AllYearGear.com

  • Goats and the City

    On Easter morning, I hoped on my bike and rode towards downtown. There were a lot of folks waiting for buses on Woodward. I love being that friendly bike guy. My hellos returned many smiles and “Happy Easters”.

    Not having enough time to ride the Riverwalk, I headed west to Trumbull and south towards Old Tiger Stadium. Just north of I-75 and near the shadows of the Motor City Casino are some goats. Seriously. Not just one or two, but a whole family of them with a bunch of hens and roosters.

    Welcome Urban Farming in Detroit

    With more than half of your population gone and large swaths of vacated open land, urban farming seems like a fine choice. The Greening of Detroit and Eastern Market Corporation are both involved in spreading the urban farming idea. As I bike around the City, I don’t always see goats, but I do see more large garden plots. According to the Greening folks, some of those urban farmers are now seeing their excess food at Eastern Market.

    With sprawl continuing to push the country further away from my home in Royal Oak, it’s exciting to see it reborn closer to home.

  • Next Detroit Alley Cat is April 20th

    Detroit Alley Cat from their myspace pageWhat the heck is an alley cat? It’s a fun, low stress, high fun urban biking challenge. It’s not something for the lycra-clad racer boy crowd. It’s a sure fire way to embrace or rediscover the simple fun of riding a bike.

    The last one I did started with cans of Red Bull and ended with cans of PBR. They was a whole lot of fun and mischief in the middle.

    Here’s an announcement for the next Detroit alley cat:

    On April 20th (4/20) at 4:20pm! This will be on a Sunday. Friends are doing this one and this is the info I have so far. This is going to be a fun race and not so much a crazy fast one! Teams of 4 so tell your friends and get your bikes ready! And yes this is the drug wars 4/20 race and frome what I know this is going to be sooper fun and a bit funny!

    Normally they start at Hart Plaza. You can watch their myspace page for additional updates.

  • Careful Riding on St. Patrick’s Day

    Chicago RiverI’ll ride in most any weather or conditions. That doesn’t scare me. Riding the roads on St. Patrick’s Day and other drinking holidays does. It’s a good time to be extra defensive.

    This photo of the river is not in Detroit, but Chicago. It was taken by Soupy who recently relocated there. Soupy’s got more cool photos and entries on his blog.

    While St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated on Saturday in Chicago, Detroit’s Corktown turned green on Sunday. Mike Connolly, Black Eyed Skeez, and I rode down to particpate in the fun.

    On the way there, I hijacked our ride so we could check out the pygmy goats and other farm animals on Cochrane just north of Old Tiger Stadium. They all came over to greet us, including their kids and a bunch of hens.

    I’m glad they’re back after being MIA over the winter. This spring I stopped in the neighborhood party store next door and asked about them. The lady behind the glass said the owner had recently stopped in to buy four loaves of bread for the hungry goats.

    Off the farm, we road over to Michigan Avenue and cheered on the Corktown 4-mile runners, grabbed free snacks from the Mercury Coffee Bar, and found a few spots at Slow’s bike rack — a rack that later became filled. Slow’s was packed. Nemo’s was packed. Even the LJ Lounge was shoulder to shoulder.

    We also stopped by a friend’s place in the Grinnell lofts. Wow. It was a great place with a very cool outdoor deck on the rooftop.

    Eventually we got back on our bikes and rode home into the wind. Another holiday in the saddle.

  • Robert’s Winter Ride Challenge Series Wraps Up

    Neighbor: You’re not going biking tonight, are you?
    Me: Oh yeah. Can’t miss it. They take attendance.

    Winter Ride Challenge SeriesThat was a conversation I had with my neighbor as we were once again shoveling our driveways after the most recent snowstorm.

    Winter biking is great fun. Pulling on layers of clothes, prepping your crusty bike, and being cold for that first mile is not fun.

    What makes Robert (Herriman’s) Winter Ride Challenge Series (WRCS) so valuable is it motivates you to get out and get going even on the most wicked days. The motivation is he takes attendance. You get more points the colder it is. You also get bonus points for being on a singlespeed. If you can’t ride and just show up to see the group off, you still get social points.

    This year there were three rides per week: two from Royal Oak and one from Rochester Hills. It started January 2nd and ended March 10th. The biggest rides had 22 cyclists, the smallest had 3.

    As the WRCS progressed through the winter, Roberts tracked everyones points, ranked us, and posted the results on the WRCS blog. Group shots were also posted.

    Awards will be given at an upcoming end of the series party.

    We had some rough rides this year: icy roads, freezing rain, deep snow, sub-zero wind chills. Mother Nature certainly put the “Challenge” into the series.

    So thanks to Mother Nature and Robert for pushing us through another Michigan winter of riding. Indoor trainers and gym memberships? Who needs ’em!

  • Our Big Winter Run up Woodward

    Runners in front of the Spirit of DetroitTime to put another check on the bucket list. On Saturday a group of us ran from the Detroit River to Royal Oak/Birmingham.

    The day began with a 5 AM alarm, about a hour before my furnace setback ends. The house was cold. I quickly checked the Weather Underground. It was much colder outside: 20F with a north wind pushing the wind chill down to 14F. Fully dressed in running gear with a couple gels and a $1.50 in fare, I ran about a mile to the bus stop on Woodward.

    I’ve looked at taking the bus in the past, but figuring out the SMART schedules wasn’t as convenient as getting Google driving directions. Now Google has a public transit option for Detroit. I was able to enter my starting and ending location then my desired arrival time. Google then told me where to get the bus and what time to be there.

    John Sotir and I grabbed the bus and were joined by Jon Bennett just one stop away. The bus was just about full by 6:30 AM — on a Saturday no less. We were the only ones wearing lycra.

    We got off at Jefferson and met up with the others that had taken an earlier bus or the Marielle Shuttle Service. There was 13 of us in total. Marielle snapped a group shot in front of the Spirit of Detroit before we started heading up the Avenue.

    Group run up Woodward in DetroitFor many of us, the miles clicked by quickly. I think that was due in part to the density along Woodward. It’s really not that far from Jefferson to Campus Martius to Grand Circus to New Center and so on. It’s a contrast to running in lower-density places like Bloomfield Hills where the houses and streets are widely spaced.

    We also seemed to get a good bit of encouragement from others along the route, including some guy walking out of a Highland Park party store with a cigarette in one hand and a fresh 40 in the other.

    Fortunately for us, it seemed the north wind took a break at least until we crossed into Royal Oak. Still, there was enough breeze to push the heavy smell of Dutch Girl Donuts directly into our path.

    We got our hill workout going up and over the Eight Mile bridge though most passed on running under I-696.

    Due to the better conditions (less ice and snow) and lower vehicle traffic, we ran in the street. Unfortunately once into Royal Oak, we stuck to the often snowy and icy sidewalks.

    While some ran to their cars at the bus stops, I ran directly home. The main group continued into Birmingham where we all regrouped for a well-earned breakfast and hot chocolates.

    The best guess was the Birmingham guys got in 18.5 miles. I was closer to 16.

    Big thanks to the Wehrm for pulling this together as well as the aid station at 11 Mile. And, thanks to Marielle for the cool photos.

    I have a suspicion we’ll be doing this again.