Where to Park?

It is time for a breakfast taco, or some apple pie, or a roti canai, or just a breather.  You come to a stop and immediately look around for a way to keep your bike upright.  If you happen to be at the beach in Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands  you could park your bike in one of these racks.  And not have to worry about one of your most cherished possessions toppling over and getting scratched, or worse.

In the absence of a rack you have to make do with a pole or a fence or a curb to lean your bike against.  Usually somewhat nervously because the risk of a gust of wind pushing your bike over is ever present.

If you are in the midst of an organized ride you can bet your house that all available poles, fence space and curbs are already occupied when you pull into a rest area.  So you can resort to the double bike ‘interlock and lean’ technique as demonstrated below.  This is a relatively secure way of parking two bikes, but it does require careful adjustment if the ground is sloping.  Watching your bike roll into a heap on the ground is entertaining for everyone but you.

Photo courtesy of Azrina Kamarudin

The alternative, if you are on grass, is to just lay your bike on the ground.  Drive side up of course!

If you are lucky the ride organizers will have provided bike racks.  This one is just a horizontal length of pipe that you hook your saddle or handlebar onto.  Simple and secure.

The Not Possibles have a convenient place outside the Coffee Club to park their bikes.  It was Christmas Eve by the way.

Spots like this where a dozen or more bikes can be parked are hard to find, especially outside cafes and restaurants.  Even more so outside the roti canai and nasi lemak stalls where I have been lately.

Nothing that a bit of creativity won’t solve though.  This was the scene across the road from the roti canai stall in Kundang this morning.

Where to park?  Just ditch it!