Your city/hometown

[SadieKate]

Lessee, born in Albuquerque, Nuevo Mexico. When I was 2 yrs old, we moved to Oxnard, Ventura County, California. At the time it was the lima bean and strawberry capitol of the world, plus the largest drug "port" on the west coast. Coast Guard would get tired of chasing the guys by then.

After a multi-city tour of colleges, I settled in the Republic of Davis, California, which is, as I recall, the USA's first declared nuclear-free zone, has built toad tunnels, and requires all it's citizens to wear Birkenstocks. Davis is a university town (vet/med/wine/law) and is the League of American Bicyclist's (previously League of American Wheelmen) only platinum level bicycle-friendly community.

Within a couple years, my hometown will be a bronze-level city that would be platinum if the only criteria were the mountain bike trails - Bend, OR.

[maillotpois]

maillotpois...did you participate in any sports in El Paso de Robles? I'm wondering if we were ever at the same swim meet or water polo match...

Wow - that's funny. What a small world! Actually until college I was a complete anti-athlete, so I would not have seen you at any sports. Basically all I did was ride horses. They put me in remedial PE in elementary school, and that sort of scarred me for life and prevented me from doing any team sports because I was fat and uncoordinated. (Basically I am an endurance athlete and NOT a ball sport person. I probably would have done well in swimming or water polo - well maybe not with the ball there - but I really wasn't encouraged.)

I think we spent a great deal of time in Arroyo Grande at the Solvang double - but that part of the ride is a bit of a blur!!!

[miffy'sFuji]

Here's the scoop:

http://tinyurl.com/s8zcx

I did this last year, and although I have a pretty good fear of heights, I had a little fun. The guides were cool. I like how they mixed some eco talk in with the "fun" of zipping across the ravine. The platforms and bridges were very neat.

[yellow]

Basically I am an endurance athlete and NOT a ball sport person. I probably would have done well in swimming or water polo - well maybe not with the ball there - but I really wasn't encouraged.

Ah! Missed opportunity! You probably would have been a swimming star. I was 15-20 pounds heavier then than I am now, most definitely not a ball sport person. Back then there were no girls' polo teams, so we played with the guys. You had to be burley to put up with the crap that went along with that whole scene...

[bikerz]

I've bounced around a bunch - born in NYC, lived outsude DC until I was 3, then my parents, baby brother and I all moved to Kampala, Uganda for 5+ years (my parents were in the US Public Health Service). That was a wonderful place to grow up, and my two youngest sibs were born there. Thankfully my parents sent us to the public school, not the American embassy school, so we didn't have to live in a little American bubble! I remember Kampala and our travels all around East Africa very well. I was 8 when we were forced to leave because Idi Amin getting ready to expel Americans and Europeans, having already expelled the Asians, and there were tanks going up and down our street. That guy was an evil evil man, and did so much damage to a beautiful country and its people.

We lived in Rockville in suburban Maryland (which I didn't enjoy so much) and then I went to high school in Bath, Maine (another place I really loved), and finally landed out here at UC Santa Cruz for college. I moved to Oakland after college and I've been in the Bay Area ever since.

San Francisco gets all the press, but I really love living in the East Bay - especially Oakland. Oakland gets a bad rap, but it is a very tolerant and open city - and all the neighborhoods have such specific identities. And the weather is generally better than SF, and if you live in SF, you don't get to see the beaufiful views of SF! Plus there's great cycling - loads of good hills!

[allabouteva]

Wow, Bikerz what an exotic upbringing in Uganda! And I so hear ya in terms of being located in Oakland and SF getting all the glory.

My story runs along parallel lines...

Born and raised until my teenage years in Karachi Pakistan, to a migrant Chinese family, came to Sydney Australia when I was 15. I've lived all over Sydney, which is of course a very famous iconic sort of a place, almost a bit of a cliche.



Home to the 2000 Olympics



But I live in an outerlying town called Penrith, which due to urban sprawl is now considered as an outer suburb of Sydney.

Penrith is not a glamourous sort of place, but our claim to fame is:

1) We're at the bottom of the Blue Mountains where you can see the Three Sisters:



2) Home of the Penrith Panthers and the largest Football Club in Australia (rugby league version)



3) and has a beautiful river (Nepean River) running right through it.



It's a great place to live. Plenty of cycling opportunities both MTB and road. So come on down!!!

e

[uk elephant]

Time to get some more European cities on the map....

I grew up in Trondheim, Norway. Back in the middle ages it was the capital of Norway and the third largest catholic pilgrimage site in Europe. I grew up thinking I was living in a large city. I now realize it really is just a little village and I would love to move back. A great university town with easy access to the outdoors. And only a few miles from Hell where my dad was born....

Since leaving high school, I have lived in a variety of places: College in Madison (WI), fieldwork near Gaborone (Botswana), graduate school in Urbana (IL).

I am now living in Colchester (UK), which claims to be the oldest recorded town in England. It was established as the Roman capital of England before they moved on to London as the capital. It should be an interesting place to live, but really isn't. Far too busy, full of people, garbage and dust. Just too far away from London to have any exciting culture going on but close enough to be a commuter town. And it is in the flattest part of England. Proper mountains are many hours away. But I do live in an interesting house. Built in the early 16th century.

[arnaew]

Well, it is Australia...

Oh, tlkiwi, way harsh! I could respond, is the Australian predeliction for the grape/hop/malt barley the reason that so many Kiwis live here? But I shall not. I shall simply say that, when faced with some of the best fermented grape juice on the planet, coupled with one of the best family breweries (Cooper's Brewery - if you haven't tasted the beer, you haven't tasted beer) ever to celebrate the true value of the hop... well, what's a gal to do?

PS I have of late developed a predisposition - in terms of white wine only, let us make that clear - for NZ Sauvignon Blanc. You are getting it so right! (I shall deny that statement if called upon publicly - I'm trusting you here).
A

[DirtDiva]

Well, you know, arna, a settlement in NZ is not reguarded as a town until it has a petrol station, a tearooms and a pub!

P.S. NZ SB is indeed pretty freakin' good. We also make a pretty damn good pinot noir (esp. in Canterbury and Central Otago) too, if you're up for broadening your horizons...

[johnmiller]

Introduction to Atlanta, Georgia

Founded in 1837 as Marthasville, Atlanta is a city of over 420,000 people. It is the largest city in Georgia, as well as the state's capital. According to U.S. census estimates, the Atlanta metropolitan area is the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States with a population of over 4.7 million people.

Atlanta is located in north/central Georgia. It is home to over 10 Fortune 500 companies, including household names such as The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Airlines, Home Depot, and UPS. In fact, as of 2005, the Atlanta metropolitan area was ranked third behind New York and Houston on the list of cities with the most Fortune 500 headquarters.

Atlanta was ranked as the fourth "Most Fun U.S City" in a survey conducted in 2003 by Cranium Inc. Factors taken into account in the ranking include the number of sports teams, restaurants, dance performances, toy stores, the amount of a city's budget that is spent on recreation, and other factors.

Atlanta "Must See" Attractions

Atlanta has attractions too numerous to do justice in a simple list. Some of Atlanta's more notable and unique attractions include:

The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum
Centennial Olympic Park
CNN Center
The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center
Stone Mountain Park, home to the Memorial Carving which depicts three Confederate heroes of the Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and Lt. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
Underground Atlanta offering shopping, dining, history and entertainment
The World of Coca-Cola
Zoo Atlanta
Atlanta Diamonds

Atlanta at Night

Atlanta's nightlife is legendary. The city has more bars and nightclubs than it does places of worship. Atlanta offers just about everything imaginable from dance clubs to sports bars. Many establishments offer live entertainment, including some excellent rhythm and blues. Atlanta's bars and clubs are typically open seven days a week, until 2 or 4 AM. The best place to look for coming events is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Friday "Weekend Preview" or Saturday "Leisure" sections. Atlanta Magazine and Atlanta Magazine Online are also good sources of information about dining, events, and attractions.