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.
