“I’m being pulled in a new direction” (as Wednesday from The Addams Family Broadway musical sang), which you know if you’ve been following my Instagram and Tiktoks. And, as always, I trust the journey.
I keep meeting women around my age rollerskating and now our skate meetup list is up to seven. We meet twice a week (although most people come once a week or occasionally, as their schedules allow). Contact me if you’d like to join us. Any age (we don’t gatekeep).
It’s fun, and fun matters (now more than ever). Most of us just started skating for the first time (or the first time in many years). I like to rollerdance. Others like to skate laps or go a mile or so on the Silver Comet. We are eyeing the ramps at the skate park, and itching to hit the rinks (which two of us already do). There’s even talk of a roller derby team (and, yep, I just rewatched that classic flick, Whip It).
I’ve been bringing my skates with me on my bike everywhere (in the still-miraculous Plasket bike basket made from reclaimed ocean plastic) and stopping sometimes just for ten minutes or so in so many interesting and fun places. (Thanks to the folks who have contacted me recently about testing their products. I have some fun things coming!)
New, positive things are happening. And new, positive things happening feels good.
This was yesterday:
As I’ve shared, starting November 1, I am stopping all pro bono (i.e. unpaid; free) bike-related work in the United States. Bike work is work, and should be (and is) paid for others, so I am available for that.
My pro bono efforts in my second term as the first Metro Atlanta Bicycle Mayor will focus solely on shining a light on global stories, companies, and people and developing portfolio-worthy global campaigns.
I’d also love to spearhead a global bike-related art project. I will most likely continue posting occasional Ridespot stories as a PeopleForBikes Ambassador as well, because those folks are super nice and supportive. And people who are kind mean a lot to me right now. Plus, they send me cool stuff.
So that just leaves Biketober. Team Trust the Journey (back for its fifth year!) in the Atlanta Bike Challenge is now full, with team members ranging in age from 11 to 85. I think I’m just gonna relax into it and enjoy the daily rides.
I’d love you to join a team at LoveToRide.net (available in numerous locales around the USA and world), of course, and I would welcome crossing paths with you in Metro Atlanta. I provide welcoming routes and other free resources so that you can minimize the barriers to participation that many of us feel every day out there right now in the USA.
Riding a bike and many other outward actions relating to triple-bottom-line sustainability are the fun things. And I’m having fun, on more wheels than two, keeping that joy centered.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 