What's Going On With Wheelhouse Tours?
As restrictions are lifting, people are gathering and more and more group rides are happening. So what’s going on with Wheelhouse bike tours? Well, to put it in just a few words, “We remain on the cautious side of things.”
We have spent a lot of time talking amongst our tour staff (all of whom are Detroiters and avid riders) and reading about how the coronavirus is spread and we just do not feel comfortable operating our public tours at this time. Basically it comes down to two things:
The safe spacing we feel to be necessary between cyclists to avoid the spread of the virus while riding would make staying together in a tight pack — something of core importance to our operations — quite difficult. The odds of being separated at lights grows, making the group less safe.
The space needed at stops in order to maintain social distancing would require us to take up a very large footprint. Anyone who has been on one of our tours before knows that we group together tightly — not just so everyone can hear, but so that we are not taking up an inordinate amount of public space. It’s really easy while on a tour to fall into the “we’re alone on this earth” bubble. And that’s not fair to the everyday person just trying to live their life. We don’t have a right to the sidewalk, the Riverwalk, or the Dequindre Cut over anyone else. If we can’t operate in a respectful manner to our fellow Detroiters, we’d rather not do it.
So with all that said, we’ve decided not to run public tours in July. (Fingers crossed for August!) For August update, please see wheelhousedetroit.com/tours.
But we will offer small private group tours for up to 6 adults. Some key considerations:
These small group tours will cost $200 on weekdays (Tues to Thurs) and $250 on weekends (Fri to Sun).
Our bikes will be used (included in cost) so that any repairs needed on the road will be easily handled and sanitation procedures can be done ahead of time.
Helmets are required; you may bring your own or make use of one of our (sanitized) helmets.
Masks will be required to be worn at all stops.
Tours will be three hours in length. Food and/or drink stops can be arranged either within the 3-hour period or, if a time extension is necessary to accommodate, for an additional fee.
Possible tours at this time include Near East, Corktown, Near West, Auto Heritage, and Riverwalk/Dequindre Cut. Special requests can be considered.
If you are interested in booking, please reach out to us at bookings@wheelhousedetroit.com. We look forward to safely riding with you!