Spoke & Word

Partnership

In early 2026, Mercy Montgomery approached me with a fresh, new idea. She wanted to bring my story work together with her love of biking to create Spoke & Word. Together, we approached the Atlanta Cycling Festival, of which she was already an active and vital part, with the proposal that they contract me to support programming for the 2026 Festival.

They were thrilled.

We collaborated to provide an all-new, two-episode arc of story-based activities through the festival.

Spoke & Word

Beginning with a Saturday morning workshop for about 25 people, I provided my favorite material, including the Story Sandwich and Life Maps. Life maps were particularly well suited for this group’s content because of all the themes we were exploring around adventure and “the journey.”

The following evening–a beautiful, breezy Sunday in early May–approximately 50 people came out for a storytelling ride, which I affectionately referred to as a “progressive supper for stories.” We met at the Pittsburgh Yards entrance to the BeltLine. I’d proposed this location because of my fond memories of working there in 2021.

After a brief introduction and a brave storyteller popped us off, we rode to three locations along the BeltLine, stopping for stories I’d helped to curate along the way. Storytellers were a mix of pre-selected, featured tellers and brave, new tellers who had just gone through the workshop the day before.

In the end, we arrived at Boggs Social, a Westside staple for drinks and provisions. After a brief rest, we rounded out the evening with several more tellers, including a few who were inspired to throw their names in the hat, inspired by the spirit of adventure along the way.

Photos are a winning contribution of good ones by Tom Bell, Mercy Montgomery, and the official ACF photographer (your name will be found one day!), and the bad ones by yours truly, for whom photography ruined my GPA in college. True story.

Press for Spoke & Word:

• ArtsATL article by Reid Davis