Kyle's blog

Don't taze me, motorist

Submitted by Kyle on Mon, 2010-10-04 21:09

All I wanted was some fresh dill and scallions, maybe some bread. All I thought about this sunny afternoon, glancing out my window, was whizzing away after work on my bike to the market.

I did not even consider ask I would be hit by a car, flare up wrathfully at a gas station, then call 911 after being threatened with a stun gun.

"Your speed is TWENTY-FOUR"

Submitted by Kyle on Fri, 2010-10-01 13:58

Now that Helios has released Atlanta from his firey death-grip, I decided today I would use my lunch hour to run in Grant Park, so close to the Capitol. The calendar, though, declared it Oct. 1: one year since I went from car-light to car-free.

No better way to celebrate that than a bike ride instead. Friends congratulated me, family encouraged me, and today, even the streets themselves were awed and amazed.

Sometimes I race the bus; sometimes I win

Submitted by Kyle on Thu, 2010-06-03 11:03

My bus trundles up Freedom Parkway to Highland, where I am sometimes waiting at the light, both bound north. Occasionally it will be a block ahead and I will catch it, deciding to cruise the remaining four miles home.

Other times, I watch it move, see it shudder, readying to race. It breathes its hollow howl, I adjust my shoe on the pedal, and we wait for the light to snap from red to green, a deaf starter pistol.

And then we race.

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"Where's your bike?": on two-wheeled identities

Submitted by Kyle on Wed, 2010-06-02 15:38

If I board the bus or walk into my office building sans velo, I am inevitably asked, "Where's your bike?"

My response, a white lie, usually is, "In the shop." I've learned this stems follow-up questions. Drivers understand having a car in the shop; they can identify with that, and usually just nod and go, "Mmmm." If I say, "At home," or, "Felt like resting today," or, "I'm running home," it just draws more questions. (Number two response to "In the shop," after the nod/hum: "Flat tire?")

Country Mouse/City Mouse Commuter

Submitted by Kyle on Tue, 2010-05-18 16:03

A car hit me on my second day commuting by bike. This was six blocks shy of my office and three weeks shy of my first wedding.

I will not carjack you, Atlanta

Submitted by Kyle on Tue, 2010-02-09 17:18

Either motorists or I need to wise up and be warier: one of us is gonna get carjacked or kidnapped.

Perhaps it is that I ride a bike; perhaps it is my boyish charm, or my lanky, gawky physique, but motorists love asking me directions; maybe it's because I am usually eating candy. They see me as non-threatening, though I am actually bad to the bone (that's right, ladies).

Marketing cars by knocking bikes

Submitted by Kyle on Mon, 2010-01-25 21:25

I saw a commercial tonight for Kia, specifically for the West Point, Ga., Sorento plant, in which a young, 1950s-era boy pedals down a country road on a sweet black bike. That's what riveted my attention: anything bikes. The boy continues riding, right into a Kia factory, across the floor amid the cars, as once again the narration boasts cars as "better ways to help people get around."

It surprised me for two reasons: I was unaware until this commercial that Kia originally manufactured bicycles (and steel tubing), then got into motor vehicles seven years later; and it directly touts cars as better transportation than bicycles, as Audi recently did.

Things about bikes that are AWESOME

Submitted by Kyle on Wed, 2010-01-13 19:38

My friend Lori consistently turns up Internaut gems, such as 1,000 Awesome Things, a blog cataloguing, as you might imagine, 1,000 things in life that are awesome.

They are simple, subtle things, each small item battleship big and mountain range grand, in its own way. No surprise that bicycles are on there.

Stop, thief: the bicycle in action

Submitted by Kyle on Tue, 2009-12-29 08:24

Safety on the streets, security when parked: two things about which bicyclists are constantly concerned.

Sometimes, no matter how seasoned we are as cyclists, we might a slip in our security efforts, and return to find our bikes missing, swiped by thieves.

And sometimes, as in this Failblog video, a bicycle foils a theft.

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I Dream of Bicycling

Submitted by Kyle on Mon, 2009-12-28 09:18

If you aren't already aware of it, you should check out Michelle Marcus' blog, I Dream of Bicycling.

You likely know Michelle by sight, if not personally. She rides classically and with style, usually on a royal blue Takara three-speed, sporting skirts, pumps, blouses. Nary a hint of spandex or moisture-wicking polyester: all class.