New Ankle Therapy

Give me a couple of new anti-inflamtories and wrap up my ankle so it looks like it comes from the Valley of the Kings. We'll see how this works.

Why You No Post?

Here's the deal. I've been off the bike since my last post. Riding along one day I felt an incredible pain in my ankle. Three doctor's visits have resulted in three different diagnosis quite frankly I think they have no clue. Oh, and I still can't ride. It's really getting old.

New Job Means New Route

I start a new job on Monday, so I'm currently searching for the best route from Vinings to Lenox Square.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

I never thought I would miss riding in the rain so much, but I literally can't remember the last time we had a good soaking. We went to screen on the green last Thursday and I was thrilled to see dozens of bikes filling the racks at Piedmont Park. It gives me hope for the future.

More MARTA Woes

You may have heard that MARTA's 190 million dollar Breeze card system decided to flip-out yesterday. Yeah, I hate the whole Breeze card system and I hate using the same gates for entrance and exit. Come July you will need to tap your Breeze card to exit a station, MARTA claims this is to better track ridership, to quote the Mighty Thor, I say nay. I believe that tap in/tap out is the first step to variable fare pricing. Right now you can ride from the Airport to Dunwoody for the same cost as a trip from Five Points to Arts Center. With tap in/tap out the gates could be programed to charge more for longer rides. In a city that needs to do everything in its power to increase transit usage this would be a monumentally stupid idea.

Smokey

Absolutely horrible air quality today as smoke from the wildfires in the south enveloped Atlanta. It looks like LA out there.

Rising Gas Prices

Gas topped $3.00 a gallon in Atlanta over the weekend which brought the usual news stories about people cutting back in order to fill their tanks. And yet still I see cars racing from stop light to stop light, driving far in excess of the speed limit, and being used for the shortest of trips.

Not one of the reports I saw mentioned bicycling as an alternative to driving. Let's see, I don't remember the last time I put gas in my car, I'm in great shape, and I don't have to pay for parking. Bicycling, good for my heart, good for my wallet, good for my city.

P.S. As gas prices have climbed I have noticed a slight increase in transit use which is a good thing.

Bike to Work Day

MARTA is promoting Bike to Work Day on their electronic signs in the various stations around time. Good job MARTA.

Two Days Two Flats

I anticipate I'll be writing a very negative review of Ritchey Tom Slicks very soon. Today's flat happened right in front of Jett's building.

Not One TdG Post

Between school and work I've been so busy this week that I've let the Tour past without comment. So let me say for the record that the Tour de Georgia is great, and I wish I was able to attend every single stage. :(

APD Doing Their Job

The other day I rode down to Peachtree Center to do some banking.  When I came out I began unlocking my bike but because some dofus had chained his bike nearly right on top of mine. I was having a problem getting at the lock. That's when an APD foot patrolman came up on me and asked me what I was doing. I explained the situation and surprisingly he asked for proof the bike was mind.  

And you know what I can see why he did, he must have been watching me trying to get at the lock for at least two minutes, for all he knew I was just a well dressed bike thief. I told him that my name and address were etched on the seat post. Then I pulled it to show him where it was at. That satisfied him but with all the thievery that goes on I'm glad he showed enough interest to check me out.

The Backup Plan

On this morning's ride to Sandy Springs I got a huge cramp.  A real nasty one.  I thought about riding through it but after about 100 feet I decided to engage the backup plan.  

As a bike commuter you've always got to plan ahead.  Flats, mechnical failures, or even a turn in the weather might force you off your bike.  My backup plan is to take the bus to the Sandy Springs station.  So as my cramp intensified I stopped at the nearest bus stop, waited for the bus and began to stretch.  And I waited, and waited, I know the bus schedules pretty well and I knew the bus was running late.  Then it came barrelling over the hill and nearly flew right past me.  I loaded by bike on the rack, (got to love MARTA's bike friendliness) and began one of the most harrowing bus rides of my life.  I mean this was slapstick comedy, sterotypical third-world bus driving, kind of crazy.  The bus driver flew down the roads far in excess of the 35 mph speed limit.  We hit a dip in the road and by heart jumped as I heard the rack hitting the asphalt.   Needless to say I was relieved when we finally reached the train station.

Multimodal Commute

Today I did the bike to train thing.  11km to the Sandy Springs MARTA station and then riding to the Civic Center station and then biking the one block to work.  1 hour and fifteen minutes from home to my desk although I was delayed waiting for a bathroom stall to change in.  

At one point on the train ride my car had three bikes in it, not bad.

Update: The combination bus/bike trip home took 52 minutes.  Not bad.

One Less Car the Movie

From Martino, the trailer for One Less Car the Movie.

Critical Mass Atlanta

Jett over at AIC provides pictures and videos of Critical Mass Atlanta style.

A Tale of Two Commutes

Today was the first day of the new commute. To give you an idea of the scale of the change, I went from commuting to here.




To here.
 

The Pollen Bowl

If you're not from Atlanta it's really hard to imagine how bad the pollen is. Imagine the dust bowl of John Ford's films only yellow. When you're out riding your can see plumes of the stuff blowing off the trees. Everything is covered in a fine yellow dust and the horizon is obscured by billowing clouds of plant love.

If you can't tell, I'm not a fan.

Want One of These

Bike Friday Tikit

MARTA's Secret Fare Increase

Here's something that has been sliding under the radar for a while but it's sure to create a stir later this summer. Last year I blogged about MARTA's new Breeze Ticket system. Starting May 1, 2007, MARTA will begin charging a .50 fee for issuing Breeze Tickets. Allegedly this is to recoup the cost of the tickets, but it's really just a revenue generator.

Now you can repeatedly reload the tickets but these things are flimsy and are lucky to last one week much less the 90 days they're good for. When MARTA adopted the Breeze system the rational was to make it harder for fare cheats but now it seems clear that the real motivation was to provide a new revenue source for a transit system that can't increase their fares.

New Job

I've got a new job and for the first time I'm going to be commuting into Atlanta everyday. Over the next week or so I'm going to be planning my new route and searching for the best place to secure my bike downtown. I'm also considering getting a MARTA card just in case I need a ride.