Two-wheeled grocery challenge

14.6 pounds of fuel for the family. Tuesday's trip went so much smoother with the lighter weight of the basket. I need to keep the majority of the weight on the back of the bike. There were none of the wobblies, like when the basket was carrying 25 lbs last week. I found a slightly less congested route home from Whole Foods. It's a mile longer, but I'm more comfortable without as many fast cars. Plus, it's a section with a shoulder wider than a gutter.


B2 & I went to Harry's Market (farmers market bought out by Whole Foods) Sunday afternoon, so there wasn't a big list. Didn't get a whole lot of stuff, so I'll still be shopping my regular days this week. There are just some things I can't get without being at a farmer market, and we were in the neighborhood. Harry's isn't far from the theater where we saw X-men Origins: Wolverine. We ground our own peanut butter, and a little of the chocolate almond butter, to try on toast for breakfast Monday morning. (Won't be getting that often, as it would prove irresistable.) The cheese sampling around the market is always fun. My fave was a habanero cheese; B2's was a Cheddar... not to be confused with all the cheeses made elsewhere in the world.

We also ground flour at this nifty mill, which I will be using tonight in baking bread for tomorrow's lunches. This trip was the hard white spring wheat. Next time we'll try the red.

No grocery bike trip today, but managed to get in a quick 8.9 mile ride before the stormy weather rolled in. Worked out well, since it started right about the time I needed to pick up the younger kids from school. It was a windy ride, but great. Made the return trip into the wind the higher intensity portion of the workout. Ended a little winded, but very happy for having worked in the 30 minutes of exercise.

Rainy day driving in Atlanta

Just don't, if you can avoid it. As Evan of Atlanta By Bike puts it:

Atlanta receives some 50 inches of rain a year. That's considerably more than legendarily soggy Seattle which only gets 38 inches a year, so you would think Atlanta drivers would have no problem with a little precipitation. Well you would be wrong. Really wrong. The fact is anytime water falls from the sky Atlanta's roads are suddenly filled with thousands of chicken littles who give surrender what little driving skills they possess to a bizarre ritual that I call Atlanta Rush Hour Rain Syndrome.

Trouble is, when it's raining, all hours are rush hour.

Rather than deal with normal connector congestion + downtown chaos + construction + ARHRS, I will be taking MARTA to the Georgia Dome, so I can pick up my race number at the ING Health & Fitness Expo. It will take just as long as driving, but I'll be less cranky. I hope.

Have downloaded the latest podcast from Gardner at Liberty Conspiracy and my current audiobook (half-finished) by Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

You know, now that I think about it, the smells on the train should go pretty well with the book. :)

'Tis the Season

On my way to the store today, I noticed a distinct lack of pedestrians. I'm used to being the only bicycle on my trips during the week, but there are usually walkers. It was sunny. It wasn't windy, and I was almost too warm in my grey wool coat & gloves. It was lunchtime, and it wouldn't have taken more than a jacket for folks to be comfortable on the walk to restaurants. Where was everyone?

They were all driving. The parking lots were packed, and not just the lots in front of retail stores. Here we are, in a very walkable area, and everyone is driving. Brought to mind a recent post from Jett of Atlanta Intown Cycling. Kissing the Pretty Girls, about how people talk about walking, or riding, but nobody actually gets out there and does it.

If you are able to walk, and take the car instead, you’re just talking. If you are able to leave the car behind, and you do leave it behind, you’re kissing the pretty girls.

The poets talk of romance. My neighbors talk of walking. Who is kissing the pretty girls?

He's in Virginia Highlands, which gets a much higher walkability score than my suburban neighborhood, but mine is fairly high, and climbing with every stretch of sidewalk the City of Sandy Springs pours.

I'm trying to kiss the pretty girls whenever possible. On beautiful days, like today, with a basket full of good food, pretty flowers, fragrant eucalyptus and bright red holly... the kisses are fantastic!

Happy, Happy...

Have a group ride out in Cobb & Paulding tomorrow morning. Have my little bag (safety & snack) all packed. 30 miles of hopping on and off the Silver Comet Trail for forays into traffic.

This is something I need. Really have to build up my confidence in navigating streets. I do ride around on Roswell and Abernathy Roads here in Sandy Springs, but I try to go during off peak hours. Even when I can get close to my destination on the neighborhood streets, I still have to finish up the last bit of most trips somewhere along major streets.

It's getting close to my couple of busy months of fall projects, mostly travel & tourism pieces. My two biggest clients are within 3-5 miles of the house. Would love to be able to stick proofs in my backpack and be my own bicycle courier without being paranoid about those 4-lane roads.

Commuter Miles

Only around six miles today on the bike, but they were risking-my-life-in-lunchtime-traffic miles. The temps were in the low 80s today, so I swapped out my loafers for SPDs and headed out for errands and meeting in street clothes. Rolled up my left pant leg, tossed my cardigan in the backpack with the items destined for UPS, and headed out.

I'm so used to making trips around Sandy Springs on my heavy, slow hybrid. It was really nice to take the hills on Bloo. (Blooregard Q. Kazoo, named by my children for Bloo of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.)

The drivers around me didn't give me quite the space they do on Patty (Peppermint Patty, also named by children.) I guess the lack of a front-mount basket helped me look a bit more... competent? Less accident prone? It's also possible I just looked like a serious commuter today, just a regular part of traffic.

My only complaint was the complete lack of bicycle racks. Or anything suitable for locking up Bloo. I don't mind using something other than a rack. But the 4-6' wide brick pillar is a bit beyond the stretch of my cable or chain. It wasn't all that bad; both the UPS Store and Starbucks (meeting location) were quite friendly when I wheeled my buddy through the door.

I attempted to catch a picture using the self-timer feature. It's not easy to get situated in 5 seconds when a bike's involved, so I'm not sure if any of the shots are useful. If I did get something decent, I'll post. Hopefully, I didn't cut myself in half while running across the carport each time.

Edit: this will have to do. I look like a complete dork, but at least I'm not sticking out my tongue, closing my eyes, or midway through swinging my leg over the seat. And, my goodness, the angle on the bike adds about 15 lbs. - I suddenly like all those horrible running photos from races a whole lot more.

And, I'm really glad I had the cardigan for the meeting. The air conditioning was extra chilly after the ride. (That, and I'm not one to run around in just a camisole top, generally speaking.)

Walk/Bike Neighborhoods

I found a fun mapping site today. Picked up the link at Riding Pretty-Bicycle Chic. (A super fun site of biking goodness, by the way.) The site is Walk Score, and allows you to plug in your home address, a neighborhood in which you might be interested, your office, etc., and find out how high it scores for walkability.

I popped in the address of the park / arts center in my neighborhood, and....
My neighborhood scores a 43 - Car Dependent. There are a lot of stores and restaurants in the 1.5-2.5 mile range, which are outside the walking area, but which are quite reachable by bicycle.

I agree completely with the Car Dependent status though.

The bike lanes, where available, are neither wide enough, nor clearly marked. It's alright for me to ride out to the store, but there's no way I'm taking children out on that 24-inch ribbon at the side of the road. The elementary school is about 2 miles away, but down a narrow and winding 2-lane road, without sidewalks. The car is a safety necessity, even though we could easily walk that distance. In fact, the sidewalks are spotty along the sections of main road we could walk to reach a few restaurants and stores. Along Johnson Ferry, there are stretches with no sidewalks. The sidewalks which do exist are only on one side of the street; and not even on the same side of the street. To make the .8 mile walk to Roswell Road, we'd need to either cross back and forth to stay with available sidewalks and grassy curbs, or walk in the street along the areas without.

I'm not a supporter of government created and controlled roads; I think the private market, or combination public-private solutions would be far better and less expensive than the junk our tax money is purchasing now. But that's a completely different discussion. If the government is going to be in charge of our roads, the least they can do is work for safer transport for all commuters, and not just those in cars. After all, it's part of what we're paying all those fuel taxes, SPLOSTS, and property taxes for, isn't it?

Aside from my gripe about the roads, Walk Score is a pretty darn cool mapping tool. I will probably spend way too much time playing with it over the next couple of days.