Suwanee Council Member Bikes to Capitol

Suwanee City Council Member Dan Foster joined 1,500 to 2,000 cyclists, including more than 40 metro Atlanta mayors and city officials, who converged on the capitol Tuesday for the sixth annual Georgia Rides To The Capitol.

Foster rode his motorcycle to Decatur, where colleagues on that city's commission provided him with a bicycle. Then he pedaled, with a motorcycle escort, with Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, other elected officials and hundreds of cyclists to downtown; there they met another group of about 1,000 cyclists led by Roswell Mayor Jere Wood, who had started in Roswell.

Foster said he participated in the Georgia Rides To The Capitol event to let legislators know that Gwinnett officials "work together and play together."

Suwanee is considering an alternative transportation plan, and Foster said he hopes the City Council will continue to work to ensure safe riding conditions "for all ages within Suwanee."

Another Suwanee resident, Dan Conroy, pedaled about 25 miles from Roswell to downtown.  

“We all need to share the road, whether we’re on a bike or in a car,” said Conroy, a Suwanee surveyor.

Downtown, spectators watched the parade of cyclists roll in on every kind of bike imaginable, from expensive racing bicycles, to tandem bicycles, bikes with an extra wheel towing a child, laid-back recumbent bicycles, fixed-gear bicycles and at least one old-fashioned “Penny Farthing” bicycle with a high seat, an enormous front wheel and a tiny rear wheel, ridden by Tim Byrd of Conyers.

Underneath the gold dome, cyclists, attired in a rainbow sea of colorful jerseys and tight-fitting clothing, munched on cookies as they listened to cycling advocates urge lawmakers to pass a law that would require motor vehicles to leave at least three feet when passing a cyclist. Although that bill did not “cross over” and is dead for this session, the cyclists were undeterred, frequently breaking into chants of “Three Feet Rule.”

But another bicycling bill still alive is House Bill 101, sponsored by State Representatives Doug McKillip, R-Athens, and Doug Holt, R-Social Circle. That would revise Georgia laws pertaining to bicycles, specifying that cyclists have the right-of-way in bike lanes, establishing minimum guidelines for safe bicycle facilities, prohibiting children under one on bicycles, legalizing clipless pedals and recumbent bicycles, and requiring bicyclists use headlights when riding at night, among other matters

Previous rides successfully got state legislators to authorize a special “Share The Road” license plate, and state officials announced a $435,000, three-year grant for Georgia cycling-advocacy groups.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who did not cycle, spoke to the gathered cyclists and thanked them for their efforts to adopt local schools and working to help provide bicycles for “those who would not otherwise afford it.”  Encouraging young people to bicycle is a key to reducing Georgia’s obesity rate, which Deal said climbed from less than 10 percent before 1990 to 27.2 percent last year, “an alarming statistic.”

Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, announced a $164,000 grant to the statewide cycling advocacy group Georgia Bikes and two local cycling groups, the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign and the Savannah Bicycle Campaign, to be used to promote cycling education and cycling safety.

Cagle, a triathlete used to riding at 17 mph, pedaled his expensive carbon-fiber bike that he admitted “cost more than my first car.”

 “Cycling is great exercise,” said Cagle. “I’m seeing the cycling community grow across Georgia.” But he said traffic poses a threat, and advocated better laws to protect cyclists and creation of more paths. He also touted his office’s Healthy Kids Challenge, a program to fight childhood obesity.

Tom Morris of Decatur, an active cyclist, says bicyclists must learn to obey traffic laws if they want motorists' respect.

“If cyclists want respect, you have to show respect,” said Morris. Cyclists who habitually ignore traffic laws by blowing through stop signs and red lights represent “the extremes” of cycling,  Morris said. “This is a good representation of the cycling community in a public way.”