Atlanta By Bike

Rick Smith Said It Best

2009-05-13T06:31:00.003-05:00

ABB is closing for a while. I'll still be riding but I've recently just become too busy to keep the place up. Keep your chains clean and I will see you around the block.

Today's Road Treasure

2009-05-09T12:50:00.000-05:00

Vice grip pliers. Very nice.

2009-05-05T20:36:00.001-05:00

Test

The Big Creek Greenway

2009-04-29T20:31:00.002-05:00

Lately I've spent my lunches riding along the Big Creek Greenway. I can't tell you what a wonderful little ride this is. Sure it's your typical MUP, some bicycles, some joggers, some kids, but what makes the Greenway so special is its environment. There are few places in metro-Atlanta where you can ride through an honest to goodness wetland, but this is one. This ride should serve as a reminder of how crucial wetlands are. Of course years ago some one decided that a major sewer line should follow Big Creek, as a result on rainy days the unmistakable stench of waste fills the air.

Still it's a nice ride. Like sailing I think bicycle touring and commuting makes people into environmentalists, and that's a good thing.

The Horror!

2009-04-27T16:43:00.001-05:00

Bicycle tan has returned.

Cartersville by Bike

2009-04-25T17:10:00.003-05:00

Today I went to visit my mother in rural Cartersville, Georgia. It's about 50 miles outside of town and I brought my bike so that I could get my brother out for a little desperately needed exercise. I love riding in the country. Compared to riding in the city it's a dream. Quiet roads, fresh air, all the things I love. It's little wonder that the Beautiful Back Roads Century is so popular.

And although there were a fair number of people in pickups driving too fast, most drivers were far more courteous than those I deal with in town. It was great. Now as for riding with my brother, well that's another story.

All About Bicycling (1975)

2009-04-22T06:10:00.003-05:00

I was at the library the other day and the Friends of the Library were having one of those used book sales to raise money, and that's were I found this gem.

From All About Bikes

All About Bicycling circa 1975. It's a time capsule from the bike boom and a reminder of how much things have changed. The first thing you notice is that All About Bicycling treats bicycling as a serious form of transportation. Of course the bike boom of the 70s was driven by the gas crisis, but All About Bikes focuses on the other benefits of riding for fun, fitness, and transportation. There are sections on racing and maintenance. They even included a section on touring.

From All About Bikes

Modern readers will notice that no one, except in the section on racing is wearing any kind of helmet. I guess our skulls were a lot thicker back then. Well there is this one guy.

From All About Bikes

More than anything this book reminds me of just how far we've regressed. Bikes were once seen as a serious transportation alternative, now it's seen as fringe activity or a political statement.

Now for a picture that will break your heart.

From All About Bikes

When's the last time you saw that many bikes at any school?

Dear Bicycle Riding Ladies of Alpharetta

2009-04-17T18:15:00.002-05:00

Today while riding out for some lunch I saw your group leave the Barnes and Noble near North Point. You all seemed so happy on your bikes, you made me happy too even though I had to go back to work.

Thank you.

Ouch!

2009-04-13T18:21:00.002-05:00

Last night after Easter Dinner, me the kids, and the inlaws were playing a little ball. I hit a dribbling line drive toward 2nd and took off toward first base. That's when my non-athletic daughter decided she was going to try and tag me out. So I had the choice of bowling her over or stopping short. I stopped, or at least I tried to stop that's when bad things happened. My ankle was nice and swollen but had subsided somewhat by this morning.

Rather than push my luck I did the long drive to work this morning in the rain. People ask how you can bike to work, I want to know how you can drive. It was awful, rain, traffic, accidents. I was more tired when I got to work than when I left home.

Only Love Can Make It Rain

2009-03-25T17:48:00.003-05:00

Atlanta receives some 50 inches of rain a year. That's considerably more than legendarily soggy Seattle which only gets 38 inches a year, so you would think Atlanta drivers would have no problem with a little precipitation. Well you would be wrong. Really wrong. The fact is anytime water falls from the sky Atlanta's roads are suddenly filled with thousands of chicken littles who give surrender what little driving skills they possess to a bizarre ritual that I call Atlanta Rush Hour Rain Syndrome.

Today as I rode home dodging drops falling from the sky I saw ARHRS in full effect. What are the symptoms you ask. It's easy to spot, it will start slowly with a driver perhaps on their cell phone accelerating wildly on a wet street. Other drivers will spot this behavior and begin to emulate it. Thats when the first accidents occur. These will be minor, fender bender types but never fear bigger and better things are on the way. After the first accidents tempers increase with backups, that's when the manic merging begins. Manic merging is a blind attempt to shove your front bumper into a spot before someone else can take that space. ARHRS inspired manic merging often is exacerbated by cell phone use leading to the classic corner to corner crash. Now all lanes are blocked. What is a driver to do? Why cut through a CVS parking lot or course! And here's where ARHRS comes into it's own, what happens when you have a line of cars cutting quickly through a narrow drug store parking lot? A toyota pickup backing out and getting hit by a subcompact.

And believe it or not, the highways were worse.

To be absolutely honest, I only witnessed the last of the accidents an reasoned out how they got to that situation.

Idle Bike Thoughts Vol. 5

2009-03-23T18:40:00.001-05:00

Don't eat sugar cookies an hour before heading home or you might run out of gas when you need it the most.

Today's Sexy Bike Errand

2009-03-21T18:03:00.001-05:00

Delivering dog's fecal matter sample to the vet. Yeah baby.

Death, Taxes, and Flats

2009-03-19T19:03:00.002-05:00

Three things you can't avoid. On a downhill curve, I felt that wobble that we all know so well. It appears the tube split near stem, so I sat on the side of the road and changed my tube. At least I couldn't have picked a nicer day for it, blue skies and a cool breeze.

Speaking of breezes, I saw something today that reminded me that despite the fact that I'll probably lose my job any day now, I'm a lucky guy. Cutting through Sandy Springs, I saw a man who was obviously troubled screaming profanities at the leaves blowing by him. At least I have my wits about me, and my family and friends, and last but not least my bike.

If This Weekend Were a Japanese Game Show...

2009-03-15T18:59:00.002-05:00

It would be called Super Bad Weather Weekend Bike Maintenance Extravaganza! Fixed up the old Trek Hybrid for my brother. Did some work on the kids Trek to get it ready for Craigslist. Stripped the Huffy. Fixed the squeaky wheel and continued to work Schwinn.

Happy Day

2009-03-13T17:44:00.002-05:00

Jansport, as promised, has come through with new straps for my old pack and I found my REI dividends statement. So tomorrow I'll ride over to Perimeter to use it and my 20% of coupon.

Squeak

2009-03-11T19:08:00.002-05:00

Squeak squeak squeak. Yep there's something funky with my rear wheel. I didn't have a chance to inpect it once I got home, but a cursory roadside inspection ruled out the easy subjects, something rubbing. So I guess it's the bikes way of telling me its time for spring maintenance. Rain is predicted for the weekend so it's time to break out the tools.

Spring Biking Hazards

2009-03-09T18:09:00.003-05:00

Well I guess spring has sprung. It was 82 degrees when I left for home this afternoon, and yes there was some sweat. But with spring comes a whole new batch of biking hazards.

Traffic

Spring is nice but there's something about it that makes people go absolutely crazy behind the wheel. It usually lasts until the real summer heat hits. Maybe it has to do with riding with the windows down.

Construction

Yes construction goes on all the time here in Atlanta, but spring always brings its share of new projects. Within a week or two there will be new detours and flagmen causing headaches for your favorite bicyclist.

Pollen

Ah yes, the true yellow menace. Pollen here in Georgia is something that has to be seen to be believed. On windy days you can see great clouds of the stuff in the air.

The Bradford Pear

I don't know who brought this monstrosity to the US, but they deserve to be shot. Planted by the hundreds of thousands by overzealous builders who wanted flowering trees, the Bradford pear has a fragrance that wikipedia describes as sickly sweet. Most people will tell you however that they smell of fish. There's about a thousand of these suckers between me and work.

I Hate Daylight Savings Time

2009-03-08T10:32:00.001-05:00

That is all.

Rare Sight

2009-03-04T18:17:00.002-05:00

The old gray mule in snow.

From PESO

Extra bonus, snowy section of the Appalachian Trail where I was hiking just before I got sick.

From PESO

Too Early to Think About Summer?

2009-03-02T19:38:00.003-05:00

No matter how you cut it, this is going to be a lean year. So I thought I should probably start planning my summer bicycle tour early. But where to go? Ideally I would love to get to Quebec, but that's going to be expensive. I've always wanted to do RAGBRAI but I might like a more solitary ride. Maybe something in the great lakes region? My youngest daughter wants to visit colleges on the west coast, maybe we could combine a trip. I toyed around with a trip around Lake Champlain. At this point its all still planning at this point. And before I tour I should really replace my rear cog.

Mysteries of the Digestive System

2009-03-01T12:07:00.002-05:00

Well I've been sick pretty much all week. I don't know if it was something I ate, some kind of bug, or maybe during my hike last week my water purification didn't quite do the trick. Regardless, I've been on a diet of saltines and gatorade all week. Yesterday I ate a little better, and this morning I actually got out for a ride. Of course because I hadn't eaten well all week I was pretty much crap. So why did I force myself to ride? Because right now it's snowing, big wet clumps of snow falling from the sky. Snow is rare here in Georgia and if you get a chance to ride in it you can't pass it up no matter how bad you feel.

Now That's Customer Service

2009-02-23T18:31:00.003-05:00

Jansport is replacing the straps on my 19 year old backpack for free.

Rode the old gray mule through the drive through at the bank today. Even though it's technically forbidden the teller took my business without saying a word.

Build Quality

2009-02-22T19:19:00.003-05:00

It's easy to tell when something has been made with an eye to quality. If you ride my Schwinn it feels like a million bucks, my old Centurion despite being a low end model was made with the fit of a thousand dollar Atlantis. It seems that now build quality is something only for niche markets. It's all about producing as much as you can as cheaply as possible.

There's a reason build quality is on my mind. This morning as I loaded my pack for a hike one of the straps broke. After almost 20 years and thousands of miles my Jansport Nepali failed. There's nothing spectacular about the pack but it does the job it was designed for and it does it well. It can carry enough supplies for a month in the woods and it does so without complaining. It's an external frame, I know most everyone prefers internal frame packs but I'm old fashioned and I like the ventilation an external frame provides. Made before the china boom, the old Jansport was made in the US. So tomorrow I'll call Jansport and keep my fingers crossed that they have replacement straps, if that fails I'll probably try to rig a homemade solution. Old packs are like old bikes, it's hard to say goodbye.

It's Not the Bike It's the...

2009-02-20T15:24:00.001-05:00

Electra Townies up Georgia's toughest climbs.

Slow Motion Crash

2009-02-19T20:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we had some pretty severe storms blow through. This morning I discovered the the results. On one of my turns a bunch of debris had washed into the road, I didn't see it until I was right on top of it resulting in a wipe out. Luckily I was pedaling at 1/4 impulse so nothing was hurt except as they say my pride.