I've been struck by the bike crashes this past week, because a couple of people have been struck by cars. The big story is Todd Muller, whose crash experience is told elsewhere on the ABC website. The lesser known story is Charlie Patterson, a stalwart of the Southern Bicycle League and a hell of a guy, who was also hit by a car, and has been in the ICU. I have no details on his crash, but he's become a man of steel, with a metal rod in his leg. Crashes (I don't call them accidents) are complicated, and messy. I do my best to stay out of them. But sometimes it happens despite all our precautions.

I've been a cyclist for a long long time. I started in high school, riding my brother's single-speed bike to school for a solid year. In college, I found biking the cheapest and most affordable way to get around. Environmental, too. I became an advocate because nobody was doing it, and it needed doing. More on that in a minute. With last week's meeting of an ABC Advocacy group (and the next meeting is July 13 – come join us!), it brought me back to a bunch of stuff I have learned about advocacy over the years.

I attended the Proposed Morgan Falls Bike/Ped Bridge meeting Wednesday night in Sandy Springs. (AJC Article here: http://tinyurl.com/nckq3m)

I also attended the first one in late April in Roswell with over 100 folks present and voiced my support. This meeting had around 50 attendees (+/-). There were several folks tonight with the NIMBY syndrome (not in my backyard) concerned about noise, litter, crime, access, etc. But there were a good number of supporters, including many bicyclists and several non-bicyclists (Grandpa & kids, Sharing Nature, etc.).

Welcome to the start of summer! I know, the heat started a couple of weeks ago. But biking is still cool. Much cooler means of travel than walking, and much faster than running. Our secret is what the TV weathermen call the Wind Chill Factor all winter. We feel colder when air is moving past our bodies. It's the same effect, whether it's the wind, air from a fan, or -- if we move our bodies through the air.