”
"Any time you see a crowd of people on bikes, and you're on a bike, join that crowd, 'cuz they want you," said Hall. "That's our culture. We look out for each other; we ride together."
The City of Detroit is acknowledging and embracing this new bike life too: a new trail is in the works that would link existing bike and pedestrian trails together in a 26 mile loop. The route is known as the Detroit Inner Circle Greenway and is being assembled by the City of Detroit along with coalition including the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan. Dearborn, Hamtramck and Highland Park are also helping with parts of the trail that pass through each city.
According to an article from Mode Shift, the trail would fall “between Wyoming and Mt. Elliot to the west and east, and McNichols and the Detroit River to the north and south. It would join together the Dequindre Cut, Detroit RiverWalk and Southwest Detroit greenways with a number of others now on the verge of being built.”
“One of the really interesting features of the trail is that it connects up many automotive heritage sites,” Todd Scott of the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance tells Mode Shift. “We’ve already been talking with the Woodward Avenue Action Association and coordinating this trail development with their plan for the old Model T plant and we imagine that will be a major starting point for those who want to do the big loop.”
Although there is no definitive timeline, it is estimated that rough version of the route will be completed in two to three years. “We might be using some section of road and bike lanes, but later on we may develop a higher level of service options. So we might move people from the bike lanes on to a rail trail,” says Scott. “Our goal is to get it done as soon as we can.”
Kelly Weaver, Law Offices of Jason Waechter, http://www.michigan-no-fault-auto-accident.com, 248-355-4701, [email protected]
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