Advocacy & Safety - Making a convert

Yesterday I was talking with a coworker about commuting by bike and she mentioned she would love to do it but she was afraid of getting killed on a couple of the busier streets. She lives near my in-laws, so I explained a route that avoids the main arterial roads in favor of smaller residential streets and park trails.

Now she's vowed to try bicycling to work.

1 down 139 to go.

Bikebuddha, that's great.

I ride in Atlanta, too. I haven't gotten commuting converts, but I've influence people at work. Some walk more, some bike more. One guy had given up cycling and exercise because of nerve pain, but he decided to ride in spite of the pain and now he's placing well in triathalons for his age group (50 yrs. +.) He used to look a little chubby, now he's a rail and hard as a rock.

Our stick-to-it-iveness does influence people.

I made a convert to, or at least influenced one. Simply by riding to work every day. Now he likes to drop by my cube and talk bikes. Unfortunately he gave the commuting a try, didn't like the traffic, and now just rides during lunch. But you never know...

I've tried to get the 2 cyclists I work with to ride in.
No luck yet. My main problem is they are warm weather riders and it is winter.
Hopefully, one will meet me midway this spring or summer. It would be nice to ride with someone else for once. The other problem would be keeping up with a roadie on my hybrid.

I lived in Atllanta for almost seven years ( 77-83) and commuted most everyday from near Oglethorpe U to Peachtree and 15th(Colony Square) Commuting was a pain in the azz since the two direct routes to where I needed to go were either Peachtree rd or Piedmont ave and both were narrow busy roads then and sucked to ride on. Has it improved now? does Marta allow bikes on the trains?

I lived in Atllanta for almost seven years ( 77-83) and commuted most everyday from near Oglethorpe U to Peachtree and 15th(Colony Square) Commuting was a pain in the azz since the two direct routes to where I needed to go were either Peachtree rd or Piedmont ave and both were narrow busy roads then and sucked to ride on. Has it improved now? does Marta allow bikes on the trains?
I'm not sure Peachtree south of Oglethorpe has improved much for cycling since traffic has increased. The lanes are still too narrow for sharing, there. As you head north to P'tree Ind. Blvd., lanes widen, but speeds increase.

Downtown neighborhoods are being snatched up by higher income residents, and developers are aggressively building condos there. Even the old defunct factory (I forget what it produced, but I've never seen it active) by Boulevard and Memorial Drive has been turned into apartment lofts. Most growth has been in the outlying areas, however, and places that were once rural are thick with shopping, suburban developments and heavy traffic. If there's anything I remember about the roads during the time 1977-1983, they were often old and ill-maintained. Since then, many roads have been widened considerably and divided with grass medians.

I ride East-West from Stone Mountain area to Piedmont near Auburn Ave. I ride past Agnes Scott College in Decatur, through Inman Park (which has been taken over by higher income residents, although Little Five Points remains a counter-culture haven.) MARTA trains now run east almost to Stone Mountain and north to both North Springs (by GA 400) and Doraville. Bikes are allowed on trains (if it's not too crowded to get in) and all MARTA buses have bike racks.

You'd be amazed at the growth in the last 25 years. (did I talk too much?) :)

In my office of 300, I've got 2 confirmed conversions, and 3 projects. It's a little early yet, but in a month or two I'll have to follow up on the projects.

Thats always great when that happens. I have a guy I work with who likes to go out on tides with me on the weekends when the weather permits. He never used to ride until he saw me riding into work. I felt great getting him on the bike.

Well done! (but shouldn't this be in the commuting forum?)