Like many students and faculty of Iowa State, I get to campus by using my bike. One of the advantages to living in a small town like Ames is being able to navigate it on two wheels. Unfortunately, Ames as a city does not seem to value its cycling citizens despite priding itself on being a bike-friendly community. Besides the bike-unfriendly infrastructure, the thing bothering me most is the resistance I’ve encountered when trying to address this topic with the people responsible for improving matters.

For instance, I have been trying to get Stomping Grounds café to install bike racks outside their establishment. There is never a shortage of bikes chained to the parking meters and trees and I have no doubt that many a driver has found the parked bike obscuring their meter annoying. But what is a cyclist to do when no better options exist?

I did the research myself and provided the owner all the necessary information for making a request to the city on his patrons’ behalf. But to no avail. After asking him on several occasions whether he had pursued the matter, I was always told — with a polite smile and nod — that he had simply not gotten to it yet. More than two months have passed since my initial request.

Trying to contact the city’s traffic engineer myself has proven equally unsuccessful.

Perhaps one person demanding change is not enough. Maybe if more of Ames’ cyclists spoke up for the things needed to make this town more bike-friendly, we might actually see change. If you’re a cyclist in Ames, I urge you to speak up and to hold the local officials and business owners accountable for making Ames negotiable by bike as well as by car.