Atlanta Intown Cycling

Cycling through Forest; sometimes over it

2009-07-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Atlanta has lots of trees for an urban area, and this greatly improves the cycling experience. The lure of deep forest has not quite yet enticed me to get an off-road bike. In part, this is because I can spend a lot of time amongst the trees even while riding my road bike.

Sometimes however, the trees impose on the roadway.

Sunday evening, the rain was so hard, winds were being kicked up by the volume of rain coming down. The thunderstorm pushed things around even more so there were a few trees down. Statistically, a lot of trees to knock down means a lot of trees will come down.

And so, we're riding not only through the forest, but sometimes over pieces of it.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.7
Pace: Recovering from Sunday's Recovery Ride which was to recover from Saturday's Ride.
Number of Cyclists seen: 19 total, 3 in AM, 16 coming home.
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Humid from the storm that came through the night before.

Taking the bike to go exercise

2009-06-29T16:59:00.000-04:00

One of the parents on my daughter's soccer team has gotten the girls together over the summer to work on strength and fitness. He's modeled it after the various fitness boot camps that have become popular over the last decade. Player participation has been high partly because the parents come along for their workout and compete against their kids.

Since I ride with many of the same soccer dads on Sunday mornings, it is fitting that we ride with our daughters over to Piedmont Park where we gather for boot camp.

Ride (and workout) Summary

Round Trip Distance: 3.5 miles
Number of planks: 3 sets at 40 seconds for each of front, back and sides for 12 total.
Number of 'suicides': 1 more than I should have done.
Post-workout Meal: Willy's at Piedmont Park (with three refills of lemonade)
Weather: Open your windows and let the breeze come through the house.

Making Way - Part 2

2009-06-09T20:08:00.001-04:00

Barry had commented that the great big overhead limb was slowly sinking to where you couldn't fit under. The cyclist in the photo above (#4 on the day's commute) had to dismount to get under the limb on Friday (June 5).

By Monday afternoon, a crew cut out the limb and the limbo log was gone:

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.7
Number of Cyclists seen: 18
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather:Warm, but not as warm as usual for June

Something out of Nothing?

2009-05-28T19:59:00.004-04:00

On my way home today, I rode along with cyclists #4 and #5. Together we counted cyclist #6 on the Freedom Park Trail. They were headed to the Pizza Ride. I was making my usual commute home, but the route afforded us a few miles of chatting.

As I approached the intersection of Springdale and the By Way, I came across cyclists numbered 15-19 headed down the By Way to the CVS ride. I frequently ride with these guys, but I didn't get the chance to chat since we were headed in opposite directions. Exchanging greetings would have to do.

On one hand, seeing our fellow cyclists on the road is nothing. We should expect see each other from time to time.

On the other hand, why are we so happy to see cyclists and especially those we know? Is it simply seeing and being seen? Is it the conversation? Is it a bond we share with our fellow cyclists?

I really don't know why it feels good, but I'm going to keep doing it.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.7
Number of Cyclists seen: 26 (only 6 inbound, but 20 on the way home)
In-bound Route: Lullwater/PATH trail
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: No rain for a change, but still rather humid

Make way for Bicycles

2009-05-26T19:29:00.002-04:00

Don't they know May is National Bicycle Month? Whenever a tree falls across a bicycle facility during National Bicycle Month, a path should be cleared within 18 hours. This was more like 18 days.

I am kidding because it was no big deal to take a detour for a couple of weeks. Riding the other side of Candler Park allowed my path to overlap Mike's path. He's a professor at Georgia Tech with whom I've ridden along to the office on occasion.

I like to include this picture for a couple of reasons:

It's cool how you go under one of the branches.
It shows -- despite almost no photo evidence on this blog to the contrary -- that I do ride in the rain.

Here are a couple of panoramas. This first taken from the bridge shows how backed up the stream has gotten from the tree limbs blocking the flow.

This second panorama shows the length of the tree alongside the path. Bicycle is directly under the overhead branch.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 17.1
Number of Cyclists seen: 11 (numbers do drop when it rains)
In-bound Route: Lullwater/PATH trail
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Repeated stretches of rain

Bike to Work Day, 2009

2009-05-14T20:57:00.001-04:00

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition organized a number of refreshment stations called "Energizer" stations around town. A group of us decided to try to visit as many as possible by following this route. The photo above is East Atlanta Village which had coffee, fruit bars and water.

All of my commutes are recreational, but this one was especially fun. This could become habit forming. In fact, there is some talk about resurrecting the Third Friday Commute.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 21.2 (2.5 of them walking)
Number of Cyclists seen: Mass quantities
In-bound Route: Tour of Intown "Energizer" Stations
Out-bound Route: via Intown Bicycles to repair drive train
Weather: Pleasantly cool, yet still in short sleeves.

Tree Climbing on my Commute

2009-05-05T19:38:00.004-04:00

It's unusual to see more cyclists in the morning than the afternoon, but then, on the afternoon's route, the cyclists had to climb over fallen trees. The one blocking the PATH trail would make a good cyclo-cross course.

Three trees on Clifton were down within a few hundred yards.

These came down during Monday morning's storm. I've taken pictures of the ones blocking my path, but many others were also down. More storms on the way. Perhaps more tree climbing on my way to the office.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 19.8
Number of Cyclists seen: 15 inbound, 10 outbound.
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6 with detour around fallen tree
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton (climbed over the tree on the way back)
Weather: humid and warm

Contributing Commuting Routes to a Visual Catalog

2009-04-21T21:22:00.005-04:00

I've added a big step forward with the ability for others to add their routes to the visual catalog. Routes in bikely.com routes may be added directly. Leave a comment if you've got a route in a different tool if you'd like me to upload your route.

These are the steps for adding your route from Bikely.com:

If you're using Firefox, drag the following link to the Bookmark Toolbar. If you're using IE, right-click the following link and "Add to Favorites ...". IE will prompt you asking if the link is safe because it contains the javascript for saving the bikely route. You'll click on this bookmark later to save the bikely.com route that is being displayed (Add to Catalog).
Visit the bikely.com page that displays the route you want to add to the catalog.
Click on the bookmark and your route is saved to the catalog. The browser then shows the complete catalog.
You may add as many as you like.

You can also view the current catalog without adding a new route.

This is being published on the Facebook page "Bike Commuters of Atlanta" so routes for bicycle commutes in Atlanta would certainly be preferred, but it would be good to see other utility cycling routes. I plan to add a second catalog of routes for recreational and group rides. Who knows, if this takes off, I may add more categories, but I'd like to start with commuting and utility routes.

There's a performance reason for starting with this type of catalog. Commuting and utility routes are generally much shorter and load much faster. When the catalog has long routes (50+ miles), the performance is sluggish. If your commute is 50 miles however, I'd like to see it in here.

Steps toward a Route Catalog

2009-04-16T17:06:00.003-04:00

There are several good mapping tools for bike routes, but I haven't found any that allowed maintaining and viewing a catalog of routes on a single map. I'm a nerd, so it made sense that I should try to assemble my own.

This simple catalog shows the most recent bikely.com routes for Atlanta. It reads the RSS feed from bikely.com to find the list of routes, then downloads the routes from bikely.com to display on a Google Map.

The URL also takes a 'user' parameter, so the URL http://routes.cycling.jettmarks.com/showRoutes.html?user=jett will show just the routes that I've recently added. This works for any user in bikely.com, but at this time, I haven't written the code to adjust the map location or zoom level to match the routes that are loaded. (Like a house, applications always have a list of improvements to be made.)

Giving Back to the Cycling Community

2009-04-14T20:42:00.004-04:00

Fellow Virginia-Highland Velo cyclist Rich Chey is a local business owner who understands the value of giving back to the community. His collection of local restaurants, from raising money for the local fire station, through collecting waste water during our drought, demonstrate his sensitivity to being a good neighbor.

It's no surprise that Rich's HomeGrown Restaurants are giving back to the community again by presenting, along with Atlanta Cycling, the acclaimed film "Road to Roubaix" on April 30 in Atlanta. A portion of the proceeds will benefit two of Atlanta's strongest organizations working to improve the conditions for cyclists in Atlanta: the PATH Foundation and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.

From the flyer:

HomeGrown Restaurants and Atlanta Cycling are proud to present the Atlanta premier of ROAD TO ROUBAIX on Thursday, April 30 at 7:30pm at the Landmark Theater in Midtown. The film chronicles the Paris-Roubaix race, one of the most historically relevant bicycle races in the world. Race footage, rare behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with current superstars and legends of the sport like Lance Armstrong, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Sean Kelly and Stuart O’Grady give the viewer a rare look at Paris-Roubaix usually reserved for cycling insiders.

After the film, there will be an informal Q&A session with the film’s directors at Stella Restaurant located at 563 Memorial Drive.

The theatre seats 300 viewers and we wanted to give members of the Atlanta cycling community the first opportunity to buy tickets before they are available to the public. If you have a large group attending the film, let us know and we will reserve a section for you. We will reserve up to 150 seats for groups on a first come first serve basis. Tickets are $10 and a portion of ticket proceeds will be donated to the Path Foundation and Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.

View the movie trailer and purchase tickets.

Plastic Bag trashes Derailleur

2009-04-10T22:32:00.002-04:00

Who would think an airborne plastic bag could take out a bicycle's drive train? That's what happened to me near the end of April's Courteous Mass.

Through eyes squinting to keep out the dust, I saw the bag blown toward me as we approached Five Points on Decatur Street. The next thing I know, something large and loud was caught in my spokes and my chain was frozen. It was my derailleur wrapped in that plastic bag that got sucked into my spokes. The derailleur was rotated by the wheel as far as the chain would let it go and twisted like a tornado had got hold of it. In the images above, the derailleur had been straightened so I could free it from my wheel. Although the spokes were worked over pretty good, none of them broke. Instead, the axle got bent a bit and the wheel needs to be trued.

The ride itself was good. A jazz ensemble provided tunes as we gathered at Woodruff Park (Scott, I'd love to link to your photos). The predicted thunderstorms held off although we could see them to the north and south. We greeted a decent number of folks with a "Happy Friday". We recruited a few new riders. We would get dust in the right eye just as the left eye was clearing up.

And I learned plastic bags aren't always as innocent as they look.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 7.0
Number of Cyclists: 12 joined the ride
Route: Cabbagetown / Grant Park
Weather: Dodging thunderstorms and tornadoes, windy, but dry

Refrigerated Pannier

2009-04-07T13:13:00.001-04:00

OK, snow probably isn't a big deal for much of the Northern Hemisphere, but in Atlanta, we're supposed to be working on our tans this time of year.

It's not a lot of snow -- and it comes down in pellets rather than flakes -- but it did help keep my frozen vegetables chilly. On most trips to the grocery store in April, I put the cold stuff on my back, but in the backpack is where the black-eyed peas, walnuts and bananas rode home today.

Errand Summary

Round Trip Distance: 4.0
Number of Cyclists seen: 1
Number of pre-school kids at the grocery store: 7 (all the kiddy-carts were taken)
Weather: Snow mixed with bouts of sun, stirred up by plenty of gusting wind

ING Wheelchair Escorts

2009-03-29T11:48:00.002-04:00

I had a roommate in college who raced bikes. Seeing the aftermath of his wrecks kept me from entering any races; there were other ways I could test myself without subjecting myself to the risks of bicycle racing. Although I never entered a race, I always thought it would be great fun to be able to ride a closed course. I jumped at the opportunity to escort the wheelchair racers for the ING Half Marathon that ran this morning.

We arrived at our meeting point before 6AM, checked-in and made last minute preparations. Five of us were recruited to sweep the front of the course with other fast riders assigned to the wheelers as they left the starting line. We fell in behind the police escort and within two blocks, the wheelers had caught us; the police escorts weren't moving fast enough. We got their attention and picked up the pace, well above 20MPH with the tail wind. When we got to the first turn at Piedmont and Decatur, things started to settle out and we found a comfortable space between the police escort in front of us and the wheelers behind us. It was within the first two miles that the lead wheeler had opened a significant gap on the rest of the field.

Our first challenging turn was from North onto Central Park. It was on this downhill into the turn we exceeded 30MPH. It turned out easy since we were able to swing wide on North and the intersection was well marked. This part of the course was easy to follow.

The first crowds were the volunteers handing out water at MLK's birthplace on Auburn. It was interesting to see a dozen people ready with a cup of water in each hand. The temps were cool and none of us needed water, but the cheering was something else.

The police escort got lost as we entered Inman Park. As soon as we managed to get them back on the course, they missed a turn and again fell off the course. After getting the police to pick up the pace early in the race, I was feeling like we were making a contribution, but we were getting more practice leading from the rear than I anticipated.

Our next sharp turn had standing water in the tightest part of the turn. Three wheelers had wrecked the previous year attempting the turn onto Freedom Parkway leading up to North. No issues for the leading wheeler.

Since this was my first time escorting wheelers, I really didn't know what to expect regarding pace. It made sense they could go fast on downhills; their wind resistance is less than a cyclist and it was work to stay in front of them. It was the wheeler's pace on the flats though that impressed me. We spent more time above 20MPH than I expected we would.

For our next challenge, the cone truck was still laying out the course as we entered Georgia Tech's Campus along 5th Street. Fortunately, there was plenty of room on either side and we passed with no problem.

The next to last mile was the roughest. This stretch was mostly uphill and now into the wind. Our race leader -- even though no challenger was in sight -- was still hammering. He was out to set a course record. It turns out he did.

We had more volunteer escorts than wheelers and it's easy to see why. Besides the thrill of riding along with world-class athletes, and being part of a big event, there aren't many volunteer positions that are so much fun as riding around Intown Atlanta without having to stop for anything.

Event Summary

Round Trip Distance: 27.6
Number of Cyclists seen: 40 escorts and lots of spectators on bikes
Number of times police escort went the wrong way: 2 (escorts corrected them both times)
Route: ING Half Marathon
Weather: 45 degrees with a low wind out of the west. Humid but roads were dry.

The Route Less Traveled

2009-03-24T23:06:00.001-04:00

For those learning how to get around on a bike, choosing an appropriate route means thinking outside the box. The box with four wheels, that is.

Even for those who have been riding for years, great pleasure comes from finding the little known routes, paths, and the occasional suspension foot bridge. This bridge is barely wide enough to walk a bicycle across and I like it that way.

This bikely route crosses this foot bridge approximately 3.5 miles into the route.

Spring Photo Negligence

2009-03-23T19:47:00.000-04:00

For several days in a row, I've been in a rush to get somewhere, telling myself that yes, that scene or this scene would make a good photo, but I'll need to stop and pull the camera out some other day. I got tired of hearing myself tell that same story.

This is at the corner of Clifton and Clifton East. There is just a bit of late afternoon sun backlighting some of the branches.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.7
Number of Cyclists seen: 17 (riding outside of rush hour both inbound and outbound)
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Just the way I like it: mild enough for shorts and no jacket.

St. Patrick's Day Burrito

2009-03-17T20:51:00.002-04:00

Haven't you heard about Irish Burritos? First, some background, even though it is almost entirely irrelevant.

This morning I joined the 6AM group that rides out of the Agnes Scott Arches. This group rides year-round with the goal of getting weekly miles before the start of the day. Getting out at 6AM usually gets a jump on the traffic, but for some reason, this morning everyone was out. There were a fair number of bike commuters, more cars than I expected, and hundreds of "boot camp" participants. OK, maybe only 200, but that's enough to pluralize 'hundred'. I'll chalk it up to the first day without rain out of the past four.

I might be hooked after the first ride. There's something awful nice about starting the day with a bike ride before the sun comes up. The company was good, and the route was pleasant, but finishing up a ride by 7:30AM makes me feel like I've gotten a jump on the day. I'm feeling good before the daily routine begins.

Riding before dawn is something we do on the Bike Ride Across Georgia too. Since BRAG is a bicycle vacation, the 6AM Arches ride feels like a vacation too.

I'll be back for another 6AM ride.

So, riding first thing in the morning makes me hungry all day long. The burrito with lettuce and avocado is green enough to qualify for a St. Patrick's Day burrito.

Other ingredients:
- Cream Cheese
- Gulden's Mustard
- Rice warmed up with Balsamic Vinegar salad dressing
- Fried Egg chopped up
- Romaine lettuce shredded
- Avocado
- Cottage Cheese

Ride Summary

Distance: 24.3
Ride Group: 6AM Agnes Scott Arches
Number of Cyclists seen: Lost count, but more than 10. Not bad since it was 5:35 AM when I got on the bike.
Weather: Moist from all the rain, but not wet. Shorts, jersey and a shell weather.

ING Wheeler Escort

2009-03-15T17:46:00.002-04:00

Sunday, March 29th will be the third running of the ING Georgia Marathon and Half-Marathon. Atlanta has a large running community that grew up with the Peachtree Road Race 10K and the ING Marathon satisfies a hunger for the longer distance races.

As with the Peachtree, wheelchair racers take the course prior to the runners. This year, I've volunteered to escort "wheelers" on my bike during the race.

Because racing wheelchairs move as fast as cyclists, cyclists match up well for providing visibility, pointing out road hazards, indicating a line to hold through corners, and keeping pedestrians off the course. As volunteers, we become familiar with the course and learn where the trouble spots will be. Downhills with tight turns at the bottom count high on the trouble spot list.

I should have some photos once we race, but since we start before the runners, it will be dark at the start. I don't think any amount of darkness however will hide the excitement.

Remember Man

2009-02-25T19:58:00.001-05:00

Remember man that you are a cyclist and to cycling you shall return.

Between the Lightning and the Tornado

2009-02-18T20:50:00.004-05:00

As many of you know, I've trained as an engineer at one of the nation's finer institutions for higher learning. I fully appreciate and overwhelmingly prefer the astute analysis and logical reasoning that characterizes the engineering profession -- to the point I must hide my disdain of those less inclined -- and am most proud of my abilities in this regard. Despite my allegiance to science, rationality, and the mighty powers of the logical mind, I am also unabashedly appreciative when I get dumb-head lucky.

I rode home on my bicycle in the weather shown below without gathering the relevant data required for a rational or logical decision.

The redness underneath the word "Atlanta" had just passed over the route I had taken about 40 minutes prior. I must have ridden in the clear area that in this image is just underneath the last 'a' in 'Atlanta'. I was aware that the tornadoes were at least 8 miles away (red outline) and when I went outside to climb on the bike, I saw and understood the thunderstorms were headed eastward away from me (yellow outline), but the storm-lashing delivered upon my home's roof within minutes of my arrival embossed upon my memory an imprint that seemed thoroughly complete in its design to leave a lasting mark.

I was dumb-headed lucky. I barely got dampened.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 7 miles
Number of Cyclists seen: A Big Fat ZERO (everyone else must have been paying attention to the weather channel)
Weather: refer to the image above. (I'm not saying anything else.)

Silk Sheets

2009-02-07T20:23:00.003-05:00

Sorry, no picture, but imagine a field of 30-40 cows all staring at the camera. Got a good mental picture yet? Good, hang onto it. OK, now for the story.

A few weeks ago, I tried out a route that Barry had assembled for getting over to Silk Sheets from the MARTA train. I had met another dozen or so riders at "the church" where most Silk Sheet riders parked their cars after driving from downtown. Being self-conscious about taking a car to ride a bike, we had been working out how to get to those wonderful cycling roads without driving.

Today was the result of all our planning. By taking public transportation, we rode Silk Sheets without getting in a car to get there.

I had thought the name Silk Sheets might have come from the silk plantations that had flourished in Georgia many years ago, but the name refers to how smooth the hills are in those parts. There are some hills, but for the most part, the miles are a mix of flat and rolling. Combine this with low traffic and well-maintained roads and you can see why cyclists give the area a name like Silk Sheets.

Since our riding group never does things the same way as anyone else -- including ourselves -- we mapped out our own route and predictably a) got lost and b) ended up on a gravel road. But not in that order.

The gravel road was at most a two-mile stretch and was in good shape for a gravel road. Even with the 18mm tires, we were able to keep nearly the same pace. We could guess however, that although we had been seeing other cyclists all day, not many of those cyclists have taken the gravel road.

About two-thirds of the way down this road, we came across a pasture where we commanded the full attention of every cow in sight. I can only guess that either these cows had never seen a bicycle and were overcome with curiosity or the man who feeds the cows comes up on a bicycle.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 67.2
Number of Cyclists seen: LOTS. It looks like everyone was out taking advantage of the warm weather. Thirteen of us rode as a group.
Route: Silk Sheets via MARTA and the College Park Station. Avoided one gravel road, but found ourselves on another one.
Weather: Upper 60s, low wind, not a cloud to be seen.

Cargo Bike?

2009-01-27T13:46:00.003-05:00

If the cargo is the right shape.

Today I ran an errand that required a little thought and a couple of bungie cords.

My daughter's high school soccer team raises money through sponsorships and my job was to install the sponsor's banner.

I've got a big pannier, but it isn't that big. I've got a rack on the back, but it isn't an extended-frame Xtra Cycle. Fortunately, the load was narrow enough to fit along the top tube without messing up my pedal stroke too bad. My knee would have probably had a hard time if this had been a long distance or if there were any uphills (some destinations are downhill all the way, and this is one of them).

Delivering this by bike was perfect.

More bike connections:

The sponsor and Osteria/Doc Chey's owner Rich Chey rides with us on Sunday mornings.
The sponsor and Atkins Park owner Warren Bruno rides with us on Sunday mornings and leads us on the Atkins Park Santa Ride.
Should have gotten a picture, but it looked like several students rode their bikes to school today.
Met a neighbor Tom out on a ride (he's retired) and he may join us Sunday mornings.

MLK

2009-01-19T19:42:00.004-05:00

I ride my bike past the Martin Luther King National Historic Site on my daily commute. When the vision of our leaders is as bright as Dr. King's, it is worthwhile to find its applicability outside of the lives they lived. Riding my bike beneath his sculpture has allowed me to consider the struggle of cyclists in light of the Civil Rights struggle.

It would be wrong to suggest that a bicycle rights movement carries anything near the weight that the Civil Rights movement carries, yet there are similarities that are worth looking at.

One of the great debates -- for both struggles -- has been integration vs. segregation. The case of racial integration has been thoroughly covered. Regarding the integration of motorists and cyclists, there are arguments both ways. Some feel that cyclists and motorists should be provided with separate facilities while others feel it is safest for both sides when the two share the same roadway. The lessons to be learned are the same in both cases.

Both struggles have been hindered by stereotypes. Racial stereotyping is not unlike the stereotyping that occurs between motorists and cyclists. Instead of seeing individuals with differing beliefs and behaviors, we sometimes take a mental short-cut and make a snap judgement based on limited information. The brain is useful that way when we need a snap judgement, but our fellow human beings deserve more consideration.

Both require and ask for tolerance. The tolerance makes it possible for different groups and individuals to see each other as wanting the same outcomes, wanting the same respect, and ultilmately, recognizing that underneath the exterior, we are the same.

I wish to take nothing from MLK's Dream, but I dream of a day when cyclists and motorists can ride alongside each other on our roadways with mutual respect and the courtesy that allows us to safely reach our destinations. For many of my interactions with motorists, that day has come, but we still have a ways to go.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.7
Number of Cyclists seen: 13 (5 in AM and 8 in PM)
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Above freezing with threat of rain

Nature on my Mind

2009-01-15T11:43:00.001-05:00

Fellow Bike Commuter Jeff McMichael shared a post from Boston.com about how the city hurts your brain and how nature fixes it. I agree with this completely but it got me thinking about an amusement I find myself enjoying: pretending I live in trees and following the twists and turns of branches to make my way around. There must be some part of the brain that connects with twisty-turning paths through the trees -- or at least my brain.

In the photo, in addition to the branches, there are phone and power cables. These are the straight-line highways. They're great for getting from point A to point B, but while playing the game, these are only interesting so I can get to another tree, perhaps as a bridge across the street (so I don't have to touch the ground).

This makes me think of bike routes. Certainly we appreciate getting from point A to point B efficiently, but it's far more enjoyable to take the twisty-turning path. Since I live in the trees, that's where I find my food, take naps and escape from the cat. The power cable is no place to sit. You get on and get off. Just like the interstate, the sooner, the better. The highway itself isn't interesting. It's where it brings you that is interesting. And like many of my bike routes, I'll suffer a busy road to get to low-traffic streets with lots of trees. Just like the article says, my brain needs this.

Courteous Mass Lifting

2009-01-10T16:16:00.003-05:00

photo courtesy of Courteous Mass Atlanta (on Facebook)

January's Courteous Mass in Atlanta raised the bar by raising bicycles. The bike lift is a celebration of cycling that originated with Critical Mass as part of corking intersections. Since Courteous Mass doesn't cork intersections, if we didn't want to be left out of the fun, we had to come up with a Courteous Bike Lift. For this, we found a few spots out of the way of traffic where we could lift our bikes in mass. This photo was taken on the southeast corner of the 5th Street Bridge on Georgia Tech's campus.

As Dr. Drago puts it, "To complement the ride's cardio-vascular conditioning, the Courteous Bike Lift develops upper-body strength."

Courteous Mass Atlanta has a Facebook group. Announcements of future rides and reviews of past rides can be found here. All are welcome to join and to invite others.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: About 7 miles
Number of Cyclists seen: more than 40 rode in our group and we spotted several others.
Route: Centennial Park, Georgia Tech, Colony Square, Krispy Kreme, Peachtree
Weather: Dry, clear and mild

Mr. Bike Lane, can we talk?

2008-12-28T13:15:00.005-05:00

Michael and I took advantage of another unusually warm day to attempt waterlogging ourselves in the rain. It seems Atlanta is trying to make up for this year's rain deficit all in the last week.

Along Glenwood, a gentleman out for a walk looked over at me and pointed with his arm outstretched toward the curb. I saw no hazard there, but within a moment or two, it occurred to me he was pointing out the bike lane. There was a car about 100 meters back and since we were approaching an intersection where most traffic would turn right, I had moved to the left of the center of the lane in preparation to either let this guy by or prevent him from trying to come around as we were reaching the stop light. Indeed the car did turn right as I expected.

When I looked back to see if the gentleman was still watching, he was gone. He may still be thinking he was right in pointing out that I should have been in the bike lane. I didn't get a chance to send him the URL of the Vehicular Cycling article in Wikipedia. I would have pointed out that the Vehicular Cyclist ignores bike lanes when choosing lane positioning, takes control of the lane when approaching an intersection, and chooses a lane position that indicates their direction of travel. The words about the door zone would have been appropriate as well since along that stretch of curb a few cars had been parked.

What can we do? Misundertanding perpetuated. He could be blogging somewhere about another cyclist who ignores the bike lanes when there is a car behind him.

Don't get me wrong about bike lanes. I like bike lanes for the following reasons:

Indicates the road is wide enough that the lane can probably be shared (if the door zone is not also present).
Indicates that the road is favored by cyclists. This does two things: 1) alerts drivers they should look for cyclists and 2) helps new cyclists choose appropriate routes.
Constricts the lane which encourages slower motor traffic.

What I will do is bring a camera the next time I ride this route. Sorry, this is a subject change.

Our variations on the route took us across a suspension bridge in the woods behind Emory's President's house. This is a good shortcut over to the VA Hospital and Clairmont from Emory's main campus. It is only a single person wide and it is advised to walk bikes (the bridge swings quite a bit), but as you cross South Peachtree Creek, you forget you're in an urban area.

Another variation took us over to the first segment of the Beltline Trail that has been constructed near the historic West End. The signs marking the trail are made from steel rails that resemble the rails the trains run on. Mile Marker 0 is where we started although I did not plan it that way.

When it's dry, I'll come back with the camera to grab some shots.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 33.0
Number of Cyclists seen: Lost count, but around a dozen.
Route: Variations on Intown Medley; we wanted to stay rather close to home so we could bail if weather conditions got worse.
Weather: Overcast and raining, but low wind, temps in the low 60s