Ninja Bike Advocacy Pt.2

For a recap of Ninja Bike Advocacy (Pt1), click here.

I believe I have achieved victory with the wonderful addition of an authentic bike rack now at the entrance of West Virginia Wesleyan College’s library. While the rack is now out there, my methods were pretty nontraditional, and frankly lacking style and grace.

If you don’t remember, here is what I did:

This sign was taped in a prominent position on the library's handrail.

Little bike rack left for students to use.

Well, yesterday after returning from a few days of vacation, I  stroll by campus to see if my bike rack was still there… It was not! and this was in it’s place!

LOOK AT THAT!   LOOK!   DO YOU SEE IT?

A real bike rack has replaced the one I put out there, and it can hold like twenty bikes! How cool is this?

If I was any more foolish than I already am, this kind of unconditioned response to such a trivial action of mine would be seen as a reward that fully outweighs the risks of trying it in other places. Imagine if I started running amok, placing handmade bike racks and little signs saying a real bike rack needs to be installed… First of all, I would probably end up taking a personal loan for lumber, and quit doing anything else, just to have other establishments elicit responses similar to this.

I’m really happy this rack has been put out for use! It is not very often you see a new bike rack installed anywhere around here, and while it is on campus, I can only pray that it increases short-distance bicycle related travel on campus!

Should I consider this a victory for myself? How does one measure victory? While the goal of having the bike rack installed was accomplished, what logistics and political sway was used by others to allocate the means to have this task completed? I believe I will be writing a few thank-you letters to WVWC, thanking them for the installation, and asking a couple appreciative questions about the rack and what it took to put it there.

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