Those Hardy Souls

Atlanta has a reputation for being, well, kind of wimpy about winter weather. But I haven't really seen that, especially among Atlanta's non-motorized crowd. By wednesday, when the roads were still slick with sheets of ice and my office remained closed, there were still people riding down the street. I was out that day, walking to the grocery store.

By thursday, when schools were still closed and my office opened 2 hours late (with co-workers trickling in hours later), the bicycles were still rolling. Everyone who could get out of their driveway just wanted to be out, in fresh air and sunshine!

The cabin fever reached a crescendo on sunday afternoon, as the temperature soared to almost 50 F and the roads became almost completely passable. Young and old, spandexed and casual, I saw more people riding bicycles that day than I did on some of the finest days last autumn!

Snow and Ice and Everything Nice

As the whole world knows, we have had some epic weather here in Atlanta. It wasn't that much snow, and it wasn't one of those ice storms that knocks down every utility pole for 100 miles. But it was 4 inches of snow followed by freezing rain and then a deep freeze. In other words, it was a plow and salt situation, and Georgia owns very little of either. Any surface that was not cleared of snow on the first day became a treacherous patch of ice and semi-frozen slush. The whole region came to a standstill.

Snow and ice blanket a local park

My office was closed from monday through wednesday last week, and had a half day on thursday. Schools were closed for the entire week. Stores ran out of essential items like milk and snow shovels as delivery trucks failed to arrive (some trucks tried to get through and caused horrendous wrecks instead). Most businesses didn't open at all. The roads weren't closed, but they probably should have been.

Aside from the closings, though, I was marginally affected by all this. MARTA canceled all bus service but kept the trains running pretty reliably. So it took me 20 minutes to walk or slide to the station instead of 15...I could still go to most of the places I normally travel to as long as they were open. On monday, I went sledding with my neighbors and then fell asleep while the Beau (now fiánce and co-habitant) went across town to see his family. On Tuesday, we cycled to the train station and rode it over to Decatur for drinks and dinner. 

Walking bikes to the station entrance

I didn't take any pictures on the road due to the slippery conditions. Honestly, we walked our bikes as much as we rode them! But it was good experience, learning how they would handle on the ice and goop. By friday, public authorities had covered almost every street with a thick mixture of gravel, dirt, and sand (but did nothing to clear sidewalks nor enforce statutes require property owners to clear them). It became feasible to get around by car, truck, or bicycle, but with new hazards from gravel patches and thick clumps of icy crud. That's a whole 'nother story, coming soon!

Our tire tracks remained frozen in the slush.

Cycling Research Recap

I would like to direct everyone's attention across the pond to Munich, Germany. A great little blog there, Münchenierung, is offering a summary of some of the best research on urban cycling. He highlights half a dozen or so scientific articles about the benefits that bicycle transport brings to health, safety, and quality of life in cities. Check out the post!

Hibernation

Happy New Year! Good Solstice! Merry Winter Holiday of Your Personal Preference!

Personally, I have the most enthusiasm for the solstice, because it signals sunnier days to come. I am strongly affected by light (or the lack of light). I love lots of windows and time spent out of doors in the daylight. As daylight dwindles in the winter I find it harder to get out of bed into the dark morning and discouraging to go anywhere or do anything in the evening. The things that get me by are midday walks in sunlight, cheerful holiday lights, and the distant promise of spring and longer days ahead.

Vintage display bike hanging in the warm and happy Brickstore Pub

The past few weeks have been a big ol' winter hibernation blowout. Such a good time to huddle indoors with friends and food and drink. I work on an academic calendar, and the entire university shuts down for the week before New Year's, plus an extra holiday day or two. So I haven't been at my desk for the past, oh, 11 days or so. I stayed home and busted through an extensive project list, and didn't leave the house at all some days. Then there were holiday parties and family stuff, playing in the snow and trying to see the lunar eclipse, and finally and New Year's blowout weekend. I have had very little to blog about in this time, unless you are into rearranging furniture.

Now it's back to work, back to schedules and daily adventures. Back to posting. Once I find my camera, which I misplaced after a party...

The Big Chill

Compared to the northern cities, we don't have much to complain about... but Atlanta has seen a bit of wintry weather this week. Monday and Tuesday saw lows in the mid-teens, and we didn't get above freezing for several days. Although it was cold, it was also dry, and cycling was no trouble at all. Just a couple of extra layers. For myself, I added a thin balaclava under my hat and scarf, wore a thick wool sweater, and put on some thick acrylic tights under my pants. I also wore my warmest gloves with a liner underneath. And I was perfectly fine for the 30 minute ride to work. OK, my toes got a little cold, but I was wearing the same midweight wool socks and dress boots that I had been wearing all autumn...

Then things got exciting. They were predicting snow on Wednesday night, and I was really looking forward to it. I love snow! It's so pretty. I figured I would take my bike on the train if it got bad before I left work. But instead of snow, we got ice. Super-slick sheet ice, black ice on the bridges, ice on everything. Not like a real ice storm that knocks down all the powerlines, just freezing rain that fell wet and froze when it hit the cold ground. The news gave out some description of a "thin layer of arctic air at ground level" or something like that.

At any rate, it created havoc for commuters. No one had expected the ice, so they left work at their normal time and promptly started sliding off roads and crashing into things. I know people who fell walking, who fell bicycling home, who had to abandon their car miles from their house. In fact, thousands of cars were left in the road, traffic on highways and suburban arterials was at a near-standstill, and over 1,000 car crashes were reported. I had no trouble cycling to and from the MARTA station, and MARTA was running just fine. I have to admit feeling a little smug about this, and also feeling guilty that I feel smug...

The IKEA Bicycle Fuss

All of the business papers have been spreading the news of IKEA's holiday generosity to their employees: a new bicycle for all 12,400 of them. The press release contains tons of commentary about the health benefits of riding a bicycle, and also points out that bicycling is good for cities, and the environment, and achieving sustainability. So it's too bad that they chose such an odd bicycle. This is not my idea of a suitable bike for riding to work in the city. Awkward riding position, excessive gearing, no fenders, no lights, aluminum. It's not quite a mountain bike, although it is styled like one, but are those knobby tires?

Source: cyclelicio.us

Nonetheless, it is an admirable effort on their part, and I hope a significant number of their employees take the hint. Perhaps they will trade this bike for something more comfortable. There's already one listed for sale on Ebay. And if IKEA ever wants to think about a better design - you know, for next year - they don't have to look far. Check out the awesome cargo bikes IKEA Denmark provides for customers who arrive by bicycle and buy more than they can carry back home...

Source: inhabitat.com

Street Life

I’m continuing on my theme of public spaces and public life… I should add here that much of my thinking has been inspired by Jan Gehl, the godfather of the bicycling revolution in Copenhagen (and now working with NYC, Sydney, and many other world cities). My case study this time is the Elliott Street Pub, a tiny bar on the edge of downtown. The pub has two distinguishing characteristics:

-It has been adopted by the surrounding neighborhood as THE hangout bar.

-Elliott Street, never a major street to begin with, has been nearly closed for the past year or so due to the Mitchell Street bridge reconstruction.

Mitchell Street bridge was closed some time in 2009 after a routine inspection gave it a “sufficiency rating” of 2. Out of a possible 100, where 100 is perfect condition and 0 is, well, imminent collapse. For many months, it was a delightful shortcut as it remained open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Unlike the cars and trucks that were prohibited from crossing the bridge, there was little risk of damage from non-motorized travel…another way that bicycle and pedestrian traffic can help save a city money.

Eventually they began construction to rebuild the bridge and it was closed off completely. There is just a gap there now, and someday there will be a new bridge with an odd left-lane bicycle lane. But that’s another story. In the meantime, Elliott Street won’t take you anywhere useful at all, except to the pub. And a pretty large percentage of the patrons get there on foot or by bicycle.

So the street has been reclaimed for living by neighborhood residents and bar patrons. You can stand in it and watch fireworks downtown, or listen to trains passing through the ‘gulch’. During events, parking spaces are used for tables where people sit, mingle, and carve designs for the popular monthly Iron Pour. It is a beautiful, flexible use of space that would probably horrify most traffic engineers. But for the people who go there, that urban space is used to build a business and a neighborhood.