This Saturday, March 21st is Spring Training II, the first Detroit Synergy ride of the 2009.

It’s 16 “relaxed but steady” miles and free.

The ride begins at 10 AM sharp at the Millennium Bell, Grand Circus Park, downtown Detroit.

Helmets are required on this ride.

The Detroit Bikes! Spring Training Ride will cruise past current and past Detroit sports venues, including Tiger Stadium, Olympia Stadium, Recreation Park, and others.

Wear something that represents your favorite Detroit team (professional, college, high school, etc.), such as a T-shirt, bandanna, whatever, and help us challenge Mother Nature to bring the warm weather on!

Additional information is on the Detroit Synergy web site.

It all came together last weekend in Detroit. The weather was perfect and there were plenty of group rides to choose from. Detroit Synergy hosted two rides. The first started in the shadows of Comerica Park, followed the Riverwalk, and ended up in Eastern Market.

One highlight was using the automated self-cleaning bathroom at Gabriel Richard Park. It’s the first time a bathroom has spoken to me — and in different languages too.

After that ride, I rode over to the Urban Bean Company for a cold drink. While there, a Back Alley Bikes/Trips for Kids Detroit ride showed up.

Sunday was another Synergy ride that started on Detroit West side, meandered through Rouge Park, on to Hines Drive, and the Rouge Gateway Trail. The end destination was Henry Ford’s Fair Lane Estate in Dearborn. And with the spring flowers starting to come alive, it was a great choice.

You know biking in Detroit is getting bigger when you get 30-some people showing up for a bike ride in freezing temperatures — and these aren’t your lycra-clad racer types that have been riding all winter.  These are normal people.

Last Saturday’s ride was called Spring Training was more than a cycling-baseball pun.  The ride connected various spots in Detroit where professional sports are played or were once played. Comerica Park, Ford Field, and Joe Louis arena were the obvious choices.  The old Olympia site and long-gone baseball fields were not.

We also included a ride on the east Riverwalk and a stop at Mudgie’s deli in Corktown.  At the latter, I enjoyed a Mexican Coca-Cola — made with real sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup.  It was refreshing despite my disheveled look in the above photo.

Thanks to Detroit Synergy and Tom Page for a great ride.  Thanks to Sue “Sumoe” Moretto  for the photos.

I don’t recall ever having so many memorable rides in one year. Maybe I’ve been too caught up in training rather than just riding. Maybe I just haven’t been as adventurous riding around town. Maybe it’s because I’m older.

No matter what the reason, I had a wealth of memorable rides last year. Rides that have stuck with me, changed me. Rides that give me a little flush of adrenalin just replaying them in my head. Rides that make me feel fortunate. (more…)