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Learn me on Atlanta

1K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  d1rty 
#1 ·
I have been talking with our Atlanta office and have been informally offered my dream job. I currently reside in SLC and don't know much about Atlanta; I hope I can get some info here.

My office is in Buckhead and I do not want to have to drive to work. Any great walkable neighborhoods nearby? Will I be able to easily hop on the road bike after work? Are there any close-in trails? While I know there are great trails in North Georgia (I'm from Tallahassee), I don't know much about Atlanta proper and want to know as much as possible as this would be a huge move for me.

I have a wonderful lab that I take everywhere. Are there trails in the area that are dog-friendly?

So please, tell me anything and everything about Atlanta. Road biking, mountain biking, paddling, nightlife, music...anything.
Thanks!!
 
#2 ·
there are some good in-town trails listed on Singletracks, check those out. I have ridden Mason Mill a few times, good fun. When people talk about ATL geographically, they refer to things as ITP (inside the Perimeter) or OTP (outside the Perimeter), which is the beltway 285. I think this has something to do with skirmishes during the civil war or something. the Perimeter in general is a large business/shopping district on the north side of town just outside 285. confusing, I know.

the area just to the north of Buckhead along Peachtree Industrial is Brookhaven. it's a great neighborhood with access to the MARTA train that goes straight downtown, shopping, and a nice bike-laned route along P-tree Ind that goes into Buckhead. I would imagine Buckhead property is extremely expensive, so if you look a little way to the north it's not so bad. We almost moved to an apartment called Post Brookhaven up there, which was reasonably priced and in a nice location.

Buckhead is the place to go for night life, eating, shopping, etc. they have a Trader Joe's and a big Whole Foods store. Peachtree Bikes is down there too. The other hip neighborhoods are going to be Decatur on the east side and Little Five Points downtown.

I volunteer with a bicycle co-cop called Communicycle near Doraville/Chamblee, which is north and east of Buckhead. This area, especially along Buford Highway in Doraville and Chamblee is known as the International corridor because of the influence of Asian, Africa, and Latino immigrants here. There are a lot of Vietnamese, Korean, Mexican, and Ethiopian restaurants, so if you want an international experience every day, there's stuff from every corner of the globe. Super H-Mart and the Buford Highway Farmers' Market are up here and have tons of imported food from literally everywhere on the planet.
 
#3 ·
Whew, I was begining to think no one lived in Atlanta. :) I didn't think to check Singletracks, it's pretty helpful, thanks!

After digging around a bit more, I'm thinking Midtown/Virginia Highlands would be a great fit. MARTA is right there in addition to Peidmont Park; not to mention a bunch of other fun activities. I've not been to Atlanta since I was in high school, so my memory of the area is very limited, save for getting confused/lost by every other street being named Peachtree.
 
#4 ·
I have a friend who lives near Piedmont Park who rides and volunteers at the co-op. We go on occasional road rides all over downtown every so often. I don't think a lot of people around here read forums or something because I don't see a lot of ATL-related material. but there are shops and trails and a huge cycling community here. check out the SORBA webpage, RAMBO, and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition too.
 
#5 ·
Atlanta bicyce stuff

A few sites to look around for bikes and such. I'm way outside the perimeter up in Canton and commute downtown work 33 miles one way, so I know of but don't know downtown life and such.

http://www.sorba.org/ -- list of mtn bike chapters in southeast plus a busy forum (don't search "dogs at blankets creek")
http://fastermustache.org/ -- intown roadies
http://sorellacycling.org/ -- ladies cycling club - mtn and road in ATL and GA area
http://www.atlbike.org/ -- road forum for Atlanta area
http://bikesbl.org/ - another road forum / club in Atlanta area
http://www.ngca.us/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx -- another ATL road and mtn bike club
http://www.sadlebred.com/ -- a local Atlanta gal keeping a list of races, rides, events for GA TN SC NC
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...3.607614,-82.080059&spn=0.063478,0.11055&z=13 --- great list of mtn bike trails in southeast by Al Brown
http://www.silvercometga.com/index.shtml -- the best social thing connected to Atlanta -- rail to trail paved 100 miles to Alabama.

http://clatl.com/ -- intown news flyer -- hip crowd stuff
 
#6 · (Edited)
Atlanta has a huge cycling scene but most arent on mtbr but join the sites above to see more of what is going on.

There's a ton of fun cycling going on in the next month.
April 30th - Athens Twilight Criterium
May 7th - Sopo Bicycle Cooperative Broken Hearts and Bicycle Parts and Atlanta Bicycle Coalition Beltline Bike Tour
May 14th - East Atlanta Kid's Club's Brownwood Bike Rally
May 27 - Critical mass, we do them big here in town, frequently 300+ riders

My office is in Buckhead as well, traffic sucks and most of the Buckhead-types are all about shiny cars and throwing money around. Buckhead is the least cycle friendly part of town but Brookhaven, West Buckhead, Midtown, East Atlanta, North and Virginia Highlands, etc are all great neighborhoods. If you dont mind a 10 mile bike commute, East Atlanta is really a great place to live if you're a young professional (or aspiring artist, rockstar, hippie, etc). Vinings is also right around the corner if you want a more suburban feel but still a close commute.

We have awesome bike shops with such variety that you can shop around find the one you like and do your best to support them. We have two bicycle cooperatives, Sopo Bicycle Cooperative out of East Atlanta, and Communicycle on the north end of town. Mack_Turtle is with CC and I'm with Sopo. The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition does a lot to make our streets safer and SORBA is very active in Georgia making awesome trail systems better! Great volunteer opportunities for cyclists as well as sources for group rides and to meet local cyclists.

We have a huge bicycle commuter population here and with such a crappy public transit system you're forced to either own a car or a bike. MARTA trains and a bicycle can get you all around town very easily.

Atlanta is a city where you can really do what you want, it is highly diverse and multicultural. I have coworkers that love the retail aspects of large shopping developments like Atlantic Station, Phipps Plaza, and Lenox Mall but I much prefer to go to local blues bars, art gallery exhibitions, and hang out at the parks (and every neighborhood has a pretty nice park).

It's really easy to live in town and have a really diverse weekend planned out, cocktails after work on Friday, in-town festival on Saturday, dinner and hanging out on a patio Saturday evening, go to an art show, and end up at a concert later that evening. Sunday get up at the crack of dawn to head to North GA to go mountain biking, get back to town and have brunch with friends, head to the park for some frisbee or bocce ball. Other than the ride to the mountains it is very easy to get around all weekend sans automobile. There are so many different scenes and it is really easy to get sucked deep into one scene but the most fun is when you can have one foot in and one foot out and float between them all.

Notable awesome things about Atlanta that other cities wont have or dont do as good:
The Starlight Six Drive-In - BYOB, Bring your own grill, bring your own couch, $6 for 2 movies (or 3 if you want to hop screens)
The Plaza Theater - indie movies, current releases, documentaries, meet the director of most new touring movies here
Gay pride festival - gets bigger every year, fun even as a straight guy
Neighborhood festivals and parades every weekend - EVERY WEEKEND
The Beltline - get around town so easily on a mountain bike, very vibrant now with upcoming artwork
DIY art galleries and venues, ask a friend most arent heavily advertised
Blues dive bars - Northside Tavern is better than anything Nashville can offer.
HAMBURGERS - the worst Atlanta burger will be better than most from other cities.
Buford Highway - any ethnic food you could ever want is here.

If you have a smartphone (or not), check out Scoutmob.com for awesome deals at locally owned restaurants, shops, and bars.

What are you into? That would help a lot with steering you in the right direction once you get here.
 
#7 ·
Wow, thanks GT. This was exactly what I was looking for - and what I wanted to hear. To your question, what am I into, well, you hit a lot of my interests in your reply. No, not the Lenox Mall; that place was my only takeaway of Buckhead when I was last there and subsequently I don't have the warm fuzzies for that part of the city. However, international dining, brunches, rivers, music, festivals, mountain biking; the "typical" Atlanta weekend all appeal to me. Salt Lake has a decent music scene, for example our free summer concert series is fabulous, but almost all other counts any other city would be far more diverse and interesting. I guess if you had to put me in a box I'm a young professional hippie-yuppie hybrid who enjoys not having to get into a car unless it's to escape to the mountains. I'm getting the sense that road rides from the heart of the city will be pretty easy, being able to get on the road bike after work is pretty important to me.

Suburbs and homogeneous apartment complexes are not my style, if I have to live in a city I want to be able to benefit from everything it has to offer. The more I poke around the more Midtown/VH appeals to me, ease of mass transit, bike routes, 1920ies apartment buildings and Piedmont Park; I'm sure I could go on. I plan on heading out for a weekend to check out the city prior to making my decision, I'll try to stop by the collective to say hello.

Thanks to everyone for your help!
 
#11 ·
Urban hippie yuppie. You'll find a lot of people just like you here, environmentally conscious individuals in their late 20s/early 30s.

Midtown has a lot of traffic if that matters much to you. Virginia Highlands are nice, if you wanted to commute, you'd be looking at a 10-15 minute commute into most of Buckhead.

Scubacruz has a good list of local cycling groups, additions I would add:
Metro Atlanta Cycling Club (MACC) - awesome guys, very active in nonprofit and community scenes. Lots of large group rides for all fitness levels
Atlanta Bicycle Coalition - THE Atlanta cycling advocacy group, put on lots of social rides
Faster Mustache (mentioned earlier) - does Tuesday night intown mountain bike rides linking a lot of the intown trails, also a lot of high speed/distance rides on weekends.

It's free to join and post on the SORBA and Faster Mustache message boards so hop on over and you'll get better responses.

Atlanta vs SLC
mmm beer vs slightly alcoholic water
Southern Baptists vs Mormons

I've never spent much time in SLC as an adult to truly be able to compare the two. I'd say that you'll be much farther away from big mountains here but we have some awesome XC trails within a 30 minute drive of the city, 90 minutes to North GA mountains.
 
#12 ·
If you haven't already made your mind up, hit up Teds Montana Grill downtown. Get the House Sours and a bison burger, your tummy will thank you! :)

The riding in and around Atlanta is superb. My in-laws live around Johns Creek and everytime my wife and I are up there I make it a point to hit as many good trail systems as we can. You've also got Raccoon Mtn. in Chat-town if you don't mind driving a bit plus all the other NorGa classic spots. North Carolina is close as well. Also if you feel like driving down to the Macon area we'll hook you up for a good weekend of riding! Make the jump man!
 
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