Detroit BikeBlog, Cycling the Renaissance City


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June 8th, Summer Storm

A line of severe storms pushed quickly through Michigan earlier today sparking tornado warnings and bringing storm force winds. Not much word yet on damage, but by the time the storm came to downtown it was more dramatic than powerful.

Update: while downtown was let off lightly, much of Michigan was hit hard and many remain without power in the sweltering heat days later.

The storm soaks downtown in an eerie stormlight ... but that was about all.

Weather.com radar shows the approaching wall - sailors beware!

June 7th, Redbull Air Races

Much of last weekend was spent risking sunburn and heavy crowds. All to to catch a view along the river of Detroit-Windsor's first visit from the Redbull Air Race circuit. With $15 tickets to the public viewing areas sold out just days after they went on sale, it was time to find a good hill and watch the action. We were treated to the usual pre-race show of flypasts and aerobatics, with the star turn being a flyby of a modern fighter jet (F16 or similar) in a near-stall position next to an old turboprop, demonstrating that it could fly just as slowly as these little planes. After which it turned around over the ambassador bridge and thundered down the river, its twin booms proving a near stall to Mach 1. If you missed the show or are planning to come next year, here are some views from along the riverfront (drop me a mail if you want more information on viewing locations).

The hill by Harbor Park attracted a good crowd.

While the media gathered with paying crowds in front of the Ren near the control tower

Pre-race interviews are thrown up onto big screens on both sides of the river

While the race is filmed from one kick-ass chase helicopter

After Saturday's aborted qualifying due to high winds the competitors finally arrived for Sunday's race

Immediately they arrive at the circuit the planes get picked up by the camera in the chase 'copter

Huge numbers of boats (maybe 300+) gathered to watch on both sides of the river

The view from the hill was pretty good...

... as planes dodged between the towers placed in the river and soared into the air to loop back into the circuit

The RedBull team race past downtown Windsor

High winds mean that not every team make it through the course without clipping a tower!!

But most time the pilots nail their targets ...

... but only by weaving with near miraculous dexterity.

Between races the chase helicopter drops back to the riverwalk.

From the Joe to Belle Isle the RiverWalk proved a hit.
Even more were able to gather on the Windsor side. Despite the high winds (which are not atypical along the river) the event was a hit
and I'm going to hope to grab some tickets before they sell-out next year!

May 26th, REDWINGS REDWINGS

Damn, one hectic weekend - spent forever dashing from place to place around town, from Wayne State to Eastern market to the DEMF to GP to BI etc etc. And of course there were the Redwings games to catch as well! So it was a real treat to just drop everything on Sunday afternoon and on the spur of the moment drop into Comerica park to catch a few innings. With standing for under $15 and the sun high this really hit the spot, no better way to just kick back on a Sunday PM!