Ann Arbor is a Michigan college town a few miles outside of Detroit. As the home of Google’s AdWords division and Domino pizza you might not immediately associate it with a healthy cycling community. However Ann Arbor positively welcomes cyclists so wherever you look there are people on classy road bikes, sturdy MTBs and, the most popular of all, ‘sit-up-and-beg’ town bikes.
Whilst on a recent trip to Michigan I bumped into a fixed rider and asked him about what kinds of cycling the area offered. 70 mile excursions along the wide open roads seemed to be his ride of choice. With more space on the tarmac, and fewer cars per mile than in the UK, I could see the appeal. Personally I was surprised by the poor condition of the roads. They say everything is bigger in the USA and that also includes potholes.
Although I didn’t find many mountain bikers in downtown Ann Arbor I discovered the next best thing… mountain bike beer. The local brewing company teamed up with a nearby Ypsilanti bike shop to support local trails through the sale of beer. I was able to express my ‘support’ for the mountain bikers several evenings running.
On the wide sidewalks on Ann Arbor and the leafy university campus sit-up-and-beg bikes intermingled at low speeds with pedestrians. Cycle paths are conspicuous by their absence. Cyclists actually use their bells and pedestrians seem to respond appropriately. Very strange. Of course it wasn’t all idyllic and one taxi driver rattled off the familiar shouldn’t be on the road tirade. However two factors seemed to make cycling more appealing to the citizens. Firstly the weather is quite settled, so although the winters are very cold, the summer is relatively dry so people spend less time worrying about packing waterproof clothing. Secondly Ann Arbor is a relatively low crime area and the fear of bicycle theft was a minimal concern. Londoners would laugh at the puny bike locks Ann Arbor residents use.
A graduate student at the nearby University of Michigan said she bought a cheap mountain bike from Target due to rumours of quality bikes being stripped for parts. But on the whole people seemed happy to take their bicycles pretty much everywhere. Some commutes were surprisingly short which seemed to free people up to take less clutter with them - afterall who needs a puncture repair kit, pump, multitool, water and so on when the commute is only two miles?
Back in England I find myself wondering if more people would take up cycling if it weren’t for the fear of theft or vandalism? Unfortunately whatever we do the weather is one thing we really can’t fix.