Day Nineteen

Late night shopping in the city and I am again frustrated by the lack of bike racks in the mall. It's so odd to ride in a city that's so obviously bicycle friendly - with clearly marked bike paths along the major streets and an official bicentennial bikeway along the entire river - only to face the opposite in the pedestrian area. There's just nowhere to chain it up. Seems the city council isn't interested in making life easy for us once we get OFF our bikes. I acknowledge that this area is devoted to pedestrians only - no vehicles of any kind - but wouldn't you then put bike racks at the periphery? There are a couple of car parking stations nearby, so they thought about the motorists. I walk my bike beside me thru the crowds, looking around lost and feeling foolish, wondering where I'm going to dump the thing, hyper-aware of one bit of important local knowledge I lack. And I have a renewed gratitude to and respect for the local bike group in the shire in which I used to live. They lobbied for bike racks in the pedestrian mall. I might have taken those conveniences a bit for granted.