There is a wishing tree on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, and I stop while Traveling at the Speed of Bike to read the laminated tags and wonder, yet again, about what I wish were different. I continue my ride and find examples of things that are not quite right everywhere.
There is a new Atlanta Beltline etiquette campaign because of the wanton display of disrespect for others that is escalating due to all the scooters, but that’s not the answer.
There is yet another one of the Plastic Places where kids are supposed to learn to ride bikes, but the fake grass is hot to the hand and no one is using it. The place where this is located, Atlantic Station, is otherwise downright hostile for bike riding, with gravel and sand and glass in bike lanes that lead there and speeding cars in the bus lane that’s supposed to buffer you.
There is a car that looks like a plane amidst hundreds of other cars on display, many running and gunning their engines, at the largest monthly car show in the USA, in the suburb-city where it is so dangerous to ride my bike I use a pool noodle sticking off the back of my bike (see BikeNoodle).
There is a woman with a wish that things could be a little better, and who is still willing to try. That woman is me. But I am getting tired, and keeping hope alive is getting harder.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 