Sunday morning, it was like an unexpected gift -- a cool morning in late June. I woke up Tom, early, and told him that I was going to walk the dog,and then go for a bike ride. He told me to wake him up when I was back from walking the dog and he'd go with me. When I got back, he was already up, and dressed.
We rode to the Piedmont Park extension on the other side of Monroe, through the park, and on to the Eastside Trail of the Beltline to the end of the pavement on Irwin Street, and then on the way back stopped at Inman Perk for breakfast. This is a ride we've done on several other recent weekend mornings; this is part of the reason I haven't posted anything in so long, as some of my early morning weekend time has gone to bicycle riding. It's best to get an early start, avoiding both heat and crowds, but the of course the fact that there are so many other people out doing exactly the same thing is part of what makes it so much fun.
On the Beltline, there are people on bikes and roller blades and skate boards. There are people walking, jogging, and running. There are people with dogs and children. There's a woman who walks the Beltline, playing the fiddle (we often see her there). There are young people and older people, there are men and women, there are black people and brown people and white people, with all the diversity in every way that we see in Atlanta's intown neighborhoods.
Memorial Day weekend was the Atlanta Jazz Festival. Last year Tom and I went for the first time. Even though it's a free event in Piedmont Park and not very far away and we both enjoy jazz, somehow we'd never been to it. Last year, we parked on Virginia Avenue and then walked to the park; Tom has bad arthritis in his ankle, and walking is painful for him. Last year, I told him about the new traffic crossing light on Monroe, and how we could get to the park on bikes. Of course, last year, neither of us had a bike.
We rode to the Piedmont Park extension on the other side of Monroe, through the park, and on to the Eastside Trail of the Beltline to the end of the pavement on Irwin Street, and then on the way back stopped at Inman Perk for breakfast. This is a ride we've done on several other recent weekend mornings; this is part of the reason I haven't posted anything in so long, as some of my early morning weekend time has gone to bicycle riding. It's best to get an early start, avoiding both heat and crowds, but the of course the fact that there are so many other people out doing exactly the same thing is part of what makes it so much fun.
On the Beltline, there are people on bikes and roller blades and skate boards. There are people walking, jogging, and running. There are people with dogs and children. There's a woman who walks the Beltline, playing the fiddle (we often see her there). There are young people and older people, there are men and women, there are black people and brown people and white people, with all the diversity in every way that we see in Atlanta's intown neighborhoods.
Memorial Day weekend was the Atlanta Jazz Festival. Last year Tom and I went for the first time. Even though it's a free event in Piedmont Park and not very far away and we both enjoy jazz, somehow we'd never been to it. Last year, we parked on Virginia Avenue and then walked to the park; Tom has bad arthritis in his ankle, and walking is painful for him. Last year, I told him about the new traffic crossing light on Monroe, and how we could get to the park on bikes. Of course, last year, neither of us had a bike.
Last fall, I bought a bicycle. Soon afterwards, Iain got a bike, and he and I did a little riding together. Then, a couple of months ago I was out of town for work and came back to learn that Tom had bought a bicycle too. Even though he has arthritis, he can ride a bike without too much discomfort. So we had planned on going to the festival by bike. Friday night, there was someone playing that he wanted to hear, and he went by himself; Saturday, we went together, with a picnic, and Sunday, we went back with Pawel and Carolina. It was a wonderful, glorious display of our city, and we never would have spent so much time there (or maybe even gone at all) if we hadn't ridden our bikes.
There is no doubt that biking -- even as little as we do it -- has made our lives better and made living in Atlanta more enjoyable. And there is pretty much a direct sequence of cause and effect, from stumbling across Atlanta Streets Alive on North Highland in 2012 to finally buying a bicycle to our new weekend morning routine. If somehow you've never made it to an Atlanta Streets Alive event, you're in luck -- the next one is September 27, with the same North Highland-Boulevard-North Avenue loop as last time. Don't miss it. You never know; it could change how you spend your weekend mornings, and how you see the city.
There is no doubt that biking -- even as little as we do it -- has made our lives better and made living in Atlanta more enjoyable. And there is pretty much a direct sequence of cause and effect, from stumbling across Atlanta Streets Alive on North Highland in 2012 to finally buying a bicycle to our new weekend morning routine. If somehow you've never made it to an Atlanta Streets Alive event, you're in luck -- the next one is September 27, with the same North Highland-Boulevard-North Avenue loop as last time. Don't miss it. You never know; it could change how you spend your weekend mornings, and how you see the city.
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