Next up in my month-by-month, county-by-county focus (according to this schedule) as your Metro Atlanta Bicycle Mayor is Cobb County, Georgia, which boasts some of the best bike trails in the region. You can even stop for a bite at a local restaurant, take in a professional baseball game (granted, I’d only recommend this during the day), or attend a class at a Bicycle Friendly University*, all while Traveling at the Speed of Bike.
Home to six cities (Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Marietta, Powder Springs, Smyrna); both the Silver Comet Trail and the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area (where my Hand of God Tree is!); two Community Improvement Districts (Cobb CID and Town Center CID); the only stretch of bike path alongside the deadliest highway in the USA (see it here!), and what is surely the most beautiful setting for any coffee shop in Metro Atlanta, Cobb County’s increasingly diverse population has the great beginnings of a bike-friendly place to live, work and play.
Once its Greenways and Trails Master Plan Final Draft from 2018 gets adopted (or maybe it already has and the website just hasn’t been updated), a bike advocacy group gets re-established, and safe connections between trails get completed, there’s no limit to what’s possible.
I’ll be sharing one of my very favorite rides in Metro Atlanta, which is in Cobb County (and which includes that coffee shop!) as the featured RideSpot bike tour this month. There’s also a bike shop with four Metro Atlanta locations, including one in Cobb County, that I hope to visit since it dedicates part of its website to women on bikes. And, of course, I’ll interview someone who is making it more welcoming to ride bikes in Cobb County as part of my “Meet” series. Stay tuned!
If interested, you can see other free bike tours around Metro Atlanta here. Meet people making it more welcoming to ride bikes in Metro Atlanta and throughout the USA here.
*Kennesaw State University, where one of my recent students attends, where she was even able to borrow a bike for my Pedal Power with Pattie class.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 