TRAVERSE CITY — Summer is on its way and it’s usually when people start to think of summer sports. Biking, is a popular activity in Traverse City with several recreational trails to ride and many roads have bike lanes.
“We have a strong road biking scene. We’ve got a commuter scene,” City Bike Shop owner, Hunter Gardner said. “Like a kind of what I’d call like, your regular people, casual recreational rider. My personal favorite segment, the mountain biking segment, is really strong.”
Once warm weather hits, people are looking for ways to get outside and enjoy northern Michigan. As they get ready, they head to bike shops for repairs or maybe to buy a new bike. The oldest bike shop in the Cherry Capital — City Bike Shop — sees an increase in sales this time of year.
“We have an enormous influx of people that are interested in buying bikes and also getting, you know, bikes that have been hanging on in the garage, serviced,” Gardner said.
This big increase in business is a 180 from what they experienced in the Winter.
“One of the biggest operational challenges of operating kind of the 45th parallel is the seasonality of the business,” Gardner said. “We go from painful, painful months in January, February, kind of depending on how spring rolls out... When everything starts to green up and people start thinking about biking.”
Traverse City was rated the number one bikeable city in northern Michigan by “People For Bikes” because of accessibility to trails in the area. The TART trails organization sees the impacts biking has on our economy firsthand.
“We know that over 50% of the people who are out using the trails are on a bike,” Director of Strategic Engagement for TART Trails Brian Beauchamp said.” So, it’s a huge component. Huge, huge, part of the use that they get, and we know that people who are active on bicycles are actually, not just going from their home out and back.”
TART trails sees more than 500,000 visits a year, with half of them being bicyclists. A past study by m-dot has shown that the area sees millions of dollars’ worth of economic impact form biking.
“They’re stopping along the way and they’re bringing their credit card,” Beauchamp said. “They’re building up an appetite going out to eat, shopping. So, it really is, you know, a driver much like our public roadways, people that access the places that they want to go and the cultural amenities that traverse city is known for.”