Bright orange bikes a bright idea

The bright orange bicycles you may have spotted around campus are part of a bright idea from Outdoor Pursuits. These bikes are for students to ride across campus at no charge, just a great way to get some fresh air.

Outdoor Pursuits Program coordinator, Jacob Rothrock came up with this idea and put it into practice by the beginning of this semester. The bikes were donated by Bike CDA’s director, John Kelly, who wants to do the same thing on a much bigger scale. There are eight bikes available right now. Four are brand new and four needed a little bit of work.

“There is a chance you will come outside and someone will be walking away with your bike, so it’s kind of like a game,” said D. A. Check, outdoor pursuits major.

Students are only supposed to ride them on campus but Check said, “Sometimes we will find them in the park over by the water.” Overall though, the program has been successful and no bikes have been stolen.

The mission of this program is to make campus transportation easier, and get people biking. Biking can be a great alternative to parking and walking.

“Hopefully it will translate into more people riding their own bikes,” Check said. “The big goal is to get people to commute on their bicycles.”

The program is still in its trial and error stage, but hopes to be adding more bikes in the spring.

“There was no real plan; no one knew if it would work,” Check said. “Right now we realize baskets on the bikes might be bad. Students were trying to ride in the baskets and that in turn broke wheels.”

The most challenging part so far has just been the maintenance– like flat tires.

“If it gets a flat tire or the chain falls off, they [students] just ditch it in the bushes,” Check said.

Outdoor Pursuits might set up a work station outside to encourage students to fix these problems on their own. Students can also stop by Outdoor Pursuits and learn a few basic repair skills.