Detroit BikeBlog, Cycling the Renaissance City

February 17th, After the Fire, the flood

After a week away from Detroit in Salt lake city I got back to hear bizarre rumors about the tragic fire at the Forest Arms. Rumors .. and a spate of floods. Not the floods we got in Feb last year when virtually every other side road had a burst main, but the -28F (with wind chill) temperatures nonetheless did their damage. A few colleagues suffered from burst pipes and the apartment above mine in RiverPlace flooded badly. But luckily little came down to our level ... the advantage of good industrial design in a building as Motor would probably have noted.

However when I looked out of the window this morning it was to find a canal leading down to the river outside of the window.

On street mooring - prices are going to skyrocket.

Two hydrants gush for over 5 hours

Most turn away, a few try the water

...and find it deep

Maintenance guys from the Omi and Riverplace have a conference

February 6th, Fire Sweeps through an Apartment Block on Second

Pictures taken early this morning by GDJ (DetroitCracker) who was borrowing the old D70 camera when fire broke out across the street from his apartment. The story as we have it, and this is only rumor, runs that a guy on the point of eviction torched his apartment to prevent repossession and was killed in the ensuing fire.

The Fire burned from the early hours, gutting the top two floors of what looks to be the 104 year old Forest arms apartment block, leaving many students and local residents looking for temporary shelter.

More articles... Freep, DetNews, Flickr, DF

Fire on Second Avenue (Photo: Graham Johnson)

Other DFD fire shots taken near Masonic Temple, west side, east side.

February 5th.

SHELDON BROWN: 1944 - 2008

Sheldon Brown, nice guy, guru, hero. To anyone struggling with an ancient toolbox and a broken thingymajig Sheldon was a source of hope and generous help. I can't say how many times going over sheldonbrown.com has helped me to keep on the road. And of course there was always the humor! Sheldon Brown passed away this weekend, a great loss, RIP.

January 21st, Picture Perfect

Exposure Detroit have their regular show up at the Bean & Leaf (Royal Oak) over the next few weeks. A show really well worth catching - so many great shots and fun friendly people! I headed up there for the opening and met up with some long-time Flickr friends including Ledio, John and Paul among others. A real treat. Meanwhile my old D70 suffered some mechanical failure and has been finally replaced with a new D300 - sweet camera (first two shots below).

Meanwhile downtown creeps into the very heart of winter. The last two weeks of Jan and first two of Feb usually hit Detroit hard. Temperatures drop below 0F and burst the weakest water mains. The shipping on the river ties up to wait out the ice and the riverwalk... well, the riverwalk is kind of a quiet and beautiful place.