Indra Tobias and these blogs go way back. As a subject of the seventeenth posting to Atlanta Street Fashion, she helped me to preview the 2010 Seersucker Social that August. My former blog, The Chattanoogan, had just begun exploring the convergence of city cycling and street fashions, so it was thrilling to pick up the thread right away in Atlanta. Born of such timely optimism, Atlanta Bicycle Chic would be launched two months hence.
Amsterdam gave her an epiphany. She returned “with the idea of owning a bike as an adult weighing heavily on my heart. I wanted to pattern my biking style after those lovely, stylish ladies in the biggest biking town I've ever visited riding their city commuter bikes, mine having gears of course.” In the true European mode, those gears are internal, for both her Linus mixte and “a heavy tank of an old bike I had reworked to fit my city fresh style.”
She must have been a sight riding home from Ikea with a tall planter swaying in her wake. Duties that call from all over Atlanta preclude car-free living, but she once surprised colleagues by appearing "with my work supply box on the back of my bike on the rack. The crew on the other end looked amazed that I rode across town to meet them to work by bike. Now they are never surprised when I show up on my bike with work gear in tow."
"Critical mass was my very first group ride," she recalls. "Mobile Social is another top ride on my list of Atlanta best bike rides. My absolute favorite group ride is the Atlanta Seersucker Social. There is something about getting dressed up and riding around town on a well supported joy ride that ends with a picnic." Agreement here, and all who enjoy that stylish parade have her to thank for serving on its planning committee.
A resident of District 2, she acknowledges the cycling advocacy of Council Member Kwanza Hall, who "has no shame riding around on his fixie, sporting a suit, to show his support for many of our neighborhood events." Being a member of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition expresses her thanks to those "diligent folks have fought long and hard to get the biking community to a much safer and progressive level. With all of these working parts of our biking community there is a place for all riders, from no-car lifestyle cyclists to weekend joy riders."
