Mike Connolly: Detroit International Freedom Festival Fireworks

Wednesday night June 24 were the Detroit Fireworks. Fourth year in a row Ive ridden down to watch them. This year I was accompanied by Joe, Mike, Nate, Alex and Jon. It was a hot one that day, with temps right around 90! Fortunately it had cooled off to the mid-80s by the time we hit the road.

Five of us started from my house at 8 pm (Jon met us on the south side of Royal Oak) and headed down Woodward to Mid-Town where we stopped at Honest? Johns for a bite to eat and a sip of nectar. From there we proceeded to the riverfront by the Post Office where we hopped on Jefferson and tried to head east towards Cobo/JLA; however, we were promptly turned back the way we came by some of Detroit's finest. Not sure why the road was closed, but what can you do. We took a little detour and ended up getting a pretty good view of the fireworks next to the WCCCD building along the Lodge Freeway, with the Cobo/JLA walkway as our backdrop. Nice! We were also joined for the fireworks by BTT Andy and his crew.

After the fireworks, the 9 of us hopped the wall and onto the Lodge (riding our bikes on the Lodge was a first for all of us) then up onto Jefferson and then for some reason we stayed on Jefferson to Joseph Campau Street where we stopped at a local establishment for another beverage. Although the Lodge Freeway was closed to vehicles, Jefferson wasn't, and by the time we got onto Jefferson it was full of pedestrians and cars full of fireworks-goers trying to get the heck out of dodge... that part of the ride can be best described as a bit inter-city bike messenger with a bit of Frogger thrown in for good measure :)

The plan was to hit the Atwater Block Brewery on Joseph Campau, but as is typical with that place, it was closed. So we did the next best thing and went to the bar located next to it. After leaving the bar on Joseph Campau, we ventured back along Atwater Street to the Dequindre Cut, then along the Dequindre Cut and across Gratiot into Eastern Market, then made our way to Motor City Brewery. After a quick stop at MCB we hit the road again and then made the requisite stop at Dutch Girl Donuts where I sucked down four delicious glazed cinnibuns (or whatever they are called) which had just come out of the oven and were amazing!

On the way back into Royal Oak, someone noticed that Woodward Avenue Brewery was still open (it was after 1:30 am at this point) so of course we had to stop. After a quick break at WAB we finally hit the road towards my house. Arrived home about 2:15am, after a great night riding with fireworks and friends and 37 miles on the bike. Perfect!