a large park, a couple smaller parks, five museums, two grocery stores (one of which is 24 hours), eight corner stores (three of which are 24 hours), five cafes (one of which i work at, nine if you want to count starbucks), a teahouse, three pizza joints (one which is only open from 5pm to 3am), five adult/headshops (one open late another is open 24 hours), four 24 hour restaraunts, 20+ restaraunts with normal hours, five bars, countless gay bars, three bike shops, five thrift stores, an art supply store, a hardware store, three universities and one community college, four tattoo parlors, four upscale boutiques, a couple of venues etc. etc.

this is just the stuff i can remember off the top of my head, i am missing plenty. this is what happens when you do not have zoning laws in a city. i love houston.

Out of curiosity, what general part of ATL did you move to that is ideally suited to a bike?

It seems a little difficult to find areas over here on the East side which are low on hills and high on amenities.

Are you somewhere along or close to one of the MARTA rail lines? I find that the MARTA buses are waaay to unreliable and slow.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that even the burbs there are often opportunities for a pedestrian lifestyle. Most cities have original streetcar suburbs with compact downtown areas, surrounded by single-family housing. Further out, many of the newer suburbs are former small towns that still have downtown or Main Street area with shops and services.

Going forward, the 20-mile American commute is going to become a lot less sustainable. We have to make some hard choices about the geography of where we live, work, and play. At least are there often more options than we sometimes realize.

The place we were living was undergoing massive development. Before this development, there were a few banks and smallish shops within two miles. Within three miles there was a Target, best Buy, border’s my bike shop and some other good stuff. Moving put me closer to more amenities and reduced my “epic” 50 mile round trip (ridden in its entirety only on occasion, I mostly did bike/bus commuting) to a daily-ridable 28 miles.

There’s a lot of good brainstorming and idea building among you guys. I like it.

Before - what - after
4 miles - Barber - 3 blocks
4 miles - Post office - 4 blocks
3 miles - Vet - 4 blocks
8 miles - LBS - 1 mile
2 miles - Grocery store - 1.5 miles
25 miles - CostCo - 2.5 miles
8 miles - Menards - 2 miles
8 miles - Home Depot - 2.5 miles
8 miles - Target - 2 miles

Mark

I was thinking about sponsoring a recurring “scavenger hunt” sort of ride that would locate themed destinations such as “Best place to get a gallon of milk” or “Best Appetizer Value”. Bonus points awarded for bike racks.