Munching in the Mitten: Tour de Troit

On Friday night my Mom, Dad and I set out for Detroit to ride in the Tour de Troit on Saturday. We stayed at a hotel and woke up early Saturday morning to head to Roosevelt Park in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood.

Tour de Detroit is a 22-mile bike ride (62 miles for ambitious folk) through the historic areas of Detroit. This year's event attracted 4,300 bike riders and benefited the Southwest Detroit Greenlink. The areas we biked through included Woodbridge, New Center, Indian Village, Belle Isle, Downtown and obviously, Corktown. After completing 17 miles, including the 5 mile loop of Belle Isle, there was a rest stop for riders on Detroit riverfront with water, apple's and granola bars. Perhaps, the most exciting part of the rest stop was this tent with a logo designed by my summer roommate, Maureen!

Following the rest stop was a leisurely 5 miles through downtown back to Roosevelt Park. And then of course the post-ride festivities began - food, drink and music at Roosevelt Park. I enjoyed an Ethiopian vegetarian plate from Traffic Jam & Snug and pulled pork chili from Slow's BBQ - all delicious. Twenty-two miles and lunch later it was still only 1:00 so we drove to Eastern Market so that my parents could experience it on a market day. :)

The bike ride was such a fun experience. It was so nice to share what I love about Detroit with my Mom and Dad. I think they enjoyed it as well. My dad noted three firsts of the day: first time riding a bike in Detroit, first time visiting Belle Isle and first time visiting Eastern Market. My mom was talking about next year's ride on the car ride home. We'll be starting recruitment in a few months, friends. Here are a few photos from the day:

Helmet hair.

M & D. Aren't they cute?

Approaching downtown. RenCen to the left.

My favorite photo of the day. I took the photo blindly by holding my camera above my head as I rode away. I didn't realize until later that I caught two smilers on the right.