Category: General Info

Welcome Back Winter Wednesdays

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Last year we had to pause our Winter Wednesdays (Tracy had surgery and was in recovery mode unable to ride).

We are welcoming back our Weekly Winter Wednesday Rides for the 2024/2025 season starting Wednesday November 5, 2025 and will run through April 2025!

One exception is Tuesday, November 19, 2024 when we meet to ride through the Wayne County Light Fest on Hines Dr.  (Bike Dearborn’ s Ride Through the Light Fest). We will not have a Wednesday ride this week. 

Take note that our meet up location has changed for 2024/2025.  We will now be meeting at the west Downtown PEACE Park.  Free parking is available in both parking structures on either side of the park.
Google maps lists the address of the park as 22271 W Village Dr, Dearborn, MI 48124.

Departure: 6:30p (please arrive 15 minutes early and be ready to ride)
Pace: 12mph avg
Distance: 12-15 miles(may be adjusted for weather conditions)
Helmets and Lights are REQUIRED! Please also have an extra tube for your tires. 

We have also formed a WhatsApp community where you can get quick updates on our events or get more involved in advocacy with our group.   Please join.  Bike Dearborn WhatsApp Community.

#BikeDearborn

BETTER BICYCLING IN DEARBORN, MI
BUILD COMMUNITY | OUTREACH | GIVE BACK | ADVOCATE

When choosing to ride with us, participants agree to follow the guidelines below….

– Have FUN and INVITE a FRIEND! 
– ABC Quick Check(Air, Brakes, Chain, Quick Release) before every ride.
– Always carry a spare inner tube specific to your bike!
– There is no additional ride support or sag pick up/sweeper/corkers on extra credit or off season rides. While we are no drop…this means you must be able to maintain the groups advertised pace/distance. If you fall behind, we will stop WHEN WE CAN SAFELY do so to regroup. If you feel you can’t finish, you need to find your own ride back to the start or home. We say this with kindness. Know your limits for each ride posted. We always try to be clear on pace and distance.
– These rides are not usually kid friendly. Know your child’s ability before arriving. We don’t want to set them up for failure. Biking should be fun!
– Ride no more than 2 abreast. We share the road.
– Obey traffic lights. Use hand signals.
– Ride in a straight line. Stay off the sidewalks.
– Have fun and listen to music! Keep it at a respectful level. Please no ear buds!
– Take photos! Lots of them and post them in the group and all over social media. Hashtag them…#bikedearborn! Be safe about your photo taking/riding. Try to limit photos to stops.
– Please no smoking!
– You ride at your own risk. You assume your own risks when cycling through the city streets and their hazards. Bike Dearborn and the City of Dearborn and their representatives are not responsible for anything that may happen to you on this ride. If you attend our rides, you agree to this statement. As an adult, you make your own decisions on how to ride and where to ride.  Be kind and respectful to all our participants. We all operate at different levels of ability and comfort. Bike Dearborn is not affiliated with the City of Dearborn.

Bike Dearborn Founder’s Statement of Cooperation with Other Bike Groups

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PLEASE READ:

Getting excited for the FUTURE!!
2023 Dates for our Bike Dearborn Special Edition Rides:
– First Dozen: January 1st, 2023 1pm meet-up/ride-out 2p at Qahwah House West Dearborn

– Homecoming Ride: Saturday August 5, 2023 meet-up 9am/ride-out 10am. Location TBA

– Dearborn to Camp Dearborn Overnight Camp – June or July 2023 (pending trail construction interference)

– Every Wednesday Night at 6:30p year round as weather permits!

***It is our hope that if we get these dates out far in advance to the general public, that other area groups will be encouraged to cooperate and not schedule conflicting rides that cause confusion for members that may belong to multiple riding groups in the city. We have become disheartened by conflicting rides that force members to choose one or the other group to participate with. We use these Special Edition Rides as fundraisers for our organization. These are annually recurring events. It’s not fair to our cyclists when they have to pick and choose which event to participate in because there is another ride on the same date and even possibly at the same time as ours. Our goal should be working together to get as many people riding in Dearborn as possible…not causing conflict between groups and their members. We pride ourselves on our top notch events and our organization’s legitimacy in the City of Dearborn as we continue to advocate for better cycling in Dearborn!

We at Bike Dearborn are always open and transparent about our event planning in our group…it is open to the PUBLIC here on Facebook (Bike Dearborn -The Group) and on our website (www.bikedearborn.com). We recognize that there are other biking groups in Dearborn. We look forward to working collaboratively to promote everyone’s events.

Let’s all work to do better!
Tracy Besek – Founder and Ride Leader of Bike Dearborn

BETTER CYCLING IN DEARBORN, MI
Bike for Your Health, Our Community, Transportation, and the Environment
BUILD COMMUNITY | OUTREACH | GIVE BACK | ADVOCATE

ETA: Yes, we hope to host the 2nd Annual Mayor’s Bike Ride in early May again next year…we work in collaboration with Mayor Abdullah Hammoud’s team on this event.

Who Was Edward N. Hines?

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Edward N. Hines

With the recent construction on Hines Drive it brought to mind a question…

You most certainly have heard of Hines Drive. You’ve likely driven on Hines Drive (when it’s not flooded from rainfall). You might have spent an afternoon in one of the many playground and picnic areas along the drive in Hines Park. You possibly have even ridden your bike along the 17.5-mile Hines Park Trail. But who was Edward N. Hines? Why does he have a county park and road named after him?

Edward N. Hines (January 13, 1870 – June 4, 1938) was a member of the Wayne County Road Commission from 1906 to 1938. As a cyclist in 1890, Hines formed a Good Roads organization in Michigan which advocated for the development of county roads. This led to the passage of the County Road Law in 1893, and a change to Michigan’s Constitution in 1894.  When the Wayne County Board of Roads was created in 1906, Hines was appointed to the board along with Henry Ford and Cassius R. Benton. In 1909, Hines was responsible for the construction of the first full mile of concrete road pavement in the world, the stretch of Woodward Avenue between Six Mile Road and Seven Mile Road in Detroit.

In 1911 Hines came up with possibly one of the greatest innovations in road development with the idea of a line down the middle of the road to separate two-way traffic. It is said he got this idea while watching a horse-drawn milk wagon leaking a line of milk down the street. Painted center lines were first used in 1911 on River Road in Trenton, in Wayne County. One of Hines’ other innovations was snow removal from public roads.

Hines was a national leader in the concept of landscaping highway rights-of-way. He was instrumental in movements to beautify highways by eliminating power lines and billboards. In the 1920s, Hines was a leader in the movement to acquire land along the Huron River and the Rouge River for the purpose of converting them into parks. In 1937, the Middle Rouge Parkway was renamed the Edward N. Hines Parkway, in his honor.

The next time you’re out riding and notice that painted line on the street, think of Edward N. Hines and how the simplest of ideas can make all the difference.