a chance to be a big fish in a small pond

it only lasted a year but i made good use of it. plop yourself down in a town where you dont know anyone, have only your dog as company every day, work with non-social, non-outdoorsy, uninterested coworkers, and you find yourself alone, on a bike, exploring, a LOT.

and that's a good thing. i wanted to simplify my life, slow it down, and focus on what i love doing, while adjusting to menopause symptoms, slight as they are, thankfully. so i took a gig in griffin, georgia, an hour south of ATL and served only by rural shuttles. no bus, subway, train, but lots of trucks and interstate highways. may thru september i just biked to work, ate in the 3 local downtown cafes, walked my dog on looooong walks to the creek or park nearby, or both. called my honey on the phone in the evenings and exhaled.
after a few months of learning a new job, forming a mobility council and getting out in the 10-county area i began biking on weekends to new parks, trails, and in community events. in no time i found the cycling community, out on the road where they belong. that led to the big fish moment.

a local shop owner wanted to do some advocacy but felt he was trapped in a stale town that would never change. he heard i was good at bike/ped advocacy but others told me to steer clear because he was a bit of a bull in a china shop and needed direction. i'm good at directions.

but i coasted another month without getting involved and then the october bike challenge began. i looked around for a team and at first didnt find one, so i competed as an individual. then suddenly they came out of the woodwork, and indeed October is a fine month in georgia to come out, of anything. its gorgeous outside and temps are crisp and delightful. suddenly i was on the 4Ps team out of griffin and we were logging miles every day, all 5 of us, and going gangbusters. we went on to place 7th in the state, well ahead of plenty of ATL folks. why? because we rode every day. because we all rode, all 5. and even my measly 1.5 route counted because it wasnt about miles, it was about commuting! our team ringer placed 5th in state.

needless to say, that set things in motion and with the support of a colleague who was the city transportation planner, a quasi governmental/advocacy bike/ped committee was formed. my teammates were all on it. then the local indie newpaper, the GRIP called and did a story, first on us commuting and then on the support from city hall which followed in March. then clean air campaign asked me to blog about the economics and lifestyle choice of commuting by bicycle. then our local radio station at UGA campus put me on the air to talk about it. and we rode in local parades including a newly refurbished GDOT bridge over the tracks smack in downtown that the mayor and all citizens north and south were relieved to finally see open again. bikes on the historic bridge! that had never happened, in griffin.
fast forward 6 months, we won grant funding for share the road signs, seed grants to launch our advocacy efforts, held events like bike rodeos, georgia rides to the capitol (a local version where w ride to city hall), and a resolution was signed and presented by the city/county to support bike/ped friendly efforts in their community! front page of the griffin daily news.
and that folks, is how you get things rolling in a sleepy small town, that had the advocates, but they werent connected, they didnt know how to organize or what steps to take first, they didnt know the sources of bike/ped funding and the power of a relationship with the city/county...but really wanted to be on bikes and get others out there too for health, for fitness, to save $$, and to make it safer for all.

griffin bicycle coalition is on the map people. they are rolling with bike cops back in force, share the road signs in place, new bike racks popping up all over downtown and at workplace destinations, safe route to school in the works, commissioners who bike, city/county support, a logo, a facebook page, and stickers! check them out and go ride in griffin. slow spokes sundays from blue moon bicycles.

https://www.facebook.com/griffinbicyclecoalition

new business cards to hook me up in ATL/Decatur

i used to design these all the time and print them real quick like, a sheet of 10 for a conference, a few for interviews etc. but nowadays vistaprint.com (in the netherlands for goodness sakes) still manages to do it more cheaply, quickly and with more current design styles than i can. so i give.

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