Detroit by Bicycle from the Megabus - Part 1

August,  2011:

Summer was almost over and I wanted just one more adventure before another school year started up.

I had been reading about the woes of the Motor City and I wanted to experience it for myself.  By car you just can't see much.  Better on a motorcycle, but you still have to obey the law and go too fast to really take it in.  Plus I'd have to drive up there, tour the city and drive back in a day - it's five hours from Pittsburgh.

I love pedaling cities - seeing and smelling that which only cities can provide.  I had pedaled Pittsburgh, D.C., and Manhattan - Detroit was calling me and the Megabus was the perfect vehicle to get me there.

I upped my mileage to prep for the long day but I still had to get a bike ready since the Mbus has luggage size limitations.  I could buy a folder or I could make another bike like the one I chopped and tossed into a suitcase to take to Paraguay years ago.  It's more fun to make than to buy so first I found the box.

Cardboard was my choice since I already had it and I could always make another one in Detroit if I lost it.  I thought about sewing but I already had the box.  Here's the bike inside the box.

That really is most of the bike inside the box.  I cut the frame, used roll cage couplers for fittings, and brazed them in.

Since the build took more than a week, I spent time getting familiar with Detroit.  My 'research' consisted almost entirely of finding a list of Netflix movies set in Detroit and watching them all - '8 Mile' - 'Detroit 1-8-7' - 'Gran Torino' - ....

I printed out a pair of maps on 8.5 x 11 paper, cut them in thirds, and laminated them to easily fold into my pocket and slide out for quick reference.

There is a basic street map, a downtown map, and a zoomed downtown/waterfront map.  The map with shades of blue is the vacancy rate with darker blue representing the higher vacancy.  I printed it from this site and learned that Highland Park and Hamtramck are apparently separate entities from the city of Detroit.

This is the approximate route I planned:

My Megabus ride would end early in the morning at the Rosa Parks Transit Center where I would assemble my bike, hide the box, and head northeast along Gratiot Ave to 8 Mile.  Then west across 8 Mile to Woodward Avenue and back downtown.  I also wanted to see Belle Isle.

But spontaneous detours can be wonderful for both conversation and adventure....