400 Life: A fresh start

from the editor Well, like I said, the families at 400 LIFE are growing!

You might remember from last month’s issue that several dads in our office have been expecting new babies in recent months. By the time you are reading this, they will have all been born and getting to know their new families and this great, wide world. Mine was born on Dec. 13, at 10:41 a.m., a little sister for her two older brothers.

Nothing fills me up more than welcoming new life. I find it beautiful and mysterious.

Don’t get me wrong, few things can be as challenging, but those moments are generally far outnumbered by deep discoveries. It does my soul so much good, and, as of this writing, I’m soaking up as much of it with our newest one as I can.

Historically, January is the month for prioritizing health and wellness in our lives, and I hope you can soak up all of the stories in this issue. They could lead you to getting outdoors more, whether by joining a local running club or renting a bike on the Big Creek Greenway. They could inspire you to get back in the gym or incorporate mindfulness practices in your day. They could inform you of the right book to give you a mental boost or a healthy meal at a local restaurant.

We hope you find something in this issue that fills you up to enjoy this beautiful and mysterious life!

— Brian Paglia

inside

contributors Publisher STEPHANIE WOODY Editor BRIAN PAGLIA Production Manager TRACIE PIKE Staff Writer KELLY WHITMIRE Staff Writer ALEXANDER POPP Advertising Director NATHAN SCHUTTER Advertising DEBORAH DARNELL STEPHANIE MCCABE STACY CLARK

One year. Twelve hikes.

Women use challenge for empowerment, friendship. Page 4 MINDFUL LIVING Overcome stress, anxiety with this program. Page 20 FITNESS Cumming Strength & Fitness owner focuses on community. Page 22 ON TRACK The man who created Junior Wolverines Running Club. Page 26 400 HOMES Tello & Co. - Buy Sell Love ATL, Keller Williams Community Partners. Page 12 400 EATS Tacos & Tequilas Mexican Grill serves fresh, authentic fare. Page 16 400 FACES Meet the couple behind Geaux Bikes. Page 28 400 READS Books to start the new year off right. Page 30

Photographer BEN HENDREN MICAYLA WISE Special contributors JENNIFER COLOSIMO MCCLAIN BAXLEY BECKY CAHILL

This magazine is a product of the www.ForsythNews.com

January 2020 | 400 LIFE | 3

‘Their happiness medicine’ These women find empowerment and strength through hiking

Story by Alexander Popp | Photos by Ben Hendren

Warrior Hikers, a group of about 60 Indian women from Forsyth County and the greater metro-Atlanta area, complete one challenging hike in northeast Georgia each month. The women say that the Warrior Hikers group and the challenges they face together empower them to be stronger and happier.

At about 8:45 a.m. as they reached the halfway point of their hike, where the group of Warrior Hikers stopped for a coffee break in Little Mulberry Park. The coffee break has become a monthly hiking ritual for them, they say.

did sunrise on Stone Mountain, Kennesaw, Sweetwater, we did Blood Mountain, Fort Yargo,” Oliver said as she strolled down the path at Little Mulberry Park. “Blood Mountain was the toughest one; Kennesaw was a tough one too.”

Though Warrior Hikers is open to women of all ages and ethnicities, right now the group is comprised of about 60 Indian women. That wasn’t on purpose, Oliver said, the group just grew organically from friend to friend and co-worker to co-worker.

But as Indian women, they’ve all been able to share and commiserate together about the common pressures that are unique to their culture.

“We wanted to believe that we could do something just for us,” she said. “As women, particularly Indian women, we really don’t plan anything just for us. Everything in India is about your kids and family.”

Once a month, strolling down a wooded trail, or hiking up a mountain, that time is just for them. Hiking is their happiness medicine, Oliver said.

“This is a time that I look forward to, just to be by myself and enjoy the outdoors, just as a person, not related to my kids or my husband or my family. I emphasize that point, because that’s so much the truth in most of our lives,” she said.

And as hard as it is to get up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. to do some of their sunrise hikes, Oliver said that the process of getting the coffee ready, driving to pick up her carpool of other hikers and setting out towards the wilderness feels like an adventure to her.

As the group walked down the paved path that runs for miles in 6 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

Little Mulberry Park, another Warrior Hiker, Ashwini Sabins, said that even though the group has a singular purpose, each of the members has a different reason for why they needed the group in their life to begin with.

It might be something as simple as getting more exercise, she said, or it could be more complex reason, like fears about aging, career uncertainty and marital problems.

Sabins said that she is going through a major life transformation currently, both personally and professionally, so the adventurous spirit of the Warrior Hikers group almost perfectly encapsulates the “what’s next” of her own life.

And on top of that, they’ve discovered that hiking is very calming, she said.

“This is good energy,” Sabins said. “Then I go back and I’m more rejuvenated and everything. This is my meditation.”

At about 8:45 a.m., about half way through their hike, the group stopped at a picnic area overlooking Miller Lake in the park, to pause, sip on a slightly sweetened Indian coffee and take photos of the beautiful day.

During the break, Lavanya Dhanapalan, one of the only group members to do all of the 2019 hikes said that for her, Warrior Hikers is an exercise in determination and self-worth.

Dhanapalan said that as the mother of two young children, trying to get back into her profession, Warrior Hikers came at a time when she felt like she wasn’t good enough, and the pieces of her

Continued on Page 8

400 homes

Keller Williams Community Partners

Tello & Co - Buy Sell Love ATL

Photo courtesy Margaret Buell of Buell Productions

Amanda and Jorge Tello, of real estate team Tello & Co - Buy Sell Love ATL, with children Sebastian and Evangeline.

Healthy home, healthy life

Husband-wife team set out to help clients find the right fit A

manda and Jorge Tello take a comprehensive view on wellness.

The husband-wife real estate team of almost a decade are conscious about the food their family eats, in order to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle. They prefer to eat quality, organic foods and adhere to a Ketogenic diet. They stay active by going to the gym every other day. They also prioritize experiences over material possessions.

Their favorite place to share and create memorable experiences is in their South Forsyth home, with their kids Sebastian, 7, and Evangeline, 5.

Let’s set the stage: on a recent Thursday night, the close-knit family of four sits at the 12 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

Amanda Tello watches her daughter, Evangeline, ride a bike in the driveway of the family’s south Forsyth Home.

Photos by Ben Hendren

‘Making sure clients have the home that fits their needs, so that they can have those experiences with their families is so important to us.’

- Amanda Tello, Tello & Co. - Buy Sell Love ATL

Sebastian, Jorge, Evangeline and Amanda Tello play a game of Uno at their home in south Forsyth. The family treasures moments like these together in their home, which they describe as their sanctuary.

dining room table playing their go-to game: Uno. Jorge is about to win, much to the chagrin of his extremely competitive family.

He has one card left that he holds tight to his chest, not letting anyone catch a glimpse. He impatiently waits for his turn, hoping for a number/color match.

Only one thing stands in his way; Jorge’s potential win depends on what Sebastian plays next.

Sebastian slams a card on the table and looks at his dad.

“Reverse!” Sebastian says.

Jorge frowns, knowing that the teacher has now become the student.

It is Amanda who wins just a few minutes later, bringing the score of Girls vs.

Guys in the house to 1-0.

Amanda and Jorge (pronounced “George”) relish these kinds of family moments — moments that are made possible by owning their own home. They’ve owned their three-story home for over two years, the second purchase they made while living in Forsyth County, and it has become a sanctuary for their family.

Their home is where they have dinner together. Their home is where Evangeline rides her bike in the cul de sac. Their home is where Sebastian plays basketball with friends who live next door. Their home is

where their family of four can rest, play, grow and feel safe.

“Your home is where you make so many meaningful experiences with your family,” Amanda says.

But the Tellos know finding the right home can be extremely taxing on your time, lifestyle and sanity. Anyone who has ever bought a home knows that there is no end to the things that can go wrong during a real estate transaction.

That’s why Amanda and Jorge started their own real estate team, Tello & Co - Buy Sell Love ATL. “Our goal is to make sure that our clients are taken care of,” Amanda says. “We want them to know that our loyalty is with them, and to make sure they get exactly what they want out of the transaction.”

The Tellos are no stranger to the real estate industry: The two have a healthy background in all things real estate.

Jorge was born into the real estate industry.

Both his parents are Realtors, as are several

Continued on Page 14 January 2020 | 400 LIFE | 13

of his aunts, uncles and cousins.

Jorge remembers helping his dad show houses with clients when he was 10 years old. Jorge’s contribution to his father’s business at that age was to be his father’s GPS when showing houses.

“That’s pretty much all I know,” Jorge says.

Amanda isn’t far behind.

“We definitely have a good yin and yang,” Amanda says.

“I’m the yang,” Jorge adds.

The two met in college in 2005. The following year Amanda entered the real estate industry as a loan officer working closely with Jorge’s parents’ firm. Fast forward to 2017, Amanda was CEO/ Team Leader at Keller Williams Community Partners’s Market Center, where she was in charge of recruiting, training and consulting for the entire office.

In 2011, Jorge’s aunt asked them to move to Northern Virginia and join her prominent brokerage. Amanda and Jorge became a real estate team for the first time, and they discovered how each of their strengths seemed to complement the others.

A few years later, they moved to Georgia and teamed up with Jorge’s parents again, before Jorge moved into a position selling new construction with Smith Douglas Homes.

Amanda focused on raising Sebastian and Evangeline, and scaled back their real estate business.

Jorge thrived. In his first year, he won Rookie Salesperson of the Year and Sales Team of the Year at the 2015 OBIE Awards, the premier award in the Atlanta home building industry. Over five years, Jorge sold more than 400 new homes.

Jorge attributes his success to the knowledge he absorbed while working with his family.

They showed him the value of being honest and upfront with clients, being available to address a client’s needs and finding solutions when the inevitable bumps in the road come along.

“My main goal when working with people is for them to understand that I will treat them the same way I would like someone to treat me.”

Jorge says.

This past summer, Jorge and Amanda decided they wanted to take those values and start their own real estate business. Tello & Co. was born, and the duo have been working ever since to help clients in Forsyth County and metro Atlanta. Whether it’s buying a dream home or finding an investment, they’ve created a full-service real estate haven.

The Tellos already have their dream home.

It’s the anchor of their life.

And they want to help others find theirs, too.

“Making sure clients have the home that fits their needs, so that they can have those 14 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

Photo courtesy Margaret Buell of Buell Productions

Contact Amanda and Jorge Tello Tello & Co - Buy Sell Love ATL

(404) 500-7005 | buysellloveatl.net

experiences with their families is so important to us,” Amanda says.

The Tellos goal in their business is to become their clients end-to-end partner in homeownership, to build relationships that go beyond the closing table.

“Our expertise goes further than the pur-

chase or sale of their home. If they need a good painter a year down the road, or plan to replace their kitchen cabinets 10 years after purchase, we want our clients to know they can come to us for our knowledge and network!”

vegetarian items, including fajitas, chimichanga, burritos, quesadillas and more.

But start with the veggie tacos. You’ll get three filled with sautéed onions, mushrooms, cauliflower and zucchini served with green rice.

For the gluten-free eaters in the crowd, Tacos & Tequilas can build your veggie taco in a tortilla made from corn instead of flour.

Skinny tacos But even if vegetarian isn’t your thing, you don’t have to sacrifice nutrition for taste with Taco & Tequilas’s regular menu items. Just go skinny — skinny tacos, that is.

These tacos come wrapped not in tortillas but romaine lettuce leaves. Choose either grilled marinated chicken breast or sautéed tilapia. All three skinny tacos will be topped with avocado, pico de gallo and cilantro and served with black beans.

T&T Chicken Salad At first glance, the T&T Chicken Salad doesn’t seem like a menu item designed for those on a diet simply because it’s a monster of a salad.

All together, you get flame-grilled chicken strips served on a bed of iceberg and romaine lettuce with red cabbage, carrots, 18 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

tomatoes, avocado, bacon, shredded cheese and corn tortilla strips with three choices of dressing (agave lime ranch, mango vinaigrette and chipotle vinaigrette).

But nutrition buffs will take advantage of the salad’s adaptability. You can order it without the bacon. Or without the cheese. Or without both!

Then use mango vinaigrette dressing, and you’ve got something delicious and nutritious.

Hand-crafted drinks No, Tacos & Tequilas doesn’t sacrifice nutrition when it comes to their hand-crafted margaritas.

For instance, it uses freshlysqueezed orange juice in one of its most popular drinks — for women and men, according to Blanca Elena — the skinny margarita.

There’s also the tamarindo margarita, which uses fruit from the tamarind tree with a unique blend of sour and sweet flavors that’s a staple in candies in Latin America, Elena said.

Their coconut margarita uses fresh coconut shavings. The spicy habanero berry margarita uses fresh blackberries.

And all of Tacos & Tequilas’ hand-crafted drinks are sweetened with agave nectar, not the simple syrup many restaurants use.

“You can taste the difference of a house margarita and our hand-crafted margarita,” Elena said.

Challenge Your Inner Chatterbox Swapping stress for serenity through mindfulness and meditation Story by Jennifer Colosimo | Photo by Micayla Wise

About 10 years ago, Patrick Delaney knew he needed a change. He suffered from anxiety and a pressure-driven inner monologue that neither medication nor traditional counseling could relieve.

His good friend and fellow teacher, Jessica Place, shares a similar story. As a stressed out high school English teacher with high expectations and impossible workload she kept forgetting why she loved teaching in the first place.

Albeit a few years apart, both found a fresh perspective on life through a growing practice known as mindfulness. And their biggest passion became sharing what they’d learned with others.

They started in the classroom. As teachers for more than 20 years, they saw first hand the pressures students faced every day. They introduced mindfulness practices to help them find quiet time to reflect, teach them to tune out nonsensical inner chatter and equip them with the tools they needed to keep their focus on what mattered.

In the same way, they’ve been able to help fellow teachers reshape the way the classroom pressures affect them, dissipating some of their stress. They learn to students not as an overwhelming group with high demands, but as individuals who learn differently and inspire creativity.

“This school year, I have implemented meditation on a weekly basis in my 10th honors literature classes as part of our De-Stress Wednesdays,” said Place, a teacher at West Forsyth High School who still has general anxiety, but man20 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

ages it through mindfulness.

“At first my kids wonder what the heck I’m doing, but then they love it. In fact, they crave it. They don’t have a lot of other chances to just sit and be quiet and reflect.”

“A lot of schools have started to implement mindfulness practices into the way they do things, like by having meditation rooms, or quiet space, but it hasn’t made it into the classroom officially,” said Delaney, a former West Forsyth teacher who now teaches Mindfulness and Language Arts at Gateway Academy.

“Everyone has that same inner chatter that I had. By studying it and listening and doing it, you still hear the chatter, but you learn meditation and how it works, and realize you don’t have to buy into it. That was a big relief for me, and one that makes a huge difference to kids, too,” Delaney said.

It’s a relief for high school kids, because the pressure they’re under at school isn’t just from academics. The social side of high school brings an entire new lot of pressures with sports teams and peer groups and the expectations that come with them.

“What we try to teach our students in mindfulness meditation is you don’t want to get caught up in those stories that your mind tells you,” said Place. “Those are just thoughts. Thoughts come and go. When we get attached to those thoughts, we cause ourselves suffering, so our job is to teach you how to let those thoughts remain just thoughts.”

Jessica Place and Patrick Delaney began the North Georgia Mindfulness Project to help people suffering from stress and anxiety. Through group therapy sessions or one-on-one training, they help individuals target specific distractions, trigger points and stressors and then equip them with the tools and mindset to overcome those hindrances.

For more information, visit Themindfultoolbox.com

Jill Thornton, owner of Cumming Strength and Fitness, instructs a client during a recent workout.

Need A Lift?

How one CrossFit gym finds synergy through fitness and friends Story by Jennifer Colosimo | Photos by Ben Hendren

J

ill Thornton has never really done life without fitness. She played competitive softball throughout high school and college, she’s run marathons, participated in group fitness classes and done all kinds of boot camps.

With each, she found a great resource for calling on a workout buddy, but something was missing. She missed competition, she missed community and she missed a sense of accountability. So, just three years after having their son, Thornton and her husband, Hunter, opened their own CrossFit gym, Cumming Strength and Fitness, to satisfy her need (and Forsyth County’s) for all three.

“We were exposed to [CrossFit] early on in 2006; so when we moved out here to Forsyth County, we saw a local need, and we knew we wanted to do it,” said Thornton.

“We love helping people and we love sports and those two worlds kind of merged into a gym for us.”

It wasn’t just the formula of CrossFit that 22 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

‘People are shocked to hear that I eat Lucky Charms every single day. I don’t believe in putting extreme restrictions on your life to see results. You have to be intentional — yes — but you have to be able to enjoy life.’

Jill Thornton, owner of Cumming Strength and Fitness

the Thorntons fell in love with. They were most excited about the unique community setting and what that atmosphere was doing for people’s health. The Thorntons admittedly had zero expectations going in, but perhaps what has grown their original 10 members to more than 200 in just under seven years is the fact that this couple knew they wanted to be different.

“We really wanted to focus on community. The people that are a part of our gym — we care about their fitness, their health, their nutrition, but we also care about them as people, as friends,” said Thornton. “We wanted to set ourselves apart by creating that kind of community, while also making it a professional product.”

That includes 12 professional coaches on staff and professionally rated classes to raise the bar on the group class experience.

They also offer a coach-to-athlete relationship once you join the gym, which means every new member is connected to a coach from day one. That coach is their “coach for life,” and holds them accountable, helps them set goals, monitors their progress and meets up for regular assessments.

“I believe our approach to fitness is a great set up for anybody — young moms, grandmothers, dads, elite athletes, people who’ve never worked out a day in their life,” said Thornton, rebuking the stigma that CrossFit is only for seasoned athletes.

“Having someone hold you accountable for what you’re trying to do with your health and fitness is 100% the magic pill. That’s all — it doesn’t matter your fitness level.”

As a mom of two, the co-owner of a business, and a competitive weight lifter, she thrives on accountability — to stick to her goals, but also to stay realistic about what it takes to enjoy life.

“It’s a balance,” she admitted. “Number one for me is my family, then our gym/business and my competitive goals come next.

But people are shocked to hear that I eat Lucky Charms every single day. I don’t believe in putting extreme restrictions on your life to see results. You have to be intentional — yes — but you have to be able to enjoy life.”

When she’s training for a competition, she focuses much of her time on working out, lifting and dialing in on her diet and lifestyle habits. It’s paid off — this past year Thornton won second place at Nationals, first in her debut international competition (Pan American Championships) and won the Masters Worlds Championships setting a new world record in the snatch lift. She heads back to Orlando for Masters Weightlifting Nationals in 2020.

“I did years of CrossFit, and I noticed how much I loved strength training and weight lifting. A friend encouraged me to do a weight lifting meet … and I was hooked. I loved how technical it was, how difficult and how artistic each lift could be. It requires so much focus, and combines balance, strength and mobility in a beautiful way. I can’t get enough of it.”

But even during competition season, she finds time for the things she loves and does them with her family. They all love to travel, so the entire family accompanied her to Park City and tagged on skiing after the competition. After Nationals, Disney World. When she’s not training, enjoying life leans toward local indulgences like Dutch Monkey Doughnuts and Friday night

Continued on Page 24 January 2020 | 400 LIFE | 23

Jill Thornton, owner of Cumming Strength and Fitness, instructs a class during a workout.

Mexican.

“Being an owner of a gym, my perspective of fitness has completely changed over the years,” said Thornton. “When we first started our gym, I thought CrossFit was the only way people could reach their fitness potential. But now I realize it is one way — not the only way. People just need to move. We encourage our members to use their fitness outside of our four walls, to get outside, play sports and be active with their friends and family.”

The Thorntons practice what they preach, having spent this past summer lake surfing, tubing, water skiing and wakeboarding in their backyard (a.k.a. Lake Lanier).

24 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

Thornton practices community outside the gym walls by serving at Meals By Grace with her family, being character coach for Forsyth Central softball via the FCA and as a student mentor for a local middle school. Cumming Strength and Fitness also facilitates adopting children for Christmas through local organizations.

“Yes, our mission is to change lives, through fitness, but what we really care about is our people as humans first. We strive to make sure that what we do is something that is approachable for any level of fitness — so that no matter who you are, this can be your community where that change will happen.”

For more information, visit cummingstrengthandfitness.com.

Leading the way

How Dave Ericson jumpstarted a youth running scene in West Forsyth Story by McClain Baxley | Photos by Ben Hendren

It’s 6 o’clock on a Wednesday night as the cool fall breeze descends on Fowler Park. The skate park and basketball courts are mostly barren, but on the track, 20 middle schoolers are showcasing their running abilities as part of a practice.

David Ericson stands to the side, smiling with pride as he watches members of the Junior Wolverine Running Club train for their next event.

As a runner almost since birth, Ericson instilled a passion for the sport of cross country in his children. In 2012, the opportunity to turn running from a passion into a community service arose.

“My daughter had run in eighth-grade [in 2012] and we had her running with West [Forsyth High School] — running JV (junior varsity) races and middle school meets,” Ericson said. “I was coaching her and Coach [Clayton] Tillery would let me take her to meets. She ended up winning the region JV meet and neither Tillery or I realized you weren’t allowed to run middle schoolers in Forsyth County high school meets.”

So in 2013, Ericson founded the Junior Wolverine Running Club.

The program started out as just a cross country team for middle schoolers and about 30 kids from across the 26 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

county, mostly the West district, showed up to train with Ericson.

Eventually, the program evolved into a year-long running club, with focus on cross country during fall and track during winter to get ready for the spring season.

“There were no middle school running teams so that’s why we started this club,” Ericson said. “Now, most of the schools in the county have cross country teams, so this is more of a feeder team for the middle school and high school. Attendance is lower during the season because they’re going to middle school practices.”

Even in the winter, with temperatures flirting with below-30 degrees and midterm exams approaching, 15-20 kids will still meet to run. While the program’s focus is kids from fifth- to eighth-grade, Ericson said that younger kids and their family members are allowed to practice with the club.

Working with teenagers and pre-teens, Ericson stresses the importance of building a love of running in them, rather than training them to win the Olympics.

“If they don’t love running, they aren’t going to put the work in to be a better runner,” Ericson said. “I’ll have some parents who will drop their kids off that maybe they don’t want to be there and I just try to make it as fun as possible. I have some kids who want to be there and want to work hard, so I’ll push them as hard as they want to be pushed. It’s a wide spectrum.”

WHERE TO RUN

Living in Forsyth County, the possibilities of where to run are seemingly endless. The club will usually meet at Fowler, but will also test their trail skills on the Big Creek Greenway or at Sawnee Mountain.

There are kids who enjoy the trail, off road running because it isn’t monotonous. Ericson falls in this party.

But there are others who prefer the track.

“For some kids, the track doesn’t lie,” Ericson said. “What I mean ... in cross country each course is different so you can’t really compare times, but all tracks you run four laps for a mile and it’s all flat.”

Over the years, Ericson has coached kids who have won county championships, some have gone on to run at the collegiate level.

Since the club was founded, several middle schools have adopted cross country clubs that compete.

And as proud as Ericson is of the accomplishments of those kids, it’s the stories that don’t come with a gold medal that he’s found most rewarding from the coaching experience.

“It’s the kids who were slow, overweight runners when they first started out and now they’ve gotten better and improved greatly,” Ericson said. “Those are the stories I love to tell. I’ve coached kids that have won county meets, but it’s those other stories that matter the most.”

There’s no lack of places to run in Forsyth County, but maybe you need a community to help get you motivated. No problem – here are some clubs you can jump right into.

RunNGRC

Gotta Run Kids

Totally Happy Feet Run or Walk

North Georgia Running Co., hosts free bi-weekly runs/walks in different groups so runners/walkers can have a distance and pace that is right for them.

Groups meet at 6:45 p.m., Tuesdays; 8 a.m., Saturdays and 8:10 a.m., Sundays at the store’s location at 5456 Bethelview Road and then proceed to the nearby Big Creek Greenway trailhead. Check the company’s Facebook and Instagram pages for the most updated information. For more information, visit northgeorgiarunningco.com.

The local youth running club is led by Greg Patterson and provides a variety of programs for kids, from kindergarteners up to eight grade, in addition to private coaching.

For more information, visit gottarunkids.com.

Totally Running, a local company with locations on Peachtree Parkway and in Halcyon, the new mixed-use development in south Forsyth, hosts the “Totally Happy Feet Run or Walk” run/walk group at 6:30 p.m., every Thursday at its Halcyon location, 6345 Halcyon Way, Suite 820. For more information, visit totallyrunning.com.

January 2020 | 400 LIFE | 27

400faces

Let’s Geaux for a ride DeMario and Kristle Pressley, owners of Geaux Bikes

Forsyth County’s Big Creek Greenway, an 11-mile concrete and boardwalk path from Ronald Reagan Boulevard to Kelly Mill Road, gets a lot of use from walkers, joggers and bikers, the latter of which can be a hassle with loading and unloading bikes in vehicles, space issues and planning and costs involved to make it all happen.

With that in mind, in June, husband and wife team DeMario and Kristle Pressley, opened the first location for Geaux Bikes, a bike-sharing program, at Fowler Park, which has a trailhead for the Greenway.

The unique spelling of the name is a nod to the couple’s New Orleans background, Kristle is a native of the Big Easy, and DeMario played for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints for three seasons, including the team’s Super Bowl-winning season in 2009.

Bikes can be rented for $5 an hour, and all arrangements can be made from a smartphone app called BLOOM Sharing, which also provides a map, current speed and other information once the ride starts. The bikes even come with mounts for phones on the handlebars.

400 Life caught up with the Pressley’s to talk about staying healthy, working as a family and the rivalry between the Saints and the Atlanta Falcons.

How has the business worked as a husband-wife duo?

Kristle: “I think it’s been amazing for both of us. DeMario and I have been together for 11 years between dating and marriage, so we know each other very well, we know each other’s strengths, each other’s weaknesses and I think we know how to work well with each other and prioritize and give each other tasks based on strengths and weaknesses.”

DeMario: “For me, it’s been enlightening and inspiring because I get to see another part of Kristle. For so long it’s been girlfriend, fiancé, wife, mother, homemaker, what have you, but in this instance, I get to see her as a businesswoman. It’s really cool and it’s inspiring.”

How are some ways your family stays healthy?

DeMario: “We live at the Forsyth County YMCA at Vickery Village. We’re always there and we’re working out at least three or four days out of the week. We have our little groups and cliques there that hold us accountable, we hold them accountable.

Guys I play basketball with, ladies that she works out with.

“Sometimes if I feel like running or if I have a flashback to my football days and need the smell of grass, I go and I will either work at Fowler Park and do some cone work or I’ll go over to Sharon Park.”

Kristle: “Up until recently, I was a boot camp instructor, so I did that for the last year-and-a-half. Even with that, I was still supplementing at the YMCA at Vickery, as well. They have great classes. Overall, we try to be as healthy as we can.”

Given the New Orleans background, what are some of your favorite dishes from the city?

Kristle: “Mine is gumbo. The day that fall comes and the temperature drops, I’m making gumbo. Gumbo is my go-to thing.”

DeMario: “My go-to thing is 100%, hands down red beans and 28 | 400 LIFE | January 2020

rice. I love some Cajun red beans. When I first got to New Orleans and got drafted, one of the meals I had down there was red beans and rice, and I fell in love. I still ask her to cook it for me today. The thing I learned is it’s good luck if you cook red beans on Monday.”

With the rivalry between the Saints and the Falcons, how has it been living behind enemy lines?

DeMario: “It’s actually been awesome because I get to pick on people, but I mean, it’s been great. I don’t have any negative stories because, at the end of the day, everyone’s a football fan, so just because I played for the Saints, the fact alone that I’m a football player, people welcome me, they accept me, but they don’t talk to me if there’s a Saints-Falcons game.”

Kristle: “We love a good rivalry, especially when SaintsFalcons comes around, it’s just such a tradition as long as I can remember to kind of taunt each other. Even in Forsyth County, the funny thing is someone just started a Who Dat [the Saints’ slogan] group. We actually started watching the games on Sundays at Black Diamond Grill with a group of Saints fans living in Cumming.”

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