In recent years I’ve taken up biking as a means to keep in shape and de-stress over the weekends. My bike isn’t anything flashy, but more than anything else it harkens back to the days as a young tween pedaling through my suburban Tuscawilla neighborhood in Florida. I had a bright fuchsia colored bike with streamers hanging from the handle bars and white flowers dotting the bike seat. I loved this bike and cruised around the neighborhood with my friends all the time.

Biking is like walking in that you connect with the surroundings on a completely different level than when traveling by car. Being able to ride through our city, or easily get onto the Capital Trail, has been eye opening and a different means of connecting with our urban setting.

But we’re not quite there yet when it comes to creating that safe environment for bike lanes that share the road with cars. Nor are we there with providing bike racks at the places we frequent the most. Manchester in particular is an area which is lacking in both these regards.

I’m all for the city providing bike racks, but I think as a creative community we can do a little better than just your regular black metal bar with circle design. Let’s get creative and really stand out as not only a biking community, but also a creative arts community that is thought provoking and stands for a purpose.

See below the myriad ways bike racks can be a showpiece and a statement. From simple and sleek, to bold and bright. Bike racks should be treated as a creative means of adding sculpture to our urban landscape that puts a little whimsy into our everyday lives. Last time I checked Virginia Commonwealth University has one of the best sculpture programs in the U.S. We need to start pushing the envelope and create a design platform for these moments.

Let’s Do This!

Photo Credit to Contemporist.com for Heart Shape Bike Rack image.