Being inside Atlanta, whether driving, walking or these days biking, is to be in a land of pointy hills and deep ravines. I live relatively close to the tall buildings of downtown, however I rarely see them. Every pointy hilltop is covered with old growth trees and layered with kudzu vines. Even if, with much huffing and puffing, you make it to the top of a hill, you are not rewarded with a vista, just more trees, more houses and the downward angle of your winding road.
As my last post hinted at, this week I bought a new bicycle. Considerations of biking in Atlanta include:
- the aforementioned hills
- car drivers unaware and unaccustomed to driving with bicyclists
- potholes and eroding roadways
- inconsistent, non-existant, overgrown and/or eroding sidewalks
With these factors in mind, I chose a bicycle with fatter tires, a slightly lighter frame and easy shifting. I’m also a big fan of wearing my helmet, around here it would be suicide not to.
We live at the bottom of a ravine. Our building sits next to a small creek, winding it’s way across the city. This has become more obvious now that I’m biking. Any direction I want to go is first up a big hill. Whew! This of course was the whole point of buying a bicycle, to get more exercise.
Now, instead of driving my car to the library, I’m off to ride my bicycle up a hill, down a hill and then up a hill to the library (repeat in reverse on the way back).
I must also mention, as talk of fall weather and fall-ness is spreading across blogs right now, that here in Atlanta I’m still comfortable wearing shorts and t-shirts, though today I’m mixing things up with light pants and a t-shirt. It’s like no fall I’ve had before.
