I used to hate bikers.
Hated them.
They were annoyances, I thought, sometimes making a walk to the Quad an unnecessarily perilous journey.
Their whining bells, the sound of the treads slowly spinning behind you, the feeling that someone on a large machine capable of grievous bodily harm can speed past you faster than you can blink.
These experiences spawned fears.
I would refer to them collectively as “those damn bikers,” always spitting immediately afterwards.
Then my friend loaned me a bike.
My first bike ride to class was comparable to driving my uncle’s old Triumph with the top down.
Not only was I early to class, but I was out of breath and grinning broadly.
This experience, which I now refer to as The Revelation, opened a new door for me at our University, and a new fight: the plight of the LSU biker.
Technically, it is against the law to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk designated for pedestrians.
Then again, our campus, which is just the right size for bike owners to make good use of their investments, is not conducive to cycling.
Bike paths are scarce and usually on the fringes of campus, and often combine with those designated for joggers.
The result is a series of bike paths scarcely used by bikers, and a sidewalk system clogged with pedestrians dealing with bicycle traffic.
Compound this ineffective system with the incredible danger any bike rider faces while on the street and we have bikers without a place to ride their machines.
The streets are murderous, and the pedestrians hate bikers taking up their space.
A recent article in The Reveille summarized the anger many pedestrians feel toward bikers.
Sophomore Robyn Hines commented that she “hate(s) people who ride bikes on campus because they’re angry.”
Ms. Hines and the rest of the pedestrian populace must try to empathize.
I speak for all bikers when I say that we mean no harm, and that we want to ride our bikes to class because it is fun, healthy and quick.
And we want peace.
Really.
Except with the pedestrians who throw sticks at us. We don’t like them.
And we would stay off the sidewalks, but must remain there because of aforementioned reasons.
The only hope bicyclers have is in the future of bike paths at LSU.
In its infinite wisdom, the LSU Master Plan calls for a number of additional bike routes, but those paths proposed don’t completely measure up to what is necessary for the thriving bike community we have on campus.
The routes proposed graze both sides of the Quad, yet fail to connect the entire campus.
Bike racks usually fill completely, often forcing bikers to lock their machines to signs, light posts or trees.
It is true that bikers can be scary and annoying.
They know this.
They try to avoid being either.
But they will involuntarily continue to be until the University recognizes the importance and popularity of the bicycle as one of the most popular modes of non-bipedal transportation within campus.
LSU, the plight of your bikers is just.