Rider

Kevin


From Decatur Georgia


Commutes 9 Miles Oneway for years and 4 months
Four or Three Days a week, I am a bike commuter Year Round

Older Atlanta neighborhoods offer good street connectivity for bicycle commuting away from busy streets. However, I do have to spend time on 10th street and Virginia Avenue through Midtown then some time on Ponce De Leon. Metro Atlanta works very hard to earn its poor reputation for pollution, sprawl and anti pedestrian/cyclist attitude. You need shocks for the poor pavement and aggressive traffic calming (speed bumps), a mirror to check your six, a water bottle and a good set of gears for the hills. Traffic lights and other infrastructure is very poorly maintained within Atlanta city limits. You will have to run "trip" lights as they will not detect bicycles. Once you get into the quiet tree-covered neighborhoods though, it's a very nice bike ride. I go through Virginia Highlands, Druid Hills (Driving Miss Daisy), Ansley Park, Emory and Decatur.

As a middle-aged father of two. I watched my coworkers one by one fall into diabetes, heart disease and obesity related illneses. I was buying larger clothes and had hit 206 lbs. I was getting warned about my borderline blood pressure and was getting winded going up one flight of stairs. A foot injury made jogging very painful so I looked into cycling as a possible excercise routine, but when would I find the time? It occurred to me that commuting to work might be possible. I examined the online maps for about a week, bought a nice "cross" bike and loaded it up with accessories then parked my Ford F150. Within 4 months, I lost 22 lbs, I feel great and am not burning $30 /week in gasoline. In fact, I'm thinking of selling the pickup because I use it so rarely now. The best thing is that based on my improved health, some guys at work have acquired bikes and are riding regularly.

Driving to work, 20-30 minutes, 0 health benefits, increased urban congestion/pollution. Cycling to work, 35-40 minutes, 450 calories burned (each way) decreased urban congestion and pollution. One less car on the road.

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