Reporting from Buckhead

It's probably been for two years that various cyclists have complained that we always do the bicycle commuter breakfasts somewhere along the routes between Decatur and Midtown/Downtown. Certainly this is where I see the most cyclists, but because commuter cyclists' numbers have more than doubled since I began counting a few years ago, I thought perhaps it is time to expand our repertoire.

The logistical problem was how to cover long distances without being too late for work. The obvious solution was to take advantage of MARTA. The expeditionary party of Stephen and myself met at the Decatur Station and boarded the train over to Five Points to catch the northbound train headed to Buckhead.

It was fitting that Bradley met us at the Flying Biscuit. Not only is he well-practiced in the bike/bus commute (Lawrenceville to Vinings four days a week), but he had also suggested our meeting spot. (I'll need to spend more time in Buckhead before I can suggest breakfast spots.)

Bradley did well to choose the Flying Biscuit. Although there is a bike rack in the parking deck, we found a convenient covered spot for our bikes right in front of the Flying Biscuit's windows. This was sufficient for our four bikes, but we'll use the bike racks now that we know where they are.

Kevin lives in Buckhead and also commutes out to Vinings. He has been involved with the striping of the bike lanes that criss-cross Buckhead. I was quite pleased to find these along the stretch of Peachtree just south of the Buckhead MARTA and the Terminus Building at Piedmont where we met. Although there were a number of vehicles making right turns across this bike lane, the motorists gave us adequate consideration when making their turn. Their speeds were a little higher than what I'm accustomed to between Decatur and Downtown/Midtown, but I found the motorists were polite and considerate. It seems Kevin's work is paying off.

Now that we've tested out the schedule and know where everything is, we plan to run this again on Friday March 19.

Commute Summary

One-way Cycling Distance: 11.0 miles
MARTA Departure/Destination: from Decatur (E6 - Blue line) to Buckhead (N7 - Red line)
Number of Cyclists meeting for Breakfast: 4 (2 Decatur/Midtown delegates, 2 Buckhead delegates)
In-bound Route:
- Bicycle: Virginia-Highland to Decatur
- Blue line MARTA train: Westbound Decatur to 5 Points
- Red line MARTA train: Northbound 5 Points to Buckhead
- Dining Room: Breakfast at Flying Biscuit
- Bicycle: Down Peachtree into Midtown
Weather: 100% sunny, finally getting above freezing
What I ordered: Oatmeal pancakes with Peaches (4.5 out of 5 stars)
What I'll order next time: French Toast

3rd Friday Commute experiments with Multi-Modal

How many good things can happen at the same time? On Friday, we're going to see.

Here's a list of good things we think can happen:

• Breakfast with cycling friends at a new location for most of us,
• Check out putting a bike on a heated train (right about the time we're getting tired of 11-layer-cold-weather cycling),
• Have fun instead of going to work (well, we end up at the office eventually).

On January 15th, a group of us will be scoping out the details of a Breakfast in Buckhead. We've had a few guys ask if we could do this. This is our first attempt to meet with our Buckhead Bicycle Brethren (I'm not sure if we have any Cycling Sistern up there).

I used A-Train to plan out the transit connections.


So we'll get on the train in Decatur at 7:07, ride over to 5 Points to catch the train headed north (2 minutes between trains, nice). From there, we'll head over to the Flying Biscuit in the Terminus 100 Building.

Many of the cyclists work in Buckhead, but after filling our bellies with warmth, a group of us will ride down Peachtree to Midtown/Downtown.

There will be four places you can catch up with us:

• Meet station side of Decatur Square at 7AM to catch the 7:07 train.
• Northbound platform of 5 Points station to catch the 7:24 train.
• Breakfast at the Flying Biscuit shortly before 8AM (Terminus 100 bldg on the corner of Piedmont and Peachtree)
• 9AM or so, ride down Peachtree from Piedmont into Midtown/Downtown.

We'll be keeping score of how many successful things happen as we also note any failures we want to correct before trying this again in March.

Santa and his Elves -- on a Bike

By group ride standards, the number of cyclists was modest, but for a group of Santa Clauses and Elves, we had a good turnout. Atlanta isn't quite as chilly as the North Pole, but with the wind, we gained an appreciation for the fur-lined clothing that Santa wears.

Motorists and passerby gained an appreciation for how much fun it is to ride around town on bicycles decorated like Christmas trees. The merry-making pulled happy beeps out of car horns and cheers out of pedestrians. Who can resist Santa on a bike?

Warren Bruno got us together to kick off fund-raising for the Georgia Chain Gang. The Chain Gang entered the Race Across America (RAAM) as a four-man team last year, finished second in the fund-raising and has set a goal of $120,000 for next year's race. The beneficiary is the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 11.6
Sponsored by: Georgia Chain Gang (RAAM 4-man team)
Beneficiary of the Fundraiser: Leukemia Lymphoma Society - goal is $120,000.
Weather: Chilly going into the wind, but pleasant coming back
Number of Jaegermeisters: either counting by the shot or by the bottle, too many to count.
Number of Santas and Elves: 20+
Number of mechanical problems: 1 boa caught in the spokes

Removing Excuses

I grew up in Savannah without air-conditioning. When we moved into our current house, we didn't have air-conditioning. My sweat glands have had lots of training.

When I ride my bike to the office, it doesn't matter how slow I go, or how cool it is, I sweat. There's less sweat during the winter, but even on the day it was 11 degrees, I still managed to break a sweat. Sweat is what my sweat glands have been trained to do and they do it very well.

Many people won't ride a bike to work for this reason. (Well, because of their own sweat, not mine.) Not having a shower at the office is the reason I frequently hear for not commuting by bike. Since AT&T doesn't have showers, I've had a hard time convincing co-workers they should ride a bike to the office.

I haven't had a good answer for sweat control until the Shower Pass became available.



For $15/month, the Plaza Executive Health Club (PEHC) offers a showers-only membership. This is a good price and I plan to try it out starting next month. I'll be posting my experience -- complete with photos <wink> -- after I give it a try.

The folks over at Midtown Transportation Solutions were kind enough to make arrangements with the PEHC. These are the same guys who put together the Commuter Rewards program that has put a bunch of cash in my pocket.


There's one personal excuse that may go away. By way of introduction, I have a confession to make: I don't ride my bike to the office every day of the week.

I've got the option to work at home, and on mornings I miss my time slot to get in the shower, I often stay at home and shower later in the day. If at all. This was good during Atlanta's water restriction period, but it's been bad for my commuting miles. Why miss out on a commute to the office just because I couldn't get into the shower on time?

The Shower Pass has removed that excuse.

Prepared for *most* Emergencies

Knowing how to maintain your bicycle and being prepared for common roadside repairs is the source of pride for many cyclists. This article is not an example of that.

Finding you don't have the right tool, and then calmly mapping out a well-reasoned plan of attack is the hallmark of a disciplined mind. This article is not an example of that either.

I think if I hadn't found so much grits (yes, the southern ones made from corn) inside my pannier, this article could have served as some small, positive example of exemplary behavior, but then again, it might not have been written at all.

It started yesterday when I noticed my left cleat was a little loose at the end of the ride, but I thought it might have just been the rain I came through. I also paid no heed to the fact that a fellow rider had just adjusted probably the same screw earlier that same day.

So, I get to the bike rack at the office this morning and my left foot doesn't clip out of the pedal. I turned my foot as far as it would go and could feel the cleat turning. One of the screws had fallen completely out.

I untie my shoe so I can get off the bike, and then standing in one sock, one shoe, I start to investigate how to get the shoe off the bike. To hold the bike still, I pull out my lock. The key is missing. I can't leave my bike without it being locked. The most important phone call of the week is happening in 17 minutes. There *might* be enough time to get back to my house and in front of the computer, but I'm first on the agenda. Certainly I can find the key. It's probably in the bottom of one of the panniers.

I knew I was going to regret not cleaning out the panniers. I like carrying extra plastic grocery bags, but did I need eleventy hundred of them? After hiding a large portion of my immediate surroundings under the contents of my panniers, I finally get to the bottom and find the grits. There's enough to make breakfast for everyone on this phone call and the key is probably underneath all the grits. Should I try walking into the office with my bike? Not with one sock and one shoe. 12 minutes. I start digging out the grits. I'm not exactly "throwing" them, but they do become widely distributed.

The grits must have come from my trip to the grocery store on Saturday. I wonder if the key poked a hole in the grits and now the key is inside the bag of grits in the pantry? Should I call the house?

Cyclists are a tight-knit group. When we find one of our comrades stopped alongside the road, we're quick to offer help. If I had come across a cyclist however, with one sock, a shoe still dangling from the pedal, and the grits/plastic bag explosion, I might have kept on going.

I start shaking all the bags in a reserved -- and I thought rather dignified -- sort of frantic. Oh look, I forgot to pack a lunch today on top of all this! 9 minutes.

Finally, the key falls out and lands on the ground. I move with focused purpose now and a sense of calm takes control. I lock the bike in place. I twist the shoe beyond what I think it would reasonably require and it comes off the pedal. The screw was trapped between the shoe and the pedal so I recovered this and the bags, if not the grits.

It's nice being able to walk into the office with both shoes on. We should take the time each and every morning to express our appreciation for a shoe on each foot.

The trip home is where I found I didn't have the 4mm wrench to repair the cleat, but at least I had a dock-sider on each foot for the trip back home.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: less than I wanted.
Number of Cyclists seen: I forgot.
In-bound Route: Normal
Out-bound Route: Abbreviated
Weather: The grits had absorbed a good bit of the humidity, but weren't quite done.

Care and Feeding of the Recreational Cyclist

Today we're discussing the Recreational Cyclist and how to keep one happy. When stroked the right way, it's really easy to get your Rec Cyclist purring. All you need to remember is a few key points:

• The first thing to remember is the Rec Cyclist is a social animal that enjoys traveling in groups. This social aspect is significant for a number of reasons, but if you can arrange for a group of cyclists to ride together, keeping the cyclist happy will be much easier.
  
• Cyclists have a sweet disposition -- any animal that will intentionally shove a butt-torture device between its legs and call it "fun" demonstrates a level of brain evolution that is rare in the animal kingdom -- but sometimes you may run across a grumpy one that isn't having a good day. In the interest of maintaining an advanced level of group purring, it is OK if you don't include the grumpy ones next time.
  
• When selecting a route to take your cyclists, you'll want to favor shady over exposed, trees and grass over asphalt and concrete, and long stretches over stop-and-go. Hills make it interesting, but you don't want it to be too interesting. Some cyclists avoid hills and you want to be sensitive to this, but fortunately, like the ladder to the top of the sliding board, the rec cyclist views climbing as the price you pay for the downhill reward.
  
• Like any pet, the cyclist needs food and water. Be sure to schedule refreshment breaks. Of course, this is another opportunity for socializing which will doubly please your cyclist.
  
• Fully-grown and even adolescent cyclists are typically kept off-leash, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise caution. Like all pets, they need to learn not to "play in traffic". They have a hard time learning about stop signs in particular, but again, the social nature of the rec cyclist can be used to your advantage. Just ask them to alert each other, and they will happily yell short phrases like "Car Back!", "Clear!" and "You dropped your water bottle!". Like the four-year-old when you're baking cookies, the Rec Cyclist is always willing to help out.
  

Try these steps and listen for the purring. A little attention, the right stroke, and you and your rec cyclist will share many happy days.

Giving Back to the Cycling Community

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.

Courteous Mass Lifting

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

Bike for a Lifetime

My daughter Ansley and I are always looking for common quotes we can turn into Bicycle Fortune Cookies.

The quote Ansley recently started with is "Give a man a fish, you feed him today. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Here are some of the candidates:

• Lend a man a bicycle, he rides today. Buy him a bicycle, he rides for a lifetime.
  
• Fix a cyclist's flat, he rides today. Teach him how to fix a flat, he rides for a lifetime.
  
• Save some money by riding a bike, you ride as long as gas is expensive. Find out how much fun it is, you ride even when gas is cheap.
  

I'd like to hear your version.

Finding Something you had All Along

 

Let me take you back to my childhood. Hide and Seek was the game. The Garden City Baptist Church was the location. This church had multiple buildings besides the sanctuary and this made for multiple paths back to the base (usually the front steps of the sanctuary). The seeker would check a list of well-known hiding places: behind the church's sign in front, the playground, and the parking lot in the back, but the most special hiding place was a dead-end at the top of a stairwell. If you hid there and the seeker came up, you were easily caught with no where to run. The risk for the seeker however, was by committing to go up the stairs, most other hiders could easily reach base. Hiders rarely hid there, and seekers rarely checked it, but everyone's strategy was based on what might happen at the top of the stairs.

Childhood visit over. Back to the present. Sort of.

My dream the other night was one of those wonderful dreams where you find a new passage in a familiar place. I found a way to open up the dead-end at the top of the stairs. After this discovery, I became a Hide and Seek magician, if only in my dream.

Before there was much wealth to amass, kings would consult wise men to interpret their dreams. Are our dreams no longer worthy? After all, what is the purpose of a dream except to show you what the world could be like?

It's an incredible feeling to solve a problem that has been hounding you for so long, but I still need to consult the wise men. I don't know what real-life puzzle I may have solved by finding a new way to get to the top of the stairs.

One possible dream-connection may be with my cycling. I frequently have the feeling when I ride a bike that I'm finding something I had all along. It's hard to rationalize, but I try none-the-less:

• The bicycle is how I got to the Baptist Church. Maybe the dream is a return to my childhood.
  
• In the decades before the automobile, the bicycle was hugely popular in this country. It is impressive that bikes are still around given the convenience and ubiquity of the automobile today. It's as if bicycles have to be re-discovered.
  
• The bicycle provides a genteel and human face to transportation. Perhaps the bicycle is reminding us that -- whether intentional or not -- avoiding poor weather and covering long distances ends up removing us from one another.
  

I'm no wise man, but the bicycle certainly seems to be wise.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 17.6
Number of Cyclists seen: 17 (good for December, but it was warm today)
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Edgewood Kroger via Krog Street
Weather: Shorts the week before the Winter Solstice.

Kissing the Pretty Girls Revisited

One of the most visited links on my website has been Kissing the Pretty Girls. There must be a lot of guys that want to know about kissing the pretty girls, but this applies to kissing the cute guys too.

The premise of the previous post was a walkability score and how many of my neighbors didn't mind talking about walking as long as the car was still available. I'm not sure if they've kissed before.

Follow the link. You should find out how many cute guys you can kiss in your neighborhood.

I wish poetry came out of my fingers the same way sweat comes out of my forehead, but I'm left to express my poetic appreciation by reading what the poets write about kissing the pretty girls.

Although my poetry stinks like sweat, I do have one up on the poets when it comes to kissing the pretty girls. Instead of doing the talking, I’m doing the kissing, and it’s really nice.

If you are able to walk, and take the car instead, you’re just talking. If you are able to leave the car behind, and you do leave it behind, you’re kissing the pretty girls.

The poets talk of romance. My neighbors talk of walking. Who is kissing the pretty girls?

Trips I make by bike:

• It only makes sense to kiss the pretty girls at the bike shop when I need a tube or I’ve worn out my chain.
  
• Kissing the pretty girls is easy when it’s nice outside, but I kiss the pretty girls even when it’s cold and raining.
  
• On weekends, there’s an organic farmer’s market down the street. I usually find a pretty girl to kiss down there.
  
• If we need something from the grocery store, I’ll often swing by to kiss the pretty girls at the Kroger on my way back from the office.
  
• Occasionally a group of bike commuters would meet for breakfast. Kissing the pretty girls sure works up a good appetite.
  
• On Sunday mornings, we go for long rides out of the city. Country boys and girls need kissing too.
  

Speed Vest Demo at Atlantic Station

 

A group of cyclists enjoyed a ride from Sopo Bike Co-op where the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign was handing out bicycle lights, over to Atlantic Station for the Tree Lighting and other events.

Along the way, we were treated to a demonstration of the Speed Vest by its inventor Brady Clark.

When we arrived at Atlantic Station we were greeted by ABC's Bike Valet (pictured above). It's a treat to receive special treatment because you've arrived on a bicycle.

We narrowly missed getting a local TV station to film a demonstration, but with video camera in hand, we captured a few shots:

Light up the Night - On Bikes!

Does your bike have lights? If it doesn't, you'll especially be interested in this ride because the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign -- thanks to a seed donation from REI and Free Flight Bicycles -- is providing bicycle lights for anyone who shows up for this ride on a bike without lights. Of course, if you have lights, you can still ride with us. The more the merrier.

We're happy to be riding with the inventor of the Speed Vest which displays your speed on your back as your ride. Visit his site to see just how cool this is, and then come ride alongside him as we head to Atlantic Station's Tree Lighting.

I'll be leading this family-paced ride out of Virginia-Highland's Aurora Coffee starting at 4:15 on Saturday, November 22, arriving at Sopo Bicycle Co-operative in East Atlanta Village around 5:00PM where the lights will be distributed. We'll leave Sopo at 5:30 to distribute more lights at Atlantic Station and arrive in time for the Tree Lighting at 7:30. Bike Valet will be provided by ABC volunteers so we can stop for supper and other activities. Follow the link to Atlantic Station for the schedule of events.

Around 8PM, we'll head back to Virginia-Highland for a total of about 17 miles.

All are welcome to join us at any of the locations -- including Atlantic Station -- but only the departure times from Aurora Coffee and Sopo are definite at this time.

Courteous Half-Dozen

 

Atlanta's November Courteous Mass did not issue Rain Checks. If you did not attend -- and you would have been in the majority -- then you missed the ride.

I had signed up a good number of participants, but the rain fall at departure time chased away everyone I had invited. I rode alone to Woodruff Park.

At the park, the plaza (shown above) that is usually packed with bicycles was empty. Everyone got chased indoors this evening. Instead of a Courteous Mass, we were a Courteous Half-Dozen. (Jeff's Photo)

We still rode. Jeff had his nearly famous bike stereo pumping out tunes, the horns and bike bells played to the music, and many "Happy Friday's" were passed out.

Ride Summary

Route:

 

Route Distance: 6.8
Round Trip Distance: 15.6
Weather: Raining before the start; no rain after the start.

Atlanta Courteous Mass Oct 2008

 

Nick and Catherine are decorating their bike trailer while Tom and Carli await the start of the ride at Woodruff Park. Carli had a little more time to decorate than others, but many riders took pieces of the fluorescent flagging tape to dress up their bikes.

We got mixed up in lots of events that were going on in Downtown Atlanta.

As we passed between Centennial Park and Phillips Arena, we got re-directed by an officer working the traffic coming into the Atlanta Thrashers season opener.

In Atlantic Station, they were setting up for an outdoor food festival called Taste of Atlanta and were BARRED from cruising through. Actually, we were being courteous since this was Courteous Mass and decided to go around the restricted streets.

Then, we realized what a cruising zone Peachtree Street turns into on a Friday. There were cars everywhere and a big group of bikes stuck in the middle of it all. There was some event at the Fox Theater, but we couldn't tell what because by the time we got down to 5th Street, we decided to ride one block east on Courtland.

 

Courtland at Ralph McGill during Courteous Mass. Blue-domed hotel was tallest in Atlanta when I visited in 1969.

Good route and good company!

Counting Cyclists in Downtown Atlanta

 

I spent rush hour guessing the age of cyclists as they whizzed by amongst cars, pedestrians, buses and each other.

The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign has been following a national program of counting cyclists and this is the second count this year. Volunteers stand at a street corner and gather data on cyclists passing through the intersection. The cyclist in the photo was recorded as a female between 19 and 39 years of age, turning from east to north through the intersection, wearing a helmet and riding in the street along with the flow of traffic. The timing suggested she had just finished classes at nearby Georgia State, but this wasn't part of the official tally.

The official tally did not specifically ask about police officers riding on the sidewalk, but I did make note of that. If we expect our officers to enforce this law, it would appear we would need to make them aware of this law.

Alicia, Crystal (in the photo below) and I counted 82 intersection crossings over the two hour period. We'd like to add more street corners next time. If you'd like to volunteer, sign up to receive ABC's newsletter. Or even better, you can become a member.

Intown Atlanta Hill Documentation

 

I had mentioned in a recent post about one of my -- I really don't know a good word that describes it -- frivolous routes, that I wanted to show the hills better. Evan likes gmap, and Apertome mentioned that bikely.com's elevation profile works pretty good (850 feet of climb on this route). What I'm after IS visual, but in a different way.

It's my DIY helmet cam. Duct tape is prominently featured, but this is pretty much a stiff metal base with a 1/4" thread bolt attached and then the whole thing is taped to a spare (if not somewhat out-dated) helmet. I'll have a tether attached in case of accidental detachment, but initial testing shows a low likelihood of this occurring.

I've practiced starting and stopping of recording without taking the helmet off and will be conducting road tests before long. Then we'll see some of Atlanta's hills as they are experienced.

Whimsical Couch Bike

This has been out for years, but I've just stumbled across it thanks to 100 KM.

A couple of guys put a couch on a custom frame and pedaled it around Canada for a summer. Their story is a treasure -- especially if you appreciate dry humor -- and the photos ... well, the idea was simply too good not to actually try it. I wish I had invented the Couch Bike.

We need more of this sort of deviousness.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 17.2
Number of Cyclists seen: 21 dodging lightning under threatening skies.
In-bound Route: Lullwater/PATH trail
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Warm on the way in, stormy with rain in the evening.

Atlanta version of Courteous Mass

I understand Atlanta's Courteous Mass has felt like the baby sister to the older and more established Critical Mass, but when we joined the ride this evening at Woodruff Park, it appeared this sister was growing up. The ride was well-represented by the usual variety of bikes and ages of riders. Although my photos disproportionately represent the families, this does make a good family ride and it does nothing to undermine the respect of motorists.

As with most rides around town, it was a pleasure to run into both familiar faces and new faces. These rides are always a good chance to meet new people and to catch up with those you've ridden with on other rides.

Now that I've ridden both Critical Mass and Courteous Mass, I can make a fair comparison. Both are nice in that you're surrounded by cyclists and riding along with traffic. Both feel very safe and I would argue both are safe. It's a great way to introduce new cyclists to group riding in an urban setting, although Courteous Mass sets a much better example.

Both feel like a rolling celebration, but certainly more so for Critical Mass. Yes, there's the whooping and hollering, bell-ringing and horn-tooting, but Critical Mass does have more energy and a lot more "Happy Fridays!" being shouted out, perhaps because of its size. Both masses get attention, but taking over an intersection does get more attention. It's just not quite the attention we should be getting ;-).

The trend might be away from Critical Mass and more toward the alternative rides. That is probably a good thing if we can increase and multiply the energy of Critical Mass.

 

Sowing Flowers

Each ride is an opportunity to plant seeds in the minds of the motorists, pedestrians, and other cyclists we encounter. Yesterday's ride was an example.

Although I've been riding bicycles in Atlanta for nearly 30 years now, there are still many roads I've never been down. Some roads I avoid, but the real reason is there are hundreds of roads and we tend to stick with our favorites.

When we do explore new roads, we often find the pedestrians and motorists are unfamiliar with cyclists. These encounters on remote and little traveled roads are opportunities to make good impressions.

People on the street are often the most fun. When they see a group of cyclists in bright colors, it's almost like a parade (if not a bike race). They stop to watch and whoop and holler as we pass. I like ringing my bike bell because that is even more unexpected than several guys closely following each other on a bike. This always gets a smile from the kids.

The motorists are more mixed. Some are ultra-cautious and trail behind us matching our speed for the length of the road we're on. We'll hug the fog line and try waving them around, and then when they finally catch up at an intersection, we'll sometimes find an elderly couple with thick glasses and cautious smiles.

Every now and then we do hear the occasional "I'm back here and about to come around" tap on the horn. The belligerent horn and the "get off the road" attitudes are rare, but we do what we can to allow traffic to get around us.

It's nice talking with motorists in their cars. Not many roll down their window at a stop light so we can greet each other and chat about whatever. Just being able to connect human to human plants seeds of goodwill.

When we stop for water, we're an easy target for casual conversation with passerby. Whether we're clearly out for a recreational ride or clearly headed into the office, the common denominator is we're having fun. Fun echoes all around us and others want to join in the fun. I think this aura of fun and the laid-back approachability of most cyclists engages people. We're planting seeds.

We're careful not to block traffic, or do anything unexpected. Most motorists simply want to pass us safely. Most pedestrians just want their space respected and to share the fun. And cyclists that ride with us understand we want to earn the respect of everyone we share the road with. That's the best way to sow the seeds that blossom into goodwill toward cyclists.