May E-Blast

We believe our monthly email missives are truly the best way to stay up-to-date with Wheelhouse goings-on. Check out our latest and, if you agree, sign up at wheelhousedetroit.com! Hello there, Wheelhouse friend!

We are now fully entrenched in our seven-day-a-week summer schedule. We are open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The only day we will be closed this month is May 30, when we'll take a belated day off for Memorial Day. Otherwise, come by during our posted hours and we promise that we will be here rain or shine!

Retail+Service Looking for a new ride? Look no further! We have hybrids and cruisers starting at just $300. We carry Kona, Origin 8 and Sun. For an updated list of bikes currently on the floor, head over to Bikes for Sale.

We stock a wide variety of accessories that can make your bike prettier, tougher, more utilitarian…whatever you desire it to be! We carry pumps, lights, racks, baskets, saddles, pedals, fenders, bells and helmets...and if we don't carry it, we get special orders in weekly.

Never let it be said that we put the cart before the horse: we finally have t-shirts! Featuring our street/spoke logo in white on black and retailing for $15, you'll want to buy a spare!

Tune-ups are back to regular price: 50 bucks. We pride ourselves on quality service and a quick turn-around, so drop your bike off and, when you pick it up, we believe that you will be highly satisfied with the results. And if you are not? We promise to rectify the situation.

Tour the city with Wheelhouse! We blast into our peak tour season with our May roster, which includes at least three tours a week. This weekend features Architecture (5/5 10 a.m.), Underground Railroad (5/5 1 p.m.) and Grandmont Rosedale (5/6 11 a.m.). The rest of the month features Urban Agriculture, Eastern Market, Hamtramck, Belle Isle, Midtown/Woodbridge, Murals of Southwest Detroit, Automotive Heritage, Southwest Detroit/Fort Wayne, Public Art and our favorite Memorial Day Weekend treat: Techno in the 313. Be sure to visit wheelhousedetroit.com/tours to read up on our complete roster of offerings and to make a reservation.

Our tours are a fun and healthy way to explore the city, and we believe that even life-long Detroiters will learn a thing or two on them! To make sure that we have accurate and up-to-date information, we partner with community organizations and then share a portion of the proceeds -- over $6,000 to date -- with the group that helped us design and execute the tour. Some of our partners include People for Palmer Park, Bridging Communities, Automotive National Heritage Area, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, the Sierra Club, Villages CDC and the Belle Isle Conservancy.

We also offer private group tours, which are great as a corporate team-building exercise, non-profit fund-raiser, conference activity or pre-wedding excursion. Group rentals are also available at a discounted rate with an advance reservation. Give us a call at 313-656-2453 or email us at info@wheelhousedetroit.com and we'll set something up!

Fender Bender Maintenance Classes Mark your calendars for our bi-weekly bike maintenance classes taught by our friends at Fender Bender! The two hour Tuesday workshops includes instruction on how to change a flat, patch a tube, adjust your seat and handlebars plus some trouble-shooting tips, Rules of the Road discussion and commuting guidelines. Classes cost just $5 and include a patch kit. Dates are May 8 and 22; June 12 and 26; July 10 and 24; August 14 and 28; and September 11 and 25. They start at 6 p.m. sharp and are first-come, first-serve.

Wednesday Wheelhouse Workouts Every other Wednesday, join us for Wheelhouse Workouts, a 20-mile fitness ride at a casual pace (12 to 15 mph) with a varying route. This ride is offered in conjunction with our friends at FitnessWorks, who will kindly provide participants with a rest and water stop. Dates are May 16; June 6 and 20; July 18; August 1 and 15; and September 5 and 19. This ride is FREE!

Other Great Events There is a great number of exciting rides in Detroit this year, and we wanted to make sure that we at least inform you of the ones in which we are involved!

• Ride of Silence: An annual, national, slow-paced bicycle ride that honors those cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. The 10-mile Detroit Ride of Silence will be on May 16 at Belle Isle leaving from Scott Fountain promptly at 7:00 pm.
• Cycle Into Spring: Join the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative for this inaugural event on May 19 to raise funds for the Conner Creek Greenway. The 20-mile route will begin and end at Maheras Gentry Park on the shores of the Detroit River; sites include Mt. Olivet Cemetery and Chandler Park. The ride costs $25 or $35 with lunch from Slow's Bar B Q. Join us on the Eastside for a fun ride for a great cause! Registration is open.
• Detroit Up North Ride: We're hitting the road to Port Austin! There are one- and two-day options for this 150-mile haul and you can also choose to camp with us if you so please. Get the deets here and register here.
• Tour de Troit: Registration is open for the Eleventh Annual Tour de Troit. This year, the date is September 15. We're looking at 5,000 participants this year, so lock your spot in early!

We will have more information on other rides we support in future E-Blasts, including Cycle for Literacy (June 16), Bike the Bridge (June 17), Colin Hubbell Memorial Ride (August date TBD), Jcycle II (August 19) and Compuware Motor City Bike Ride (August 25).

One last thing: Wheelhouse will be providing free bike parking at all Detroit City FC home games, which will be held at Cass Tech. The matches are set for May 12 and 26; June 2, 16 and 23; and July 1. We are super excited to support Le Rouge!

See you soon at the Wheelhouse…and on the road!

Looking forward to a great summer, Your Friends at Wheelhouse Detroit

1340 E. Atwater Detroit, MI 48207 313-656-BIKE (2453) www.wheelhousedetroit.com wheelhousedetroit.wordpress.com Become a Facebook Fan of Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop!

Detroit Complete Streets Symposiums

Detroit Complete Streets Coalition is hosting a symposium on Complete Streets. There are two identical sessions, so plan to attend the one most convenient for you! About this event Participants will learn about complete streets, discover some local examples of complete streets and understand what Detroit is doing to implement this kind of infrastructure. They will also learn how they can become more active in the process. Detroit area organizations doing work related to complete streets will have tables at both events with information for the public.

Tuesday • November 1, 2011 10:00am – 12noon Northeast Guidance Center 2900 Conner - Building A Detroit, MI 48215

Wednesday • November 2, 2011 5:00pm – 7:00pm Focus: HOPE Family Learning Center (located inside of the Center for Technology) 1400 Oakman Blvd. Detroit, MI 48238

Speakers Todd Scott: Detroit Greenways Coordinator, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance Hannah Kelley: Detroit Department of Transportation

Refreshments will be served! RSVP – Call 1-877-926-8300 Questions – Email Myra at mmtetteh@gmail.com

Lucinda Means Advocacy Day

If you are all fired up about making streets safer for cyclists, consider heading to Lansing on May 26 for Lucinda Means Advocacy Day. League of Michigan Bicyclists hosts a day of meeting with lawmakers and, of course, a bike ride! It costs $10 and starts at 8:30 a.m.

The tentative schedule is:

8:30 am - Bike rally leaves from MSU Bikes to State Capitol 9:15 am - Opening session 10:15 am - Meetings with Representatives and Senators 1:00 pm - Lunch on Capitol grounds 2:00 pm - Group photo on Capitol steps 2:30 pm - Lansing by bicycle tour

This year, LMB is joining forces with Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and Michigan Mountain Biking Association for a triple team of bike-related issues.

Find out more and register here.

Bike Summit 2010

Kelli attended the 2010 Bike Summit in Washington, DC last week and came back brimming with ideas from around the country. A random sampling of thoughts and ideas...

(Kelli on a pedicab on Capitol Hill!)

• Revolution Cycles in DC has added a fourth location that functions as bike share, rentals, service and retail accessories. It was interesting to hear a larger retailer talk about rentals turning more people into cyclists, ultimately helping his business. We would concur!
• Learned a bit about the cycling commuter tax benefit, although more research is in order. Certainly, our employees would qualify...
• Adventure Cycling, an organization we first encountered last year when they came to town to discuss the Underground Railroad Cycling Route they are working on, talked about cycling tourism as a growing industry. This is a concept we are really trying to nudge our Convention & Visitors Bureau to "get." So far, not a whole lotta luck, but we'll keep plugging away.
• Quebec's La Route Verte bicycle route looks amazing. Road trip 2011?
• The Michigan delegation at the summit, which included -- among others -- Todd Scott of Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, John and Wes from PEAC, John Lindenmeyer from League of Michigan Bicyclists, Rory Neuner from Safe Routes to School and two guys from Copper Harbor that are building an amazing trail system up there in the UP, spent a day meeting with staffers from the offfices of Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow as well as members of Congress. We discussed Complete Streets and other issues near and dear to our hearts, and heard many comments about how much more sophisticated and persuasive the bike lobby has become over the last decade.
• All in all, it was a great experience. Special thanks to the National Bicycle Dealers Association for the new bike shop scholarship that afforded Kelli the trip!

Detroit = Bike Friendly

So it's not Portland, but Detroit's low density and wide streets mean great riding. And now, the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance is getting the opportunity to prove it to the rest of the world. They've just received a $15,000 grant from REI and Bikes Belong to help earn us a Bike Friendly City designation. Kudos! Kelli just returned from the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, so she'll be posting a re-cap soon on some exciting initiatives and ideas that were generated on Capitol Hill!

Meanwhile, enjoy this early spring while it's here!

Cycling to celebrate our Underground Railroad history

On Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m., Adventure Cycling Association along with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission are hosting a meeting about their proposed Underground Railroad Route. There will also be updates on greenways and trails in the Detroit hub and the Freedom Trail Commission’s efforts to designate the Detroit River as an International Heritage Site. The meeting will be held at Historic Second Baptist Church, 441 Monroe Street in Greektown. RSVP to Beth Petersen at 800.755.2453 x 211 or bpetersen@adventurecycling.org.