There are very, very few racks here in Charleston and the few that exist are crammed full. College of Charleston students have been known to get into fights over bike parking. My niece got into a fist fight with someone who claimed ownership over part of a rack.

Weather permitting, I often use my bike to make short errands. In my neighborhood, the grocery store put up a rack because kids were laying their bikes down on the ground right in front of the doors with a cable lock run through a wheel making it difficult to move the bike out of the way. The store got the message. Yesterday, I went to the UPS store to ship out a package and there was no rack, so I brought my bike inside the store with me. The guy behind the counter said I couldn't have it in the store, so I said OK, and laid it down outside right in front of the doors. The guy looked really exasperated when I came back in, so I asked him if there was a rack available because my bike didn't have a kick stand.

No city is going to put up a rack based on our complaints. However, goad some business owners into complaining and it might get fixed. I know it's being an a**, but it does get results.

Russ