Roll Model: Margaret Mary Riley

"I broke so many medical id bracelets that I got the tat," explains Margaret Mary Riley. One of eleven tattoos, a caduceus adorns her right wrist along with the explanatory word, epilepsy. Living car free is more a necessity than a choice for the Grant Park resident, whose seizures are part of her life. Riley moderates their effects using a combination of vegan dieting, sleeping well, and an exercise regimen of ballet, yoga, and cycling.

"People have told me 'You should not be alone' and that just makes me feel victimized." Once she seized during a ride when another cyclist who had stopped to help realized her condition, and berated her for taking such a risk. "A passing homeless man told him off, then gave me a bottle of water," she remembers gratefully. "I spent a lot of time in New York City, so I think yelling at people is totally fine."

It was the Occupy Wall Street movement that found her in Manhattan, practicing her hard won medical skills in the service of the protesters. There she also met her partner, a bike messenger. Back in metro Atlanta, they revived the Clarkston Community Center's Communicycle program, and organized refugee rides for kids around the Stone Mountain path. Now the recent Agnes Scott College political science alumna works as an apprentice bike mechanic while applying for graduate studies so she may pursue an academic career.

Roll Model: Nedra Deadwyler

Kirkwood resident Nedra Deadwyler tellingly names June 7 of this year as the birthday of her company, Civil Bikes. It was a day of pop up shopping along Auburn, and Edgewood Avenues to celebrate the Atlanta Streetcar route. Like those rails linking Centennial Olympic Park, and its Center For Civil, and Human Rights to the MLK National Historic Site, her vision is transformational. "My goal is preserving history through tours. It's a passion that pulls many things that I love together. Riding my bike puts me in a good mood automatically, keeps my body healthy, and builds relationships with people."

With help from Neil Walker of Cycles & Change, Deadwyler obtained funding for sixty-eight Raleigh Talus mountain bicycles. She then distributed half of that bounty among youth programs in metro Atlanta. The remainder became her business fleet, either for rent or guided tours. "Right now it's Old Fourth Ward, and downtown, concentrating on civil rights."

Other days find her studying historic preservation at Georgia State University. "I like to ride downtown on Peachtree Street. Motorists are mindful, and don't go that fast. More people are riding, and acknowledging one another. A stranger called to me, 'Have a nice ride!' I ring my bell all the time, and people ring back." Civil behaviors, 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.”

At The Piedmont Park Green Market

It weighs 375 pounds, requires battery, human, and propane power, contains twenty solenoids, seven forward gears, three wheels, and one bellows, all to make its very own good vibrations. Cue the theme from Jeopardy!. Renaissance man Larry Barefield knows: What is Bikebeans? Ladies, and gentlemen, behold the world's first, and only pipe organ-coffee roaster-tricycle. Built right here in Atlanta, this gizmo provides, among other things, "the freshest coffee you'll ever sink a tooth in," promises Barefield. The man knows beans, and has roasted "just about every coffee there is". His signature blend balances the bright notes of Kenyan with the somber, earthy qualities of Sumatran, and just enough Columbian "to keep the two from bumping into each other." Now that you're caffeinated, feel like dancing? Those twenty solenoids act upon as many organ pipes, each a masterpiece of hand crafting. Don't tell the monkey that all is orchestrated from an iPhone. 'Tis a sure bet Barefield's retirement will be an active one. The micro-roaster boasts a capacity of nine pounds per hour. Look for his traveling show Saturday mornings in the park, at food truck events, or just follow your ears, and nose to bikebeans.com.