RIDER RESOURCES
The Mobile Social group rides take place the second Friday of each month. Cyclists gather at Woodruff Park downtown at 6 p.m. and leave at 6:30 p.m. Information: www.atlantabike.org/node/1893
For an account of Georgia laws relating to bicycles, see the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition website, under resources: www.atlantabike.org
A guide to bicycle paths in metro Atlanta and North Georgia is available at the PATH Foundation website: pathfoundation.org
The Tour de Fat event, sponsored by New Belgium Brewing, takes place May 11 in Candler Park. For information, www.newbelgium.com/events/tour-de-fat/atlanta.aspx
For information about Bike Roswell: www.bikeroswell.com
The next Atlanta Streets Alive event will take place Sunday, May 19, from 2-4 p.m., when 2.7 miles of Peachtree Street from downtown to Midtown will be closed to automobile traffic, and opened to bicycles, roller blades, skateboards, shoe leather and other human-powered locomotion. The event, coordinated by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, will offer music, a bicycle parade and other activites. Information: www.atlantastreetsalive.com
WHO’S BIKE-FRIENDLY?
The League of American Bicyclists say Georgia has improved for bikers, but it still ranks only in the middle of the pack, 24th, in bicycle friendliness based on these categories based on a score of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest)
3 Legislation and enforcement
3 Policies and programs
2 Infrastructure and funding
3 Education and Encouragment
1 Evaluation and Planning
The top five states for biking were
1. Washington
2. Colorado
3. Oregon
4. Minnesota
5 Delaware
The bottom five were
46. South Dakota
47. Kentucky
48. New Mexico
49. Alabama
50. North Dakota
Jay Wansley is a risk-friendly, competitive bicyclist and a lifelong outdoorsman.
But this year, after Atlanta drivers knocked him off his bicycle one too many times, he decided to take up a safer hobby.
Ice climbing.
Shimmying up frozen waterfalls is, apparently, “a lot safer than turning your life over to the motorists in Atlanta,” the cyclist-turned-mountaineer said.
Wansley and others will tell you there is a war going on between Atlanta’s motorists and bicyclists, and the 43-year-old has decided to become a non-combatant. Any riding he does these days is on a stationary bike in his Oakhurst basement, or the occasional “cycle cross” event in the woods.
The danger and hostility is illustrated by the deaths of cyclists in and near metro Atlanta this spring, including a Cumming woman, and a man biking to work near Marietta.
Many comments on AJC.com’s coverage of the Marietta death blamed cyclists for the carnage on the roads.
“If you can’t go 35-50 mph then [you] are screwing up the traffic for everyone else, kinda rude isn’t it?” wrote one commenter, adding, “You ride on roads with cars, you take the risk of injury…..hope it’s worth it.”
With spring comes a flurry of biking events, including last month's nationally recognized Twilight Criterium race in Athens, and the upcoming Bike to Work Week (May 13-17).
Rebecca Serna, executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, tries to downplay the springtime blooming of friction between cars and bikes, adding that the climate for bike riders is better now than it has been in the past, particularly in the bike-friendly city limits.
“In areas where drivers are used to seeing cyclists they’re much more respectful and accommodating,” she said.
But that doesn’t mean cyclists are free from jeopardy, even intown.
Last year Atlanta oncology nurse Mandy Smith accepted an offer from the New Belgium Brewing Co. to trade her 1998 RAV4 for a tricked-out Specialized bicycle. The Colorado brewery, maker of Fat Tire ale, sponsors a "Tour de Fat" in 12 cities, including Atlanta (the next event will take place May 11 in Candler Park) with a bicycle parade, musical entertainment, and other events.
The swap was part of last year’s Atlanta tour. Afterward, the brewery auctioned the car and donated the money to such bike groups as the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.
Six months later, an SUV hit Smith while she pedaled to work on Peachtree Street, breaking two bones in her left leg, cracking her pelvis and totaling her bike.
She was out of work for three months, returning just last month in a borrowed car. But she intends to become a bicycle commuter again. One reason she gave up her car, said Smith , 34, was “to show that it could be done. Eventually I will persevere in that mission.”
While cyclists and city planners have worked steadily to increase the number of bicycle lanes and paths in metro Atlanta, some riders aren’t content to wait patiently.
The grassroots Critical Mass organization stages a monthly ride, drawing up to 300 cyclists who have been known to run red lights, tie up traffic and “cork” intersections — block crossing lanes while the group rides through.
Software developer Chris Schwartz, waiting on a recent Friday in downtown’s Woodruff Park to join a Critical Mass ride of about 100 bicyclists acknowledged the riders may break some laws. The point is to keep the group together, which makes the ride safer for all, he said.
It’s also a political gesture, demonstrating to motorists that the cycling community has strength in numbers, said Delaine Williams, 22, a recent arrival from Los Angeles.
Other cyclists cringe at that approach. Cyclists have a reputation for violating signals, riding between lanes and ignoring stop signs and one-way markers. Mainstream bikers say Critical Mass events add fuel to the antagonistic fire.
In a February Georgia Voice column, radio news announcer Melissa Carter decried bicyclists who hold up traffic and said they don’t belong on the same thoroughfares as cars.
“I will honestly say that I do not believe in sharing the road,” she wrote.
The column provoked “amens” from drivers tired of two-wheelers in rush hour, and a storm of criticism from cyclists who pointed out that Georgia law grants cyclists status equal to drivers of motor vehicles.
Ken Rosskopf, an attorney specializing in representing bicyclists who’ve been injured in traffic, said Critical Mass events make motorists angry and are counterproductive. An alternative are “Mobile Social” group rides organized by Jeffrey Wisard every second Friday, whose participants make a point of obeying traffic laws.
“What you will see on our rides is: People will talk to us about biking, rather than say this is ‘us versus them,’” said Wisard, whose group also leaves from Woodruff Park.
Despite the complaints to the contrary, cyclists rarely hold up traffic, say supporters.
Jere Wood, an avid cyclist and mayor of Roswell, the first city to win a "bike friendly" designation from the League of American Bicyclists, says motorists are likely to be annoyed anyway, because "it's an annoying thing to be stuck in traffic. When you're having a bad day everything is annoying. On the other hand, the cyclists are loving life."
About the Author
