Are you sure it's winter?

Unseasonably warm weather seems to be the rule all over the east. Today it was 21 degrees Celsius in Atlanta that’s 70 degrees Fahrenheit, too warm for January. I had a few errands to run so I hopped on the bike and hit the road. The first stop was REI at Perimeter Mall, I got a gift certificate of Christmas and I desperately need a new multi-tool.




Most of the this way to Perimeter is a designated bike route so you see these little signs.





Turtles preaching religous harmony.


After a quick stop at REI I decided to hop the train into town. One of the great things about MARTA is that they allow bikes on the trains at any time of the day. A short ride later I was in midtown and I quickly rode to Ansley Park.





Peachtree Circle is one of the few streets in Atlanta where the words bike lane and door zone go together.




After a quick ride through Ansley I entered Piedmont Park.

I took some photos of the midtown skyline.




While riding around the park I saw two people named Rob and Amber. You could tell they were Rob and Amber because their shirts and those of their entourage proudly proclaimed, were Rob and Amber and were with Rob and Amber respectively. Rob and Amber were evidently hyping their new show.




After leaving the park I rode across midtown to West Peachtree. West Peachtree features subpar bikelanes.

The new 5th Street bridge has much better bike lanes.




This is where the ride went downhill. I cut through the Georgia Tech Campus to Atlantic Station, then across 17th Street toward Howell Mill. About this time my right pannier falls off and goes skidding across the street. Of course this is the one with the camera in it. So I do a highly illegal turn and manage to pick it up just before the oncoming bus crushes it. I reattach the pannier and head on my way again. That's when I notice a strange noise from my bottom bracket. It get worse when the crank is under load so I try and take it easy but the route home is pretty hilly. In fact I was paying so much attention to the noise I make a wrong turn and wind up in one of the hillest parts of town. Don't ask me how but soon I'm totally lost, facing hill after hill, and by BB making a terrible noise. I had ridden through lunch and I was getting tired, I stop a couple of joggers for directions and they tell me the road I'm looking for is to the left just over the real big hill. I eventually find my way and make it to Paces Ferry Road. A little while later I make it to my last stop, the library. After that it's straight home where I calculate the useless ride stats.

46 KM ridden
5000 Calories burned
328 meters of climbing