Yes, Finally!
 

I did it! I biked in to work! Well, it was only 2.6 miles of the trip, but I did it! After two years of "preparing," I'm finally bike commuting!

My legs held up, the drivers were courteous, the weather was perfect and the bungies and rack worked just like they should (that is, my backpack stayed on the bike). Oh yeah, and the bike is tucked away 20 feet from my desk with no comments from anyone yet. Which means that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb :D

Kevin S.

Kevin,
Congratulations. Here's to you. :beer:
Now, tell me where you found these courteous drivers. Send some over to DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. ;)
Maybe you should somehow make it "stick out like a sore thumb". ;) Striking up a conversation about the bike and commuting is how you "recruit" co-workers to ride with you. :cool:

Keep up the good work.

Keep it up! :D

Congratulations on making the start.

Richard

Good job! That first step is always the hardest.

I'm impressed by the good drivers, too. I have heard some pretty scary stories about Atlanta drivers.

Keep up the good work, and remember that cyclocommuters everywhere are behind you.

andy

Actually, I found them in DeKalb, although I didn't check their tags :) (uh, license plates to anybody outside the SE US)

I work just north of Perimeter mall. I took the side roads around Home Depot and Costco and through the Central Park office park (adds .6 miles but avoids a lot of traffic).

I'll do that when I'm in better shape. The caption on a poster of me would more likely read, "This guy needs cycling" than "This guy is a cyclist" :eek:

Thanks for the encouraging words!

It feels great to have beaten (mostly just finally ignored) the 1001 details that I felt I had to completely solve before starting.

Congratulations! I'm a newbie Atlanta commuter myself. Well, newbie on bike, oldie in a car. I also found that the cars were nicer to me than I thought they would be.

Where do you live in Atlanta? I'm thinking about trying to organize an Atlanta bikeforums.net ride since there seems to be a large number of Atlanta members. Interested?

PH
:D

Watch out, dude. You'll be hooked for life now.

It makes me happy to hear about your start in commuting! Good job. :beer:

When I commuted, I just propped my bike against the wall next to my desk. It got lots of comments and inquiries (all favorable). Express messengers especially were interested (young guys, some of them kinda cyclicts or wannabe cyclists).

It also helped boost my own morale to be able to glance at my bike every time I got up from my desk, or returned to it, or just before I fell asleep at it... :eek:

Great, man!

I started by riding about 2 1/2 miles to a library where I locked up and caught an express bus (30 min.) to work. I had no idea it would lead to...well, what it's led to!

:D

Hey Kevin, congratulations! I'm glad it was fun.

I find, too, that for the most part, drivers are courteous. You do get the occasional wanker that feels the need to yell or honk their horns, but in general, they are rare enough that they really stand out as idiots relative to the competent, confident drivers on the road. (of course, others' experiences will vary -- this is just what I've found).

One thing to watch out for, however, are overly courteous drivers: those that courteously stop for you where they shouldn't, and wave you (with all the best intentions) into oncoming traffic.

Be wary: not everyone will behave the same way as your overly courteous motorist, and you can't expect everyone to see you if you are going to do something unexpected (i.e., not in accordance with normal traffic flow/rules). Sometimes motorists' well-meaning attempts to accomodate cyclists create situations where you may feel socially pressured into making a very risky move -- e.g., turning left when there are two lanes of traffic and there are drivers other than the one motorist that's decided to stop for you, or crossing an intersection before you're sure that you can cross. Resist -- don't do it! If you can communicate with all the approaching drivers, great, but it's not enough to notice that one driver has noticed you. It can be awkward refusing a well-meaning person's "gift", but it's better to feel awkward than to be rushed into a collision with a driver who *didn't* happen to see that someone else was trying to do you a favour.

take care, and have fun!


-Cathy

Oh, do I know that scenario! I truly think it's one of the most vexing problems I faced when I was commuting: I didn't want to offend somebody who was obviously favorably disposed toward cyclists, yet I didn't want to break the law--and possibly cause an accident!--by accepting the well-meaning motorist's "gift." I think that out of the dozens of times I faced this dilemma, I may have gone ahead on the wave-through twice, maybe only once, and that was when there was no other car to complicate things.

It's times like those that make you wish you were carrying some pre-printed leaflets for various situations: some titles might be "Thanks but... (what you should know about vehicle right-of-way"; "Hey! We're vehicles, too"; "Paved roads were created for cyclists, not cars" (this last, for those who say, "Get on the sidewalk where you belong!" and is a reminder that the system of paved roads came about, historically, because of cyclists' demands--before the motor car was a twinkle in Daimler's eye, or whoever invented the damn thing).

all right! Atlanta is in the house. Represent!:p

good to hear that it went well. Maybe all of us atlanta area riders should get together. I heard ;) that there is a Critical mass ride friday the 22nd. meet at woodruff park between 5:30 - 6:00 PM

I never cease to be amazed (say, that's a catchy phrase, maybe I should patent it! ;) ) by the number of ATLANTEAN riders on the Bike Forums. I couldn't find a way to search the members' list by "location," but I feel that there are more members from Atlanta than from any other one place.

Pete Clark should start a poll: Why are Atlanta riders so predominant? (1) Atlanta has more gregarious people; (2) it's necessary to ride a bike in Atlanta if you really want to get anywhere; (3) a lot of people claim to be from Atlanta because they're ashamed to be from Kansas City; (4) other.

How about it, Pete?

well, I think it's because a whole bunch o' people have moved here in the last 10-15 years. Also, while our traffic might not be the worst in the world, it is very bad and some people have seen the light and have started using alternative transportation.

I've lived in Atlanta my whole life (for better or worse) and even in my limited experience of 34 years i've seen traffic go from manageable to utter hell.

The best time was during the Olympics when the commuters stayed away from the city and we enjoyed light traffic and cleaner air.

on a side note, during the olympics I got to ride with the British road racing team while they were training on the course. Also seeing about 30-40 bikes parked outside the McDonald's along the route was hilarious.:D

Thanks again for the encourgement.

An Atlanta group ride sounds like fun (I live in NE Cobb County), but I'm not in any shape to join yet (give me a few months).

Regarding Atlanta representation on this list. Atlanta is a very outdoors-oriented and high-tech city. While the majority of people are not activity-oriented, a very sizable minority are and we are in the top 10 internet connected cities in the country.

Atlanta traffic: Some areas are terrible. I see someone run a traffic light every morning and night on my Johnson's Ferry commute. Other areas seem to be fairly calm. Traffic on semi-holidays such as President's day seems to be the worst -- light, but the drivers are much more mean where it slows down:eek:

Keep pedaling,
Kevin S.

Thanks for the reminder. I've walked this route almost every day for the last few years, but yes, riding it is a whole different experience.