The Triple D

The University of Detroit Mercy Midnight Ride, the Beat the Train ride and the Tour De Troit... that's what we've dubbed the "Triple D". In order to complete the Triple D, basically we rode our bikes in and around Detroit beginning on Friday evening and ending on Saturday afternoon. Here's how it unfolded.

Alex and I took off from Royal Oak at 7pm Friday night and rode down to Traffic Jam & Snug in the Cass Corridor area in Detroit where we met up with a dozen or so Tree Farmers and friends for dinner before embarking upon the UDM Midnight ride.

Lets get this ride started off right

Chris F and Dave gettin' psyched up for the ride


Some of the gang getting ready to roll


Chased by white lights


A revised and shortened route for the UDM Midnight ride this year meant we ended up finishing the ride a few hours early and without having made the requisite stop at Lafayette Coney for coneys at 2 am. The shortened route left most ready for more, so without the police escort about 25 adventerous souls ventured from the UDM campus downtown for our coneys and then along the Dequindre cut and along the riverwalk before heading back to campus.

Lafayette Coney Island about 2:30 am.

Some questions are better not asked

Matt D took some great video footage of the Midnight Ride

That was it for most, but after we returned to hte UDM campus Alex and I turned around and headed back downtown to Chris F's apartment where we met up with Chris and Jared and the plan was to crash out for a while before getting back up and continuing the adventure. A quick 45 minute nap and a couple of cups of coffee later we were out the door again to catch up with the already in progress Beat The Train ride.

Getting ready to crash at roughly 5:15 am

Breakfast at 6:15 am

Meeting up with Beat the Train about 6:45 am

Heidelberg Project at sunup

Belle Isle looking back at Detroit

The Beat the Train ride typically wraps up with a mexican breakfast, but we opted to pass on breakfast and head directly over to the start of the Tour since I still needed to register for the ride which was to start shortly thereafter.

The Tour De Troit is a leisurely 40 mile charity ride through Detroit sponsored by the Greater Corktown Development Corporation to raise money and awareness for the development of greenways and bike lanes in Detroit here's more . This year there were more than 1,100 participants and the event raised more than $10,000 for the cause.

Starting at 10 am from the old train station in Corktown and ending there about 4.5 hours later after one stop for snacks at the Northwest Activities Center (and one flat tire for me in a not-so-great-part of Detroit) later, it was finally time to call it a day.

In front of the old Train Station registering for the Tour de Troit

Who says good help is hard to find

Cruising down Michigan Avenue


After the Tour finished, on the way back up to Royal Oak we stopped by and paid our respects to the remnants of Tiger Stadium.

Finally heading back into Royal Oak


At 4:15 pm Saturday after 150 miles and more than 12 hours on the bike I arrived home and fell asleep on my living room floor.

I ended up getting a good night sleep Saturday to make sure I was in tip top form for my next riding adventure on Sunday afternoon, the Plymouth Cruiser Pub Crawl....