Earth Day In Detroit: Motor City Becomes Cycle City – Forbes

Before Henry Ford made cars, he rode bicycles. And now, bicyclists are staking their claim in the Motor City.

Racing enthusiasts have brought back a long-abandoned velodrome. Cycling are gaining members, including one called Grown Men on Bikes, which has its own theme song. It’s easy to find a bike tour and tourism officials even took journalists on a ride around Detroit last year.

On Sunday, which is Earth Day, the Detroit Tigers are jumping on the bandwagon. The team is hosting its first Ride to the Ballpark event, testing its theory that those people riding around the city also like to go to ball games. “Detroit has a very cool, strong cyclist culture,” Eli Bayless, the Tigers’ director of promotions and in-game operations, told our public media project Changing Gears.

The Tigers aren’t the first to do this: the Houston Astros kicked off the bike to the ballpark trend last May, the inspiration for what’s going on in Detroit. But it’s a reflection of how far cycling culture has come in the Motor City.

On Sunday, the Tigers are offering a $14 package that includes an upper deck ticket to the game, and a ticket for a bicycle valet. Cyclists will pull up to Columbia Plaza in front of Comerica Park’s Gate A entrance, to check their bikes, and collect them after the game.

via Earth Day In Detroit: Motor City Becomes Cycle City – Forbes.

Strange Random Cycle Quote:

For instance, the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon. – Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

 

 

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World Naked Bike Ride hits Halifax – CBC News

Image via Wikipedia

The fourth annual World Naked Bike Ride rolled through Halifax and other Canadian cities on Saturday. Some people in downtown Halifax may have been startled to see about 100 naked bicycle riders on parade over the weekend. The global ride was intended to promote bicycling as an alternative to cars and other oil-dependent modes of travel, and to remind motorists to drive safely around bicycles.

For some of the cyclists, the day was also a personal triumph. “It was just like, 15 minutes before that I decided to do it,” said Laura Burke, a first-time naked rider.

via World Naked Bike Ride hits Halifax – CBC News.

 

Strange Random Nudity Quote:
If God had meant us to walk around naked, he would never have invented the wicker chair -Erma Bombeck

 

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To catch a bike thief – use GPS and Google Maps

Image via Wikipedia

According to Immobilise, the police-backed property register, a bicycle is stolen every minute in the UK and less than 5% are ever recovered. The sad truth is that you can use a couple of chunky locks and leave your bike in busy, well-lit places, but nothing stops a really determined thief. The SpyLamp is pragmatic; it accepts that bikes get stolen from time to time, and focuses on getting them back and catching the thief. A mobile phone, vibration sensor and GPS chip are all crammed inside what looks like – and even works as – a rear bike light. You mount it on your bike and it beams its location back to you if it senses movement – such as a bike thief carting it off, but – hopefully – not someone bumping into it as they lock theirs next to it. It keeps doing that until it’s disarmed or runs out of power. Before that happens you can hand that information over to the police, who swoop in and save the day in theory.

via To catch a bike thief – use GPS and Google Maps | Matthew Sparkes | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Strange Random Bike Quote:

Why should anyone steal a watch when he could steal a bicycle? – Flann O’Brien

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Video – A Bicycle Trip

Image via Wikipedia

A short Italian animated film commemorating an important scientific discovery …

Strange Random Bicycle Quote:

The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community – Ann Strong

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