Tour de Troit

Pre-Registration Kick-Off July 1!

On Wednesday, July 1, the 8th Annual Tour de Troit will kick-off pre-registration with onsite registration at the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex (T-Plex) followed by a free 10-mile bike ride that will take in notable cycling sites in Detroit and will end up at New Center’s Comerica CityFest.

The Tour de Troit, set for September 19, is a bike ride that explores some of the city’s historic areas, takes in many of its most breathtaking sights, and provides bicyclists a unique opportunity to legally “take over” the streets of Motown. Last year’s ride attracted over 1,000 riders; organizers are planning for 2,000 in 2009.

Registration Information: July 1 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at T-Plex, located at 461 Piquette. Volunteers will be on-hand to register cyclists at the 2008 price of $25. After July 1, registration will jump to $30. $5 of each onsite registration will be donated to T-Plex in support of its mission. Registrants will be able to tour the historic site, which currently includes an exhibit about how the bike industry in Detroit helped to shape its early automobile industry.

Ride Information: At 7:00 p.m., registrants are invited to take part in a free 10-mile bike ride that will take in Midtown, Eastern Market, the Dequindre Cut, the Detroit International RiverFront and Downtown — and will swing by the Tour de Troit’s sponsor bike shops, Wheelhouse Detroit and The Hub of Detroit. The ride will end up at New Center Council’s Comerica CityFest which, for the first time, is providing free onsite bike parking. Riders can park their bikes and explore the festival at their leisure and ride home from Comerica CityFest or return to their car at the T-Plex, just blocks away.

Greater Corktown Development Corporation sponsors the Tour de Troit to raise awareness of biking as a mode of transportation, to publicize the growing greenways network in the City of Detroit and all of Southeastern Michigan, and to raise funds for Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink. The Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink is a planned series of bikelanes and off-road pathways intended to connect the neighborhoods of Corktown and Mexicantown to each other and to the Detroit River.

Pre-registration for the Tour de Troit will be available at www.tour-de-troit.org beginning on July 2. The cost is $30 per rider ($20 for students) and includes a tee-shirt if registration is confirmed prior to September 1.

For the first time, the Tour de Troit is offering riders two options. The first — and primary — will be a leisurely ride of 30 miles with police escort. The second option, new this year, is intended for extremely experienced cyclists. It is a metric century (62 miles) that will not include police escort. Both rides will be sweeper- and SAG-supported and will begin at 10 a.m. at Roosevelt Park, located at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and 14th Street.

Confirmed sponsors include Miller Canfield, Team Detroit, Savor Southwest, Southwest Detroit Business Association, Michigan Avenue Business Association, Slow’s Bar-B-Q, Burst LLC, Vitamin Water, Wheelhouse Detroit, Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance, Recy-clean, Michigan Green-Safe, The Hub of Detroit, New Center Council, Detroit Bikes!, Kem 3D, Canine to Five Detroit Dog Daycare, Bureau of Urban Living and Zachary and Associates.