Bike rider wants area stores to get racks

Linda Evans enjoys riding her bike on the paved bike trails that span parts of Martinez but wishes she could find a place to securely park when visiting stores.

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"It's good for the environment," Evans said about biking. "It's healthy for people.

"I just think it's important for store owners and the community, where they build these dedicated bike lanes and paved bike trails, to pay attention to that and see what they could offer their consumers. To me, a bike rack is something very simple."

The Columbia County Library and some county parks offer racks to bicyclists. Savannah Rapids Pavilion and the Reed Creek Wetlands Park and Interpretative Center have bike racks.

"There are a lot of bikers in those areas due to the bike path on Evans to Locks Road, which is used frequently by bikers, joggers and walkers," wrote Barry Smith, the county's director of community and leisure services, in an e-mail. "The other parks do not have them due to no real demand seeing where they are located.

"If citizens show an interest, we would assess the demand and have them installed if the need was there."

Evans, who lives in the Steeplechase neighborhood off Evans to Locks Road, bikes for exercise and leisure at least once a week.

She said that she frequently stops by the shopping centers on Furys Ferry Road and that although a long stretch of bike trails exist, bike racks don't.

Evans said she doesn't want to leave her $1,000 bicycle lying on the sidewalk. She says she has voiced her concerns to store owners in that area.

"I would like to see, collectively, these store owners go in together and buy bike racks," Evans said. "To me, it's not that big of an investment."

Many owners, however, must first address any changes with their landlords.

Both Shawn O'Dell, the owner of Abbi's Coffee Mill on Furys Ferry Road, and Dino Dakuras, the owner of Dino's Chicago Express, said they would need authorization to add a bike rack to their properties but might consider the idea.

"I don't think there is a huge application for it where we're at," said Dakuras, who said he hasn't seen any bicycle racks near his Evans restaurant, either. "I don't have a problem with it at all as long as it was in a good location."