Tuesday Tidbits: Wheelhouse Detroit

 

The warm weather is finally here to stay--for a few months, at least!  It's time to get outside and get some exercise! If it's been awhile since you've been bike riding, go down to the 

Detroit River right at the beautiful Detroit Riverwalk! 

You can rent a bicycle at the Wheelhouse Detroit and ride the whole three miles of the Detroit Riverwalk!

Yes, right here in Detroit: a full-service bicycle shop!

Wheelhouse Detroit is a bicycle shop that offers rentals, retail, service and tours.

Hours of Operation:
March & April: Friday to Sunday 11am to 7pm
May to September: Open Daily 10am to 8pm
October & November: Friday to Sunday 11am to 7pm

Contact us:
Email: info@wheelhousedetroit.com
Phone: 313-656-BIKE (2453)

Keep up to date at our blog:
wheelhousedetroit.wordpress.com

Where is Wheelhouse Detroit located: it's at the water on "Atwater Street", of course!

1340 E. Atwater Street
Rivard Plaza on the Detroit RiverWalk
Detroit, MI 48207
For driving directions, please see our location map.
Free parking available in an adjacent lot.

Things to Do Thursday: Dequindre Cut Greenway

Spring is here in Detroit! (Isn't it?)

A great place to visit this weekend is the "old-is-new" Dequindre Cut Greenway. From the Boll Family Y Newsletter:

The Dequindre Cut Greenway, an urban recreational path connecting the east riverfront with the Eastern Market district in downtown Detroit, will open to the public on Thursday, May 14 with a grand opening ceremony. While the bike path is already accessible, the grand opening ceremony will include activities and entertainment between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The 1.2-mile paved greenway was developed through a public, nonprofit and private partnership. The Dequindre Cut is part of a growing network of greenway paths developing around the city.

At more than 60 feet wide, the below-grade trail serves as a paved biking, walking and running path while still offering plenty of surrounding green space. It stretches from Woodbridge Street to Gratiot Avenue, 1.2 miles, with exit ramps at Lafayette Boulevard and Gratiot.

Model D told a little history of the Dequindre Cut:

November 22, 2005

Not so long ago, up until 1982 to be exact, a metro Detroit commuter could hop on a passenger train in Royal Oak and jump off within a short walking distance of the then-6-year-old Renaissance Center.

The train would race south through Ferndale, slice through the western boundary of Hamtramck, and through various residential and industrial sections of Detroit, before it reached a declining piece of landscape called the Dequindre Cut. The track entered the Cut on the northern edge of Eastern Market, near Wilkins St., and remained 25 feet below the surface until it matched the grade of the streetscape in what was then a growing nightclub and restaurant district called Rivertown.

Commercial train traffic continued for a few more years, followed by 20 years of abandonment and neglect. As so often happens in Detroit, however, that combination stoked fires of artistic inspiration, creating a natural canvas for guerrilla painters, sculptors and writers, who remade portions of the mile-long stretch into an unofficial art park.

This is a wonderful chance to get outside with your bikes and ride around Downtown Detroit!

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Shameless Plug: visit my husband's blog "The DSpot"...

Detroit Police Chief Says: "My Bad!" for Bike Licenses

As I wrote in my post: "Riding Your Bike in Detroit? Have Your License?", the Detroit Police Department will start enforcing the 44-year-old bike license ordinance on August 7: a $55.00 fine if you don't have a $1.00 license for your bike.

Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings tried to explain at a recent Detroit Board of Police Commissioners meeting that her intent was not to punish bike riders, but to be better able to retrieve stolen bicycles.

Ron Scott, a member of the Detroit-based Bike Riders United, feels that the enforcement in unnecessary and problematic. Chief Bully-Cummings replied that she didn't want police officers standing around writing tickets to bikers; she is just trying to help bike-theft victims to get their bikes back.

Bike Riders United will hold a unity protest bike-a-thon in Detroit on Friday, August 1 from 1 to 3 p.m.; starting at Eastern Market and concluding at Hart Plaza. Meanwhile, just to be sure, you can visit any of the six Detroit Police Districts and get a 5-year license for your bike.

Update: as of Friday July 18 2008, the Detroit Police Department has no more bike licenses available! Stay tuned to see what happens with the ordinance enforcement...

Shameless Plug for my husband's blog: Read "The 'D' Spot"...

Riding Your Bike in Detroit? Have Your License?

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Now playing: The Caravans - The Lord Will Make A Way
via FoxyTunes



Just as we start thinking about hauling our bikes out of the garage to save money on gasoline like our Governor who has started "biking to work", the City has reminded us that we need a license for our bikes!

Detroit's bicycle license ordinance states:
"It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or use a bicycle propelled wholly or in part by muscular power upon any of the streets or sidewalks of the city without first obtaining a license therefore from the city."

The ordinance has been in place since 1964; but the Detroit Police are going to start to actually enforce the ordinance again. They say it is to help locate/recover stolen bicycles, but if you're caught without a license starting on August 7 2008, you'll get hit with a $55.00 fine!

The cost is actually minimal: $5.00 for a 5-year license; it's just something else to add to your "to-do" list! (I wonder if next they'll pass a "no talking on your cell with biking" law!)

The licenses can be obtained at any of the six Detroit Police Districts between 9 am and 5 pm Monday - Friday. For further information, you can call the Detroit Police Office of Public Information: 313.596.2200.

Once you get that license, though, you can enjoy riding along the Detroit Riverwalk and around Belle Isle...the beauty and serenity will be worth it...not to mention great exercise! Also explore Campus Martius, Palmer Park, and Chandler Park (Chandler Park is part of the Wayne County Parks and Recreation System)...let me know in the comments section about other great places to ride your bike in Detroit!

Also check out "Detroit Bikes", a group that promotes group riding tours around Detroit.

Happy Riding!