Share The Road

The Cass Corridor is cold, snowy and largely deserted outside of The Hub in Midtown Detroit this time of year. That’s not the case inside the new bike shop just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Bicycling enthusiasts of all ages, colors and creeds rub tires inside a space littered with custom wheels and vintage bikes.

There is a constant stream of people coming and going from the shop in the dead of January, and they all got there on two wheels. Cold or no cold, these year-round commuters brave the freezing temperature, ice and snow to keep on pedaling. The destinations for these die-hards are their jobs, local businesses, friends and families.

"The winter time weeds out all of the wussies," says Jordan Bentley, the mechanic manager at The Hub.

This is the fifth year the 23-year-old has been riding year-round, and he is far from alone. The steady stream of half-a-dozen people in The Hub in the dead of January are all year-round commuters. The type of people who watch the Weather Channel to pump themselves up for another day of biking in a winter wonderland.

"I cheer myself up by looking at the weather in Barrow, Alaska," says John Orland, a 21-year-old College of Creative Studies student who lives in Woodbridge. "That’s the coldest place in the U.S."

Hot for cold rides

Most of us look out the window at the snow drifts, icicles and blowing wind and say to ourselves, "No way I’m going out in that." The people at The Hub and numerous other bike shops across Metro Detroit do the same and say, "I can't wait to go out and have fun in that!" read more here