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Man Bikes Detroit In 'Operation Street Sweeper'

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's an ambitious mission -- to ride his bike on every single street in the city of Detroit. But one of our colleagues here at WWJ Newsradio 950 is getting closer to the finish line.

An engineer at WWJ, Al Bolding, began "Operation Street Sweeper" just over two years ago with just an idea.

"That I could say 'Well, I did this and nobody else has done it ... looking for something unique to do,'" said Bolding. "And if anyone thinks that is a small task, it is absolutely not," adding that just finding every street has been a challenge.

Bolding uses at least five different maps, two GPS receivers and simple rules: ride at least 100 feet on each of Detroit's more than 2,000 streets.

"But there are streets that are, like, extremely short and tons and tons of cul-de-sacs. Some are just gravel, but there's a street sign and it's officially on the map," he said.

Bolding rides just over 30 miles a week to and from the WWJ studios in Southfield.  He's already traveled hundreds of miles on his more than 30-year-old Schwinn Super Le Tour bike.

Has he faced any dangers along the road?

"I've been blessed. Actually, I haven't run into any problems," Bolding said.

Bolding hopes to complete his quest in the next couple of weeks.

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