Now here is a concept. A new brewery opening here in Ballard is planning on having indoor bike parking for its customers. Part of me thinks, cool, I like this business model for Ballard. The other part of me is wondering just how well bikes and beer mix? I'd be pissed at my son if he was riding his bike home drunk (Oh, come to think of it he did that once and got eight stitches in his chin...)
http://seattlebikeblog.com/2012/12/26/ballard-brewery-will-have-bike-station-indoor-bike-parking-with-your-help/
My Ballard Forum » Open Forum
Bikes, Brew and Ballard
(14 posts)-
Cate
offlineMemberPosted 4 months ago # -
teigyr
offlineMemberSo what about breweries that have parking for cars?
I see a ton of cyclists at Red Hook. I'd say your typical brewery person might have a beer or two, they aren't doing Rickshaw quality drinking.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Cate
offlineMemberAs a business model I get it - it is just like providing parking for cars, and this is a way to pull in a very Ballard demographic. It is a good idea. But an impaired bicyclist is so much more vulnerable then ann impaired driver. And impaired isn't necessarily Rickshaw quality drinking. A couple beers might be enough to get someone (oh, okay, say my son) to decide to ride home even though his lights aren't working. An impaired bicyclist may not be as threatening to other people as an impaired driver, but they are a big risk to themselves.
Posted 4 months ago # -
teigyr
offlineMemberI think it depends on the person and it's probably preferable for someone to be on a bike instead of a car. Granted you don't want anyone doing anything stupid (heck, I see impaired pedestrians all the time on Aurora) but at least, hopefully, they are more of a danger to themselves than to others.
FWIW and I'm sure most people know this, you can get cited for cycling under the influence. I have seen people who are on bikes instead of cars due to losing their license, as a bartender I saw all sorts of unfortunate things.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Morning Cate and teigyr!
Hope you both (and all of MB of course!) had a terrific Holiday!!Most of the bikers I know (a rough crowd to be sure....Vegan for one! Talk about rough!!) are pretty mellow and cautious about riding. We might enjoy a brew on the way somewhere but not enough to be impaired. I have ridden into town to meet Vegan and others for a brew now and then and all of us were pretty light drinkers. It was social more than drinking; a beer, a bite to eat, some laughter or a game or two, and on the way again. Kind of like scrabble night at Asters used to be? Plus, getting back on a bike after a couple of pints is not physically comfortable. Peddling any distance with a belly full of carbonated beverages and food is pretty sluggish and not something I care for.
The space where my wood shop was over in Frelard housed a really small micro brewery before I was in there. It was right on the BG trail and bikers would stop for a brew on their way home. I didn't see anyone there get toasted or even buzzed. They would usually quaff a brew, maybe refill a growler, and off they went.
I also suspect anyone who gets pretty impaired while riding a bike is going to do it whether there is indoor bike parking or not. And a number of our bars in Ballard have a fair amount of bike rack space already. That doesn't seem to invite BUI too much. At least not that I have noticed. Maritime is one with lots of bike rack space that I could think of off the top of my head.
Hopefully this will be a good business model for them and wont create problems, but I think it will work out fine. Good to see bike parking of any kind. There is a remarkable lack of bike racks around town considering they are trying hard to increase the bike traffic all over.
Dave
Posted 4 months ago # -
Apple
offlineMemberI would rather have impaired bike riders taking their own lives in their hands than impaired car drivers who endanger me and them. I am all for this.
As an interesting aside, statistically, drunk walking is more dangerous than drunk driving. Based on miles traveled.
Posted 4 months ago # -
great idea
offlineMemberI don't mind the concept, and I do ride my bike to a bar and have a few drinks every now and again.
however, my bike is not that fancy and frankly belongs outside.
even the more expensive bikes look kind of shabby when they're hanging against a cinder block wall:
https://www.facebook.com/PeddlerBrewingI would rather see some nice artwork or something.
Posted 4 months ago # -
phoo
onlineMemberI think it's pretty much the equivalent of a bar having a parkinglot. It's not illegal or even controversial. It leaves it up to people to be responsible, which is as it should be.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Cheese
offlineMemberLove the idea of enclosed bicycle parking. Parking my bicycle out in the open isn't something I do unless I can keep my eye on it the whole time. And I don't even have an expensive bike!
But after two beers it's a wash of either walking my bicycle home or going very slow uphill - for some reason it's unpleasant riding after a certain amount of beer :-(.
Posted 4 months ago # -
BuffaloHawk
offlineMemberI hope they save room for strollers;)
Posted 4 months ago # -
Cheese,
When I worked at Crater Lake National Park in OR years ago we had an annual tradition of going to Diamond Lake for Pizza on the first day the north entrance to the park was open. It was a big deal....a right of spring so to speak since the north road had been snowed shut all winter.
Anyway....it was about 25 miles down to Diamond Lake Pizza. It was the best mediocre pizza in 50 miles. A fact tempered by there being no other pizza places within 50 miles.
Some of us silly people would bike down there while the rest of the crew drove. The run was a screaming downhill run that kept going and going! It was fun on a bike. Then we would all eat more pizza and drink more beer than was good for us, and then head back home.
One year we did all that and a few of us decided to bike back as well! Bad idea! Oh man! Realllllly bad idea! Peddling uphill for 25 miles with tummies stuffed with mediocre pizza and beer was clearly not fun. The body has autonomic reflexes for dealing with that of course, and all of us were forced to go along with those reflexes at some point on the trek. Uggghhhhhhhh!
No indoor bike parking though.
In following years we still biked down there but we always tossed our bikes in people's pickups for the run back home. We figured tossing our bikes beat tossing our pizza's and beer during the long bike ride back home.
D
Posted 4 months ago # -
Cheese
offlineMemberGreat story dsomers! It's funny how the easy downhills makes you think the uphills won't be *that* bad...I've yet to have my gastro system rebel like that though. I bet you guys were really young, ahhh youth.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Both young and foolish Cheese!! <grin>
D
Posted 4 months ago # -
studygirl
offlineMemberPosted 4 months ago #
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