Day 76: Taking a Chance on Detroit

I woke up at 10 am since Raul was leaving about then to make it to the free Mayer Hawthorne concert in a couple hours. I was tempted but didn't have a good place to stay between Ypsilanti and Detroit if I couldn't make it to my next destination. He rode me to downtown "Ypsi" and we parted ways. I thanked him for the couch space and the fun night and got some breakfast at a great little coffee shop, Beezy's. Now full, I found the nearest bike shop that was open to get the spoke replaced that popped coming into Ann Arbor yesterday. My searching resulted in Tree Fort Bikes and they were fantastic! After looking at my single walled wheel and being surprised when I told them it had lasted since Missoula, over 2000 miles ago, they all suggested a new wheel. The cheap wheel I had was getting too stressed and causing spokes to break, hence the recent flurry of them. After looking through their inventory one of the guys just gave me a nice double walled rim of his! It's used but still quite a bit more durable than my current wheel so I gratefully accepted and was only charged the $17 to install it, adjust breaks, etc. To add to that I got some great advice about riding into Detroit. I really wanted to see the city but not if it meant I couldn't do it safely, and I had heard a lot of discouragement along the way. One of the guys used to live and bike in Detroit for quite awhile and showed me a good route. Every time I stop in a bike store it shows me how much I still need to learn about repairs. Perhaps after a couple more of these trips I'll have it down.

Confident in my coming day I now started off for the Motor City. The ride along Michigan Ave was fine and I had three people talk to me and cheer me on. One lady, Kecia, even turned her car around and took a picture of me and some general info for her blog, which she writes as ladysixspeed, which is also her Twitter ID. I was almost into the city when a rusty nail found its way into my rear tube, my first flat since Rapid City with Steph. I hope the money that's not being spent on street sweeping is instead going to jobs programs and razing houses but I wasn't too upset since I had been flat-free for 24 days, my best run so far. Along the way in I passed through Dearborn and the Ford headquarters and saw several abandoned buildings. There were some that had windows busted and graffiti, others looked like they would collapse any minute, but I didn't see a lot of sketchy people drifting about and never felt unsafe. Once downtown I rode to the Riverfront Trail which was recently completed in 2004. The pathway is beautiful and sitting right along the path is also the GM building which is home to a lot of cafes and shops. The general attitude of all the people hanging around was delightful and I had a great time riding up and down the Trail. I also sat in the park on Woodward and watched some of the setup for a free concert that night and did some logistical planning for Boston. I wanted to see the concert but still had to leave Detroit via bike. I had a safe ride in but didn't want to press my luck riding through the dark so I left, regretting that I missed the show and also the Motown Museum that I found out about too late.

The ride north on Woodward was fine but I was glad to be doing it in daylight. Highland Park was the worst area I saw and I made sure not to stop there for anything. There were now dozens of abandoned and dilapidated buildings and more nefarious looking fellows standing around. I was on a six lane road with a lot of traffic and again never felt unsafe but I did put my pepper spray in my jersey pocket for quick access. I finally made it up to Andy's, a friend of my sister's that I had met a couple years ago in Toronto, and cleaned up in his apartment. Andy, his roomie Kevin, and I went out for BBQ where we had a couple orders mixed up by the staff and took the food over to Dragon's Mead Brewery. The beer and food were good and when finished we drove back to their place where I was lucky enough to have a couch for the second night in a row.