I work in an office park, so there are several other offices that share the bike rack out front. This summer a few other people started riding and parking at the bike rack. Yea. I ride year round, and always park in the same spot at the end of the rack. This morning there was a bike parked in my spot that I just started seeing two weeks ago. It is very petty of me but I was kinda mad that someone took my spot. My spot that no one else has used in almost two years. And someone with a scooter started taking up space on the bike rack. I'm not sure scooters should be parked on bike racks, but still pondering that one.

I hope we move offices again soon and I can have some dedicated bike parking, hopefully with some cover instead and not next to the garbage dumpsters, which is another rant of mine. I understand site planning well enough to know on paper the easiest place to put bike racks is next to the dumpsters, but what kind of message does that send? Hey, thanks for not taking up any more of the parking you get to smell garbage every time it gets hot out and you get off or on your bike.

Again very petty, a first world problem to be sure, but I just needed to rant a little.

Cheers,

Totally a first world problem, but when the casual commuters take my spot under the awning, I get all stabby to. The jerks, don't they know who we are?

Funny, I just reclaimed my parking spot from two years ago from some interloper who had been using it in the mean time.

We are territorial creatures. I had not used the bike room down in the basement for about two years. We have bike racks in our office suite now so I didn't need too. For reasons I won't bother going into, I decided to use the bike room again this week.

It seriously bugged me that somebody else was in my spot. Couldn't they see the missing paint that had been pressure washed off the floor trying to clean the gunk I had dragged in for two winters? I earned that spot.

So this morning I got here a little earlier and gleefully reclaimed it. Hopefully the air will still be in my tires when it's time to go home.

Well after reading the sabotage thread I really feel like a whiner.

Let's make a rule... if you wouldn't say it to an office co-worker.... don't say it here. The age of the Internet has loosened us up to an unhealthy degree. There are failings of character and of mind that are best kept to oneself, IMO. Stiff upper lip and all that. Never let them see you whine. Carry on now, chaps.

H

I'd be tickled pink if I saw a bike at "my" spot on the rack, just for the fact that another bike's there. I go months at a time as the lonely bike at the rack.

I know my situation is unique; my bike comes into the building with me, and is parked about 15 feet from my work area. . .and has been for 7 years. A couple other occasional riders also bring their bikes into the storeroom, as well. Others use the rack in front of the store.

That rack was installed about 3-4 years ago, and done so very poorly; instead of being able accommodate 15-20 bikes as designed, it can handle about 6 -- due to being anchored too close to the building itself. Normally, there are only 2 or 3 bikes out there, none over $100 new. (Mine, in fact, is the only one priced in four figures, and will NOT be locked to that outdoor rack for a work shift, EVER)

No one has ever commandeered my spot for their bike, but FREIGHT has been put there, much to my disgust......

Sure. You say that now. One day you'll find that a U-lock has made itself a permanent resident on your spot. Then you'll start to see things our way.

I'm extremely lucky to have a whole room in the parking garage to park in. It's all chain-link fence and you need a badge to get in. That's NICE.

And, there are four - yes, count 'em - FOUR big long bike racks in there. Very nice.

And it really doesn't matter since there's so much room but there is one bike chained SIDEWAYS on the rack. It takes up room for, what - three or four bikes? And there is so much dust on that bike it's clear it hasn't moved in months, if not years.

Again, not a problem at all, but I wonder every time I bike to work and have to go around this bike that's right up front to get to an empty slot...why is this bike here? Did someone quit or get fired and forget they left a bike here? Did someone die at work? Hey, it's possible.

Strange indeed...

I kinda had the same thing happen to me, two + years of commuting to the same building, and a new bike starts showing up (I only saw it as I was leaving) moving closer and closer to where I lock up at. One day I came in a bit later and hes locked up where I always did. I ranted about it some where, The guy started parking on the other rack end now. But anyways. My main complaint was I only carry a U-Lock and we have one of those horrible racks that dosn't really fit anything. So you have to use an edge spot to lock up.

Good problem to have, like being sore after sex.......
However,
Bike racks here are often too full for me to lock up.
Happened last night at our city hall........had to go to three different racks to find the only usable vacant spot......
Also,
Frequently no room to lock up at 2 of my closest grocery stores.

it's been really nice to walk up to the bike rack and find a spot. I like the end spots because it's easier to park there, no problem all summer. The things that really bother me during the school year are people that waste a spot and the people that leave their bike in the rack for months. There simply aren't enough spots during the school year for that kind of nonsense, but there isn't much that can be done about it

Same here. As long as there's a spot left for me, I'm glad to see other bikes on the rack.

No... not really.

All I can say is that you must enjoy parking your bike much more than I do.

Just put a small RESERVED sign on "your spot." You could have one made at your local office supply, or just use a label maker. Mark your spot, then see if others take it.

I mean what the heck, you are there 90% of the time and the johnny come lately folks come along... jeeze. What would Sheldon do?

I don't get annoyed with people taking "my" spot, but I do get annoyed with bikes parked in the "premium" spaces (covered, out of the sun) that haven't moved in months....

I also have "my" spot in the bike rack, and I'm usually one of the first to arrive, so I almost always get it. I'm not too torn up if I don't, though.

The rack I use works best when bikes alternate sides of the rack in consecutive spots. What really grinds my gears is when some idiot skips a spot, so someone else has to park on the same side as another bike in an adjacent spot. It's akin to the jerk who parks his car over two spots in a parking lot.

PSA: It's not "your" spot

Geez, I'd be happy with a real bike rack instead of the railing I use now. Seeing another bike there would be amazing.

Well it isn't my spot, but I have become accustomed to having that spot because I carry a mini U to lock up to the side. I happened to have my big cable lock on board this morning from a trip to the movies with the GF last night. Cant lock up on the other vertical post because of the scooter.

And now that a wee bit of time has passed, it is no big deal even if I need to change the lock I normally carry on the commuter. Anything that promotes more people to bike is a good thing. Telling the woman who rides her bike to work twice a week that she cant park in my spot isn't going to promote more ridership.

I'm trying to be the change I want to see, it just so happens that some change is annoying.

I park my bike inside next to my office. But, I always wondered how badly it would suck to park my precious in the outside rack which is uncovered and sits over by the dumpsters. Thanks for a glimpse of that world.

Just finding humor in the OP's line.......
Crowded bike parking in your community is a happy problem to have, indeed......

I'm similarly lucky as well. My bike is sheltered inside, in our mailroom, same floor as me. It's on the fourth floor, so there's an awkward moment now and then when someone from work sees me in shorts, helmet, shoes, etc, or rides the elevator with me and the bike ... but it doesn't really bother me.

As others have said, it usually strikes up a conversation.

Sell them a set of panniers? or an eagle for their helmet?

WWSD?

What would Sheldon do?

"Just leave the lock at work, locked to whatever you normally lock your bike to. Carry a light cable lock with you for quick errands or emergencies."

I've thought about this strategy, but I think property management would remove the lock on one of my frequent trips out of town.