A newcomer's guide to Ann Arbor's cycling community

Start with the big tent: AABTS

The Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society (AABTS, aabts.org) is the backbone of local road and touring riding: daily group rides at every pace, led by volunteer ride captains, rolling out of spots like Barton Nature Area and Parker Mill County Park. Annual dues are modest (check aabts.org for current rates), and non-members are welcome to try individual rides free. Their big annual event, the One Helluva Ride each July, runs paved and gravel routes through southeastern Michigan and ends with lunch. If you do one thing, join a Saturday AABTS ride and introduce yourself. That's how I did it.

The social ride: Ann Arbor Bike Party

On the last Friday of each month from April through October, a slow, friendly, all-ages group rolls out of the Kerrytown Farmers Market for 8 to 10 miles at a conversational pace, usually ending somewhere fun. No registration, no pace pressure, costumes encouraged. It's the lowest-stakes way to meet the community. Bring lights and a helmet.

Find your discipline

Roadies and racers gravitate to the Ann Arbor Velo Club. Mountain bikers plug into the Potawatomi Mountain Biking Association (PotoMBA), which builds and maintains local singletrack. The Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw ties it all together (touring, racing, trail stewardship, advocacy) with a monthly newsletter and an annual bike summit. Whatever kind of rider you are, there's a room with your name on it.

The dirt crew: PotoMBA

If you ride dirt here, you'll hear the name PotoMBA constantly. The Potawatomi Mountain Biking Association, founded in 1989, with 600+ members and Michigan's largest IMBA chapter, builds and maintains more than 100 miles of singletrack across Washtenaw, Lenawee, and Livingston counties, including both the Poto and DTE trail systems. They run group rides, trail work days, and fundraising events. Joining (via imba.com) or just showing up to a work day is the fastest way into the mountain bike community, and the trails you'll ride exist because volunteers built them.

Know your shops

Every cycling town has its living rooms, and here they're the bike shops. Sic Transit Cycles in historic Lowertown is the urban, gravel, and touring specialist with a real community feel. Wheels In Motion on Washtenaw Ave has been family-owned since 1933 and does expert service. Tree Fort Bikes in Ypsilanti is worth the drive for mountain and gravel. For cargo and family setups, Urban Rider Cargo Bikes on Miller Ave even lets you borrow a cargo e-bike to try. Walk into any of them, say you're new, and ask where people ride. You'll leave with a route and probably an invitation.

The trails that teach you the town

The B2B along the Huron River is the spine: start at Gallup Park and ride east or west until you feel like turning around. Bandemer and Barton give you nature ten minutes from downtown. When you're ready for dirt, Dexter puts you near the Potawatomi Trail at Pinckney, proper singletrack and the area's signature mountain biking, and Chelsea sits by the DTE Energy Foundation Trail, purpose-built flow trail in the Waterloo hills. Both towns also connect to the B2B, so you can mix pavement, gravel, and dirt in a single ride. In winter, those same trails get groomed for fat biking.

Mark the calendar

• Rode to Hell: each fall, usually early October. The signature regional gravel event: Chelsea to Hell and back, 24, 41, 71, or 100 miles, mostly gravel across four counties, part of the Michigan Gravel Race Series.
• One Helluva Ride: every July, hosted by AABTS. The big annual touring event through rural Washtenaw and neighboring counties, road-oriented, multiple distances, lunch at the finish.
• Triple Trail Challenge: each September, hosted by PotoMBA at Pinckney. A mountain bike weekend on the Poto and DTE singletrack.
• Ann Arbor Bike Party: last Friday of the month, April through October. The casual one (see above).

Event dates shift year to year. Check each organizer's site before you plan around one.

Check before you roll

Trail status changes with the weather, and around here there's a system. The SE Michigan Trail Conditions Facebook group is the go-to for real-time status across the region. For the DTE trail specifically, closures are posted only on the DTE Energy Foundation Trail Facebook page, nowhere else. Trailforks carries user reports and status flags too. One rule to know: the Michigan DNR can fine you up to $500 for riding officially closed natural-surface trails on state land, and e-bikes aren't allowed on DNR singletrack. When in doubt, check first. It's what the locals do.