Recycled Sculpture

The first thing I noticed was the crushed pavement, but cyclists usually notice crushed pavement. It becomes hard to hold onto the handlebars. Someone had driven something really heavy onto the Freedom Park trail near Euclid and North Avenues. The trail is made of concrete, but it is bicycle-strength pavement instead of 18-wheeler-strength pavement.

The next thing I noticed was a set of large granite boulders sitting within a loop formed by the trail (so that was the heavy thing). It looked like the little park was gaining an adornment. At the time, I thought it was curious that someone would be adding a rock sculpture, but mostly I wondered when the trail would be repaired.

It didn't take long to repair, fortunately. I guess they had expected to be crushing pavement. It was a few months however, before these showed up.



I had a vague impression that I had seen these before, but I had trouble placing them until Jeff, a fellow bicycle commuter, and I were riding past them last week. Jeff had read the plaque that mentioned the sculpture had been commissioned during the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta. I may not have stopped to take pictures if another cyclist Barry had not asked me what all of this might mean.



Cut into the granite steps are the words Walton Spring Park. This was sitting in Freedom Park and was close to Goldsboro and Candler Parks. I had not heard of Walton Spring Park. The story got a little more interesting.

Through the wonder that is the internet, I found that Walton Spring was Atlanta's first public water source. For the 1996 Olympics, this sculpture "New Endings" had been located near that first public water source, but had been moved to the Freedom Park when a new sculpture was placed in Walton Spring Park. Curtis Patterson's website presents images of the Andrew Young Tribute and Plaza now occupying Walton Spring Park.

Commute Summary

Granite Boulders: 3
Crushed Pavement: None
Round Trip Distance: 18.6
Number of Cyclists seen: 3 inbound and 5 outbound
In-bound Route: Goofin' 9.6
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton
Weather: Drizzly on the way in and barely warm enough for shorts (upper 40s), drier on the way home.

Progress?

We rode across a new bridge today. Cyclists would generally appreciate the fact that this bridge was wider and was higher so we didn't have to climb as far to make it back up the hill, but this one was disappointing.

The town of Rex is on the Quad County route that we rode this morning. One of the picturesque highlights of this route is a one-lane bridge that passes next to an abandoned mill.




The mill was built in the 1820s and had been used off and on until the 1930s. In 2007 when these photos were taken, the sluice is nearly completely gone and the site is overgrown, but you can see what the site looked like 25 years ago.



The new bridge diverted us around both the old bridge and the mill. We missed the highlight of the ride!

Next time we ride this route, we'll skip the new bridge, take the slow route, and climb the extra few feet so we can recall a piece of watermill history. At least the cars won't be in our way anymore.

Clicking the images will bring up a full-size image. Helps you climb into the scene.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 51.5 miles from Virginia-Highland
Number of Cyclists on the ride: 17 initially with 14 finishing with us.
Route: Quad County (courtesy of L5P Flyers) with modifications on the return to avoid Bouldercrest but catch a bit of fun on Weelaunee (between River Road and Flakes Mill).
Weather: Warm, but not as warm as we expected.

Taking the bike to go exercise

 

One of the parents on my daughter's soccer team has gotten the girls together over the summer to work on strength and fitness. He's modeled it after the various fitness boot camps that have become popular over the last decade. Player participation has been high partly because the parents come along for their workout and compete against their kids.

Since I ride with many of the same soccer dads on Sunday mornings, it is fitting that we ride with our daughters over to Piedmont Park where we gather for boot camp.

Ride (and workout) Summary

Round Trip Distance: 3.5 miles
Number of planks: 3 sets at 40 seconds for each of front, back and sides for 12 total.
Number of 'suicides': 1 more than I should have done.
Post-workout Meal: Willy's at Piedmont Park (with three refills of lemonade)
Weather: Open your windows and let the breeze come through the house.

Silk Sheets

Sorry, no picture, but imagine a field of 30-40 cows all staring at the camera. Got a good mental picture yet? Good, hang onto it. OK, now for the story.

A few weeks ago, I tried out a route that Barry had assembled for getting over to Silk Sheets from the MARTA train. I had met another dozen or so riders at "the church" where most Silk Sheet riders parked their cars after driving from downtown. Being self-conscious about taking a car to ride a bike, we had been working out how to get to those wonderful cycling roads without driving.

Today was the result of all our planning. By taking public transportation, we rode Silk Sheets without getting in a car to get there.

I had thought the name Silk Sheets might have come from the silk plantations that had flourished in Georgia many years ago, but the name refers to how smooth the hills are in those parts. There are some hills, but for the most part, the miles are a mix of flat and rolling. Combine this with low traffic and well-maintained roads and you can see why cyclists give the area a name like Silk Sheets.

Since our riding group never does things the same way as anyone else -- including ourselves -- we mapped out our own route and predictably a) got lost and b) ended up on a gravel road. But not in that order.

The gravel road was at most a two-mile stretch and was in good shape for a gravel road. Even with the 18mm tires, we were able to keep nearly the same pace. We could guess however, that although we had been seeing other cyclists all day, not many of those cyclists have taken the gravel road.

About two-thirds of the way down this road, we came across a pasture where we commanded the full attention of every cow in sight. I can only guess that either these cows had never seen a bicycle and were overcome with curiosity or the man who feeds the cows comes up on a bicycle.

Ride Summary

Round Trip Distance: 67.2
Number of Cyclists seen: LOTS. It looks like everyone was out taking advantage of the warm weather. Thirteen of us rode as a group.
Route: Silk Sheets via MARTA and the College Park Station. Avoided one gravel road, but found ourselves on another one.
Weather: Upper 60s, low wind, not a cloud to be seen.

Stopping by Woods on my Way to Work

This park is a half-mile from my house. My daughters both learned sliding boards and swings here as well as practicing soccer skills and building sand castles. We've played chase, hide-and-seek, and stopped at the water fountain after running a few miles. It's been our neighborhood park.

This morning I saw it anew. The sun was just right. The air smelled just right. The stars were aligned.

My bicycle wheel just kept going around the park until the goodness had filled me to overflowing.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 24.8
Number of Cyclists seen: 5 inbound and 25 outbound.
In-bound Route: Orme Park then Lullwater/PATH Trail
Out-bound Route: Inman Park, Kirkwood, Oakhurst, Decatur then back through Emory Village.
Weather: whoa

GPS Games on a Bike

 

N 33.76220 W 84.36044

When I first learned of geocaching (an outdoor treasure-hunt using GPS co-ordinates), it occurred to me this would be fun on a bike. The distances between caches (treasures) are often walking distance, but a bike is really the ideal vehicle for getting from cache to cache.

A game we like to play to celebrate birthdays is a treasure-hunt with hidden clues. Each clue leads you to the location of the next clue until you finally arrive at a birthday present.

For my wife's birthday, we combined the two. I laid out a bicycle-friendly 12-mile course near the house that passed through or near various landmarks, some obvious and some subtle. I used photographs (like the one shown here) to indicate the destination, and when it wasn't recognized, provided GPS co-ordinates to get us close.

This has been a great way to

• Spend time outdoors on the bike
  
• Engage people in a fun game
  
• With kids, provide practice navigating a bicycle safely
  
• Share good bike routes with others.
  

It takes a while to create the route and take pictures for the clues, but the time spent is well worth it.

Fay-driven headwind on the way home

 

When the headwinds get too strong to ride a bike, sometimes the thing to do is go fly a kite.

Tropical Storm Fay made my morning ride in easy, but was still blowing strong out of the east on the way home.

The spot photographed here is where the wind blows me around the most. The Freedom Park Trail crosses open fields at a good elevation. This spot is just east of the intersection of the Freedom Parkway and Moreland Avenue, north of Little Five Points and east of the Carter Center (all of these are great bike destinations).

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 18.5
Number of Cyclists seen: 22
In-bound Route: Lullwater/PATH trail
Out-bound Route: Emory via Clifton and the Kroger
Weather: Kite weather; overcast but dry and WinnnnnDEE.