Singlespeed mountain bike racing was fun until the fast guys figured it out. We need a new racing fad and this could be it. Who’s in?
I’d love to see some penny farthings on a car bike rack with a race number on the bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsanHNYZA0Q
If you need a good dose of holiday spirit, I recommend the Miss Cass Pageant without hesitation.
The 14th Annual Miss Cass Pageant was on Saturday and the theme was “Grease”. The event is run by the Cass Community Social Services and the participants are all developmentally disabled. The Free Press ran an article about this year’s show and there’s an excellent video from 2003’s pageant on YouTube (see below.)
Photos from the pageant are on-line, but you really need to see the show live.
There was still some room in the pews, but their hope is to eventually outgrow the Cass Community United Methodist Church Sanctuary.
Afterward, we wandered through Midtown’s Noel Night, which was just packed with people despite the cold weather.
He headed downtown this morning for the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade. What fun!
We parked in the shadow the Masonic Temple and walked the Woodward parade route to Campus Martius, where we met up with friends.
Feeling the chill, we ducked inside of Foran’s for a Bushmill’s warm up. It was somewhat sad cheering as Santa’s float passed by from a bar stool.
On the trek back to the car, we were befriended in the Corridor by a homeless man named James. He asked if we could buy him a drumstick of chicken to eat, so we stopped into a corner store. They were out of drumsticks so we bought him a half-dozen wings with hot sauce.
He was pretty jazzed to begin with but more so with the food in hand.
Link: Photos from the parade
Karen and I headed Downtown for another fun event: the tree lighting at Campus Martius.
We started the evening by quickly dropping into D’Mongo’s on Griswold. It’s a quirky, retro, funky place that’s worth a visit. They’re only open on Fridays this time of the year, but open on Saturdays during the summer.
We ventured down to Campus Martius, stood around for some singing and skating performances, then cheered as Mayor Cockrel lit the huge tree.
Next, worked our way over to Foran’s to split a couple beers and fish & chips. We jumped next door to Eph’s, which is now open in the evenings – Woo hoo. We visited with Bil Lusa who was holding his 5-day old son Spencer and John Gannon who gave us the inside scoop on the deli scene.
On the way back to the car, we chatted with Chuck Gadica and Josh at the Urban Bean.
It was a cheery evening downtown.
The Detroit News has coverage of the event as well.
After the presidential election, I enjoyed watching teary-eyed Americans, many of who said they never expected this after struggling decades for civil rights. What a great milestone.
A few days after, I biked down to the Birwood wall in Northwest Detroit.
From the Associated Press, May 17th, 2006:
The wall was built in the early 1940s when a developer wanted to build homes for middle-class whites but found that the U.S. government would not back mortgages because too many blacks lived in the neighborhood, said Blight Busters founder John George.
The developer proposed putting up a wall to show that whites and blacks would not be living together, George said. It worked, and federal officials approved the loans.
I just don’t understand how anyone thought this wall was acceptable. And it’s also a reminder to temper those glowing stories of how Detroit used to be a paradise. Walls like this wouldn’t get built in my vision of paradise.
The wall still stands today. Parts of it are tagged, while others have been covered in an elaborate mural.
During my visit I spoke with one of the wall’s neighbors. He grew up here and recalled how he used to walk along the wall when he was a kid.
We gave a fist bump to celebrate Obama’s recent victory.
I hopped back on the bike and headed home.