Cycling in Detroit

Just had my first bike ride around my new neighborhood. Not from a car. Not through a windshield. Before, Detroit was a pit stop for me—cruise in, shoot some photos from the safety of a vehicle, mind full of second-hand fear. It felt dangerous. Sketchy. Like I didn’t belong. But I get it now.

That fear? It wasn’t real. It was projection. Other peoples’ and media-fed fever dream. Stay inside the car and you’re still inside your own head. You’re not seeing Detroit—you’re seeing what you’ve been told Detroit is. But step out—walk it, ride it, breathe it—and the story changes. The ghosts fade. The city reveals itself.

It’s the same with anything. Hike the mountain or drive it—only one of those lets you feel the climb. Like in the movie Smoke, when Auggie says, “You’ll never get it if you don’t slow down, my friend.” That line hit me. Still does. Because it’s true.

When you let yourself be here, really be here, you realize Detroit isn’t some post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s a goddamn masterpiece in motion.

So here are some random photos from my cycling expeditions around Detroit.