Category: Cycling

I went on another Detroit bike ride today with Andy, Kevin and Nick. Same meeting place (Belle Isle). The intent was to check out the newly opened Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park. Not just because it’s a 22-acre park on the riverfront, but because it extends the River Walk. The area that has been locked off from the public on the river side of the Riverfront Towers for many years is now finally open to pedestrians and cyclists.

Unfortunately, we didn’t realize the park was closed to cyclists this weekend due to grand opening festivities. Bad news for us, but the good news is that it looked very busy. The smell from the food trucks was intoxicating, and it looked to me that there were thousands of people having a great time! Unfortunately, none of us brought bike locks with us, so we couldn’t partake.

However, we found our way to the Southwest Greenway to get to Michigan Central Station, which I’ve had on my list since the public reopening last summer. I had not seen it since it was a landmark of Detroit decay (all the windows broken out, roof falling apart, etc.).

Today, October 25, 2025… more than a year beyond the completion of the restoration and opening to the public… it’s beautiful. Many thanks to everyone involved. The contractors that performed all the work, the engineers, the city, the residents and taxpayers, and Ford.

A picture of the outside from today:

And a couple from inside:

Despite the fact that there’s not much “public” about this building and the campus it sits on, it is no longer an eyesore or prominent display of industrial decay. It connects to the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park (and hence the River Walk) via the Southwest Greenway. A nice campus in a fantastic location, no longer dotted with a reminder of industrial decay and abandonment but instead a nice building of restored grandeur. Bravo!

I’ve been to Detroit 3 times this year for cycling. It’s an hour drive to get there and another hour to return. It’s the same for my friends. It’s worth it because it’s a fun place to ride. I honestly feel safer riding in Detroit than on the rural roads in my area. The greenways are attracting cyclists from outside the city.

I don’t remember where I saw it, but I read a story last year that predicted that Detroit could become a cycling Mecca in the U.S. in the next decade. If I squint (mostly to block out January and February weather), I can see that happening. Belle Isle plus the River Walk plus the other greenways… very nice leisure cycling.

Mom and I rode 30 more miles of rail-to-trail on Saturday September 27. All of the Michigan Air Line Trail and the Huron Valley Trail, in both directions. Both fully paved, both very straight, and both very flat but for the bridge over M5 on the Michigan Air Line Trail.

Mom shattered her record for longest bike ride; her previous record was 22 miles. I haven’t been recording all of my miles this season, but I think today would put me close to a record for a single ride this year (but not my record for daily total).

Mom has steadily gotten much better on the bike. I’m so proud of her! Today she got in some practice pedaling out of the saddle, as well as just standing on the bike.

To date, the list of trails/rides I’ve done this season:

• Paint Creek Trail (twice with mom)
• Holly Recreation Area (twice with mom)
• Belle Isle + Detroit River Walk + Dequindre Cut (once with friends, once with mom)
• Flint River Trail (with mom)
• Polly Ann Trail (with mom)
• Michigan Air Line Trail (with mom)
• Huron Valley Trail (with mom)
• Ann Arbor ride (with friends)
• Algonac ride with my friend Andy

Mostly just a note to myself…

Mom and I have now cycled the Flint River Trail and 22 miles of the Polly Ann Trail. Both are very nice, but I have 2 caveats:

• The Flint River Trail is confusing (at best) south of Dort Highway (several on-street detours without sufficient signage).
• If it hasn’t rained in a while, the Polly Ann Trail can be hard on a bicycle drivetrain. This is due to the trail being largely composed of fine crushed limestone, which winds up coating the whole bike with fine stone powder.

Neither of these caveats would prevent me from riding them again.

I think my friend Andy and I have turned this into an annual event. This year was only the second year we’ve done this ride, but it’s really nice and worth doing at least once a year.

Lifelong friends Nick and Kevin joined us this year. We started on Belle Isle, which was convenient parking-wise and let us bring coolers with food and drink for later. We rode off of Belle Isle to the River Walk to Dequindre Cut, rode the length of the Dequindre Cut, returned to the River Walk and rode it to the end, then rode the fenced-in perimeter of the new Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park just to get a peek at its progress. It looks like most of what remains to be done is landscaping, so maybe we’ll see a September opening? All I’ve seen PR and press-wise is “opens this fall”. Hopefully that doesn’t mean the second week of December. It looks like it’ll be a fun place for kids, and it’s 22 acres!

We then returned to our spot on Belle Isle to rehydrate and have a picnic lunch. We then rode the perimeter of Belle Isle. I didn’t keep track of total miles today and didn’t start the Workout app on my watch, since I knew it was a leisure ride. But Andy says we did 22+ miles. So nice to have this much biking space on the Detroit River front and Belle Isle!

I really enjoyed it, and I think everyone else did too.

I haven’t been logging my rides on the web site this season. The primary reason is that I met my weight loss goal last season and have kept the weight off. I’m about 25 pounds lighter than I was at the start of the 2024 season (from 178 pounds to 153 pounds).

Another reason is that I started the season late in terms of riding as many days as possible. I didn’t ride much in May.

I also just don’t need the extra motivation, and some of my rides are mostly leisure rides. Some with my mom, some with my friend Andy, many alone. Cycling has always been fun to me, and after losing 25 pounds, I don’t really have goals beyond the big psychological benefits of cycling. Getting outside, getting the heart pumping, getting endorphins (which has helped my sleep tremendously). I’m also paying attention to different metrics than I did last year, mainly time in heart rate zones 2 and 3. I don’t really set goals against these metrics, but they’re useful for identifying leisure rides versus workout rides and making sure I’m completing a reasonable number of workout rides each week.

And finally, but maybe most importantly, the gamification stuff in the Apple Fitness app provides enough motivation to push me a bit at times. As an example, today I logged 31.25 miles, all in ECO 1 (lowest pedal assist) on my 90 pound e-bike, burning 1,423 calories in the process. But it was split across 2 rides, the first being 24.65 miles. After seeing the data, I realized I could beat my daily move calories record and my daily exercise record with about 5 more miles, so off I went for another 6.6 miles (a ride to the local dairy farm for skim milk, with an extra hill climb tacked on). All in the name of getting 2 new awards in Apple Fitness: a New Move Record (for the calories) and a New Exercise Record (151 minutes).

Two years ago, I would have said that the gamification in Apple Fitness would not work on me. I was wrong. I knew this last season; even without using much data from Apple Fitness, I had done my own gamification by setting mileage and calorie goals and then going after them. But this year I’ve gone a little easier on myself in terms of mileage goals, and just used the Fitness awards as occasional extra motivation.

As of July 26, my e-bike odometer is at 2,039.1 miles. That accounts for last season and this season so far. I will not match last season’s mileage during this season (due largely to getting started much later). I feel a little bit disappointed, but really my goals have changed. I’m not looking to lose more weight, and my goal is more about maintenance, heart strength, endorphins and enjoying my rides.

My October 1st goal was 1,500 miles for the season thus far. On September 19th, I hit 1504.6 miles on the season odometer on the e-bike at the end of a 16.5 mile ride.

On September 18th, I broke all of my season records with a 30.6 mile ride. Longest ride, most miles in a day, most calories in a ride, most calories in a day. My plan was 25.5 miles, but my plan was foiled by construction on Waldon Road. I chose a long detour instead of backtracking. 30.6 miles is far from impressive for a serious road or cross-country cyclist, but for me it’s a good marker. I completed it all in ECO 1 and burned 1,401 calories.

My September 11 weigh-in: 158.5 pounds. I was sick for a few days afterward and hence didn’t ride. But I finally cracked the 160 pound barrier.

My September 22 weigh-in: 157.4 pounds.

One interesting thing I’ve recently noticed: distances feel shorter, despite the fact that I’m not going faster. In fact I don’t really notice how long some of my rides are until I drive the same route. This seems counter-intuitive. I believe this is due to familiarity. I’ve become much more familiar with my surroundings on the bike than I’d have any hope of doing in an automobile. I think it’s this new familiarity that makes all of these places feel closer than they actually are.

I decided to do some basic arithmetic on my summer cycling. At the moment I don’t know how much energy I’ve used charging my e-bike. Next season I intend to track it. But for now…

As of September 10, I’ve cycled 1,401 miles this season. My vehicle’s fuel mileage is terrible, averaging 17 mpg. If I had driven those 1,401 miles, I would have used 82.4 gallons of gasoline. Burning a gallon of gasoline produces 8,887 grams of CO₂. Hence 82.4 gallons produces 82.4 * 8,887 = 732,289 grams of CO₂. That’s 732 kilograms, or 1,610 pounds. The volume at 25C at atmospheric pressure would be .732289 metric_tons * 556.2m³/metric_ton = 407.3m³.

The Washington Monument structure’s volume is 623.7m³. Hence in just 1,401 miles in my vehicle, I produce enough CO₂ to fill 77.77% of the Washington Monument structure.

That’s not a mistake. We leave our carbon footprints in a whole lot of places, but our vehicles are not small contributors.

As of September 3rd, my e-bike odometer says 1,279.2 miles for this season. And according to my Apple Watch, I’ve burned 38,600 calories since June 24th (when I started using the Workout app).

My last weigh-in says I’m at 160.8 pounds, and the one a day before said 162.4 pounds. So I’m going to say I’ve lost about 17 pounds, give or take a couple of pounds (I didn’t take enough measurements pre-season, but I was at roughly 180 pounds). The first 10 pounds came off pretty quickly, but it’s getting tougher to lose more. As expected.

I’m still trying to get to 150 pounds, but it’s probably not realistic for this season. However, I’ve set a new mileage goal: 1,500 miles by October 1st. I think this will be more difficult than the summer miles, largely due to the fact that warmer cycling clothing makes rides more difficult. My warmer pants (which aren’t cycling pants) are quite a bit more restrictive of motion, and it’s noticeable as soon as I start pedaling. We’ll see how it goes. Of course I can always bump up the pedal assist level on the e-bike to compensate.

The number of miles is just a motivator; the real goal is burning calories, and enjoying the journey! But 1,500 miles for the summer season feels like a pretty good marker.

On Saturday’s ride on my e-bike, I suffered a rear tire puncture about 4.5 miles from home. The puncture was from a small piece of glass (that was still lodged in the tire when I stopped).

It was 84F and I was on paved roadside path, more than 10 miles into my ride, so I wasn’t thrilled about having to do a roadside repair. I was about 1/4 mile from where I planned to stop for cold hydration (local gas station / convenience store).

I always carry tools for flat repair on the e-bike. They’re in a Rockbros saddle-mounted bag. Inside is a multi-tool, a pair of tire levers, a small hand pump, a master link, and a new addition, the Park Tool GP-2C pre-glued patches. I previously carried the old school butyl patches and vulcanizing adhesive, but have never been thrilled with the idea of having to use them roadside, especially if I find the adhesive tube to have dried out.

Fixing a rear flat on this bike sucks, mostly because you can’t just flip it over. The display stands very proud of the top of the handlebars (dumb design), and in addition, the control pad and throttle also stand very proud of the handlebars. It’s also an 88 pound bike. So I removed my rack bag and used it as a cushion for the handlebars, which worked fine. I removed the rear wheel with the multi-tool, popped one bead of the fat tire, removed the valve stem cap, and then removed the tube. I then used the small pump to inflate the tube and find the puncture. It was about 1.5mm long, in a spot easy to patch. I sanded the area with the little piece of sandpaper included in the GP-2C kit, then applied one of the 6 patches. I slightly inflated the tube, reinstalled it on the rim, then reseated the tire. I then inflated the tire to a reasonable pressure (by feel), and reinstalled the wheel.

I made it home without any trouble, and two days later, the tire is still holding air. I have no idea how long this patch might last, but I suspect I’ll get another puncture flat before this patch fails. It adhered really well, is flexible, and fat tires are low pressure. The fat tires on my bike are also pretty thin and not very robust against punctures. I’m honestly surprised I made it this far into the season without a puncture, given that I ride a lot of roadside surfaces littered with crap thrown from vehicles. In this case, a piece of glass from a broken bottle.

Of course, I don’t consider any patch as a permanent fix. But I give the Peak Tool GP-2C a big thumbs up. The pack of 6 patches with sandpaper is TINY! I carry a 2-pack (so 12 patches total), which came in a tiny Ziploc bag (which presumably helps prevent the adhesive from drying out). For a puncture in an MTB tire, they will get you home, and probably much further. That’s if you’re not running tubeless, of course.

The reason I don’t run tubeless at the moment: I swap to studded tires in the winter, and that swap is much easier (and with no mess) with tubes.

I may eventually buy another set of wheels for this e-bike that would allow me to conveniently run tubeless: one wheelset with studded tires, one with spring/summer/fall tires.

Since I passed the original 1,000 mile goal a few weeks early, I moved the goal posts to 1,250 miles by September 1st. I got off to a good start, but eventually hit 3 straight days of rain where I didn’t ride (it was muddy). This put me behind my new goal.

On August 23rd, I rode 28.0 miles, split across 3 rides: 14.6 miles, 4.3 miles and 9.1 miles. 1,359 calories according to my Apple Watch. This put me back on track for the new mileage goal. It also happened to be a season record for miles in a day.

I have a 17+ mile route in the queue for August 24th, but I might need a recovery day or for the ride to be my weekly leisure ride (which is normally on Sunday).

It is possible that I’ll get to 1,500 miles by October 1st, which would be a nice entrance to less cycling-friendly weather here in Michigan. However, I expect weather to get in the way. I’ll honestly be happy with 1,400 miles by October 1st.