Save The Date: Farmers' Markets This Saturday

March 1st welcomes not only the seasonal return of the popular Piedmont Park Green Market but the debut of Freedom Farmers' Market at the Carter Presidential Library. See you there!

A Video From The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition

This is what advocacy can do.
www.atlantabike.org

Roll Model: Grace Molteni

I'm a Midwest born and raised designer and illustrator currently living south of the Mason Dixon line. When I'm not slinging pastries at the best bakery in Atlanta (Little Tart, represent!) you're sure to find me posted up at a coffee shop doing work, at the bar with a book, or exploring somewhere new around the city by bike. When I first moved to here last July I was living in Inman Park but working on the west side- as you can imagine the Belt Line quickly became my best friend. That, and the view of the skyline as you fly up Freedom Parkway Trail are by far some of my favorite rides. Coming from biking Milwaukee and working in Chicago, the transportation infrastructure, or perhaps lack thereof, took some adjusting to. Aside from the need for more bike lanes/safety zones, I was most surprised by the hostility of motorists towards cyclists in Atlanta. Many drivers here (though not all) tend to make it their job to let you know they don't want you on the road. The upside to that is zooming past a rude driver at the next lights while they are jammed in a gridlock. Karma, karma, karma.

I recently picked up a vintage Japanese 1980's MIYATA touring bike and can't wait to soup that up and hit the pavement this spring, but my current ride is a TREK Hybrid that I bought back in high school and (shamefully) neglected in college. As far as my bike goes I definitely go for utility- anything added has been a necessity. After being taken out by car and a trip to Grady for stitches and a few x-rays (thank you Atlanta traffic) my brother gifted me a new set of back lights- The Laser Shark. Essentially the Laser Shark shoots two laser lights out alongside my back tires, creating a lit bike lane that reminds cars to give a bit of space. Really cool product. My favorite accessory though is my helmet. I am, admittedly, one of those people who has a hard time wearing a helmet if they think it looks silly; when I saw this awesome Dia-De-Los Muertos-esque BELL helmet at Outback Bikes, I knew it was the perfect way to protect my head and still look like myself. Skulls for my skull!

My bike is quite literally my ride- this undeniably affects my wardrobe. Because biker's butt looks good on no one, in bad weather especially I often do like the fellow cycling enthusiasts the Danes do and don on black on black on black. Growing up in Wisconsin and going to college in Northern Minnesota taught me that when it comes to weather, it pays to be sensible. I rarely buy shoes I can't ride in, I live in tights and leggings (blame 14 + years as a dancer), and swear by my Herschel Supply Co. and Duluth Pack Co. scout packs to tote around anything from my laptop and sketchbooks, to spare clothes, to my weekly Dekalb Market grocery haul. As far as style goes I rely on thrift store dresses, vintage earrings, and a handful of scarves I picked up traveling abroad to build an outfit. Throw on a Marmot jacket and waterproof mascara and I'm good to go.

Grace Molteni

Street Scene: McLendon Avenue

Love, Blinkie Style

On Valentine's Day Atlanta cyclists fell in love...with SoBi! The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition gave a lovely party celebrating our shared passion, honoring individual achievements and introducing many of us to the Social Bicycle that will be our city's bike share ride. In case you missed my facebook album, here are but a few highlights from it. Props to The Spindle for dressing models for the runway show. 2014 is looking good, indeed.

Roll Model: Sharif Hassan

Kirkwood resident Sharif Hassan wears many hats, from mixologist at TOP FLR and Argosy to doorman at the Tabernacle. His photographs from the streets of Cairo during the Arab Spring are a tribute to both his eye and daring. Now he has partnered with his brother, Ezz-Eldin, to test and market clothing for commuter cyclists. Called The Spindle, their venture began “in April 2013 as a blog, a pre-interview, to become a resource for community and manufactures to give them feedback for what works and what doesn’t, like the placement of a seam.” A former bike messenger, he knows from frequently blowing through pants and once took five pairs of jeans to bag maker Dustin Morado for stitching.

Hassan relishes riding in bad weather because “We test all the clothing we carry. Here it’s snowing one day and 70 the next, so I just dive into the bad weather when we get it. It’s nice to see how other people are decked out and what works for them. There’s no such thing as foul weather. There are only unprepared people.”

“Swerve makes a pair of jeans I pretty much live in,” he says of today’s outfit, which includes a jacket from Mission Workshop and DZR all weather clip-in shoes for his “urban assault vehicle”. Of its fixed 52x15 gearing, fat tires for the potholes and no brakes, he explains, “I like to build up death traps. I like to ride things other people won’t.”

The rest of us benefit from his hard won knowledge. “The whole idea is to create a new community of riders who are not hardcore. Introducing them to commuting apparel opens that door as a viable option for a new category of people who bike to festivals, art shows and bars.”