The First

The Clarkston shop has not yet opened its doors to the community, but we have already repaired a handful of bicycles. As we work to outfit the shop and train volunteers, curious passers-by often poke their heads through the bay door. And what better training could there be than to fix actual problems with actual bikes belonging to actual neighborhood folks.

Thanks to our volunteer Bill W. who was ready with his cell phone camera, we have a snapshot of a momentous occasion -- the first bicycle to be repaired at Communicycle Clarkston.

It's beginning to look a lot like Communicycle...

Thanks to all the volunteers (20 folks total) who made the Communicycle Clarkston work day a huge success. Once we put on the finishing touches and have a volunteer orientation, we are ready to go live! Here are a few photos from along the way today.

The shop's bay door opens up to a large basketball court with plenty of shaded work space.

Organization gurus Margaret and Kelly at work.

Posing in front of our new banner.

The first pile of miscellaneous bike flotsam. Momentous.

Communicycle Clarkston is almost ready to offer complete bicycle service to the community members.

A clever caption to make this photo seem cool does not exist.

Potential

After all the planning, all the meetings, all the ordering, all of the emails, all of the networking, and all of the fundraising, we head to the Clarkston Community Center to build and outfit a space for our second co-op location -- Communicycle Clarkston.

Heaps of potential sit stacked in my hallway. There are boxes of tools, an array of supplies, vats of simple green and jugs of Tri-Flow, plus the obligatory plethora of Sharpies, patch kits, and bike-related bramble.

It all sheds the shiny varnish tomorrow as it prepares to spring into action. May all of the effort make life just a little bit better for our sisters and brothers in the Clarkston community.

One question remains tonight -- with all of the excitement, how will I manage to sleep?

Solving Problems the Communicycle Way

Communicycle is a co-op, and it is open to people of all ages, but we often end up working with youth who live in the apartment complexes of Chamblee, GA. 

The youth have very little, if any, sense of bicycle etiquette and we have never seen anyone using a helmet. For a while, our approach was simply telling the teens a bunch of rules and whining at them put their helmets on when they ride.

It didn't work. 

In a discussion about this with one of our faithful volunteers, she had the great idea of 'showing' bike safety and etiquette in action instead of merely talking about it. Great idea!

So we packed our cars FULL of the kids' bikes (mine carried 11), and we trooped the youth over to the Silver Comet Trail, an amazing rails-to-trails paved path that runs from metro Atlanta to the state line of Alabama.

The participants were each given a helmet and required to wear it. We didn't have to say very much - most of the youth noticed right away that all of the other riders on the trail (and there were MANY) were wearing helmets too.

Additionally, the participants were taught some basic riding guidelines including how to pass safely and how to utilize some simple hand signals.

Everyone was told they could keep their helmets if they agreed to wear them. Several agreed, and I am thrilled that they did.

Special thanks to our faithful volunteer for organizing the day, preparing lunch, and making sure the event was a huge success.

Clarkston Co-op Taking Shape

So much enthusiasm is building as Communicycle makes significant progress in opening a second co-op location in Clarkston, GA. With space secured at the Clarkston Community Center, tools and supplies purchased, and a growing list of excited volunteers, a community bicycle program for the city of Clarkston is quickly moving from dream to reality.

There will be a workday at the Community Center on August 13 at 10am. We will be outfitting the shop with shelving, pegboard, and other fixtures as well as moving in a good amount of gear. We would love to have as many helping hands as possible, so please plan to join up. Look for us in the building adjacent to the basketball court.