Social Commuting
A foursome of riders met at a coffee shop on Decatur's Square and rode into work this morning. Four guys riding into work together isn't unusual, except perhaps for the following:
- The guy who led the ride had the day off from work
- Route ended up only within 2 miles of second guy's destination
- Third guy rode 4.5 miles in the opposite direction to start out (we passed his house 2/3 of the way back in)
- Fourth guy rode 10+ miles out of his way to join in and had to refuel (peanut butter sandwich) upon reaching our meeting spot.
Was it worth it? Oh, we're going to do it again.
We chatted and learned more about each other. We took our time. We chose the scenic route a couple of times. SO different from being stuck in traffic.
People want to be part of something bigger. Although this isn't very big, I think we want this to succeed. We're calling it the Decatur/Midtown Bike Train on the SBL Forum.
Yes, getting to work is something we're going to do one way or the other and yes, all four of us are experienced bike commuters who enjoy riding to work. But, we went out of our way to meet up with each other in freezing temperatures to be a part of this.
In our quiet unassuming way, we became the change we want to see in the world, and that is a very social commute.
Commute Summary
Round Trip Distance: 22.1
Number of Cyclists seen: Didn't pay close attention; too busy chatting
In-bound Route: Decatur/Midtown Bike Train
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Below freezing for the first time this season
Labels: bike-commuting, bike-pool, bike-train, fun advocacy, recreational-commuting
5 Comments:
Awesome! That sounds fantastic. I always commute alone, but I can definitely see the appeal of your social commute. Keep it up!
I wanted to relive the fun of Bike to Work Day during other months of the year and this is what it is turning into. Original post about the idea was on Sept. 7, 2007.
Thanks for the encouragement. It's been fun, so I think it will continue.
I'm there too. I'm rather surprised about the how flexible the gang was.
We'd love to post this on the ABC website as well -- do you have a description we could use?
Hey RC, I'd love to get it on the ABC website. Let me work up something.
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