DPW looking for people to come get some bikes.

[Krokodyle]

The report from BRC is that almost all of the bikes are gone now.
Yay for local burners going back out to get those things off the playa.

Yay, indeed. Woke up to this news and couldn't be more proud of and grateful to these people.

[EGAZ]

Yup, the pile is much smaller now. Who's that in the background??

bikedump2017.jpg

[FIGJAM]

You're right!!!

I think that's Millicent!!!

[maladroit]

I think the problem has been ignored too long in order to cling to the "you really should be taking your own bike off the playa" ideal.

Lock your bike, of course. If everyone locked their bike, then 75% of these bikes wouldn't be here.

But maybe facilitate the bike leavers by connecting them to the people who would want to help. On Gate Road during exodus, perhaps have a "leave some bikes, take some bikes" pile. Anything making it to that pile will get a piece of bright colored flagging tape tied to it and considered abandoned, and you can pick some up if you have room.

The existence of such a bike pile would officially acknowledge something shitty about the population of Burning Man, but that ship sailed long ago.

[Traveller in Time]

Still entirely possible someone dumps a "borrowed" bicycle

[lucky420]

Just heard from a campmate who went up to BRC this morning, bikes are gone. She's coming back empty handed

[Savannah]

Just heard from a campmate who went up to BRC this morning, bikes are gone. She's coming back empty handed

YAAAAAAS. Thank God. I hope Elliot made out like a bandit!

Thanks for the report, Lucky!

</Moderator hat>

Now if only we can get a official policy shift re: unlocked, abandoned bikes, based on a reasonable timeframe.

<Moderator hat>

[cranberries]

I think the problem has been ignored too long in order to cling to the "you really should be taking your own bike off the playa" ideal.

Lock your bike, of course. If everyone locked their bike, then 75% of these bikes wouldn't be here.

But maybe facilitate the bike leavers by connecting them to the people who would want to help. On Gate Road during exodus, perhaps have a "leave some bikes, take some bikes" pile. Anything making it to that pile will get a piece of bright colored flagging tape tied to it and considered abandoned, and you can pick some up if you have room.

The existence of such a bike pile would officially acknowledge something shitty about the population of Burning Man, but that ship sailed long ago.

Which I totally agree with, especially since bikes are a resource that people want and will stop to harvest.

But one obvious problem is the assholes that will turn a "leave one kind of thing here" pile into a "leave everything I don't want" pile, and the bike station becomes overrun with yurts, fridges, etc. To say nothing of trash. Unfortunately I think the Borg is between a rock and a hard place - cling mercilessly to the Leave No Trace ideal vs. creating an opportunity for people to completely abandon that principle altogether. I would like to think that a leave bikes here pile would not be abused by the subset of people who are already behaving badly, but realistically I think they totaly would.

[EGAZ]

It would need to be manned so only bikes & racks go in the pile for sure. And there will still be bikes left on playa and in the city but this would be a good start to centralize the pile. Then see how many continue to be left on playa/city. It would be cheap/easy to implement too. The Burning Man Bike Harvest.....

[maladroit]

Still entirely possible someone dumps a "borrowed" bicycle

I'd expect that many of the "borrowed" bikes wouldn't make it out to the pile. They will typically drop them carelessly anywhere rather than work so hard to take the bike over to Cycle Mountain.

Which means that we need a two-pronged approach.

1. Stop the borrowed/lost bike problem. Lock your bike and put your camp address on it. Establish a real lost-and-found for bikes instead of having them exist in a someone-else's-problem blind spot.

2. Recognize that there is already a mistaken belief that you can just leave your unwanted bike, and it seems that no amount of education is working to fight that belief. So provide a place to put your unwanted bike, which then makes them fair game for other burners to take away without fear they are stealing bikes.

[Admiral Fukkit]

You can't win. Anything like that makes it OK for people to just plan on dumping their bikes.

[Dr Helix]

One question. How many of the leftover bikes actually still worked? Could it be that a lot of the dumping is people who's bikes fall apart (Cheap or not well cared for) just say "fuck it" and leave them where they finally broke down?

[The Rod]

Maybe if they weren't waving knives around at innocent burners all the time more people would be inclined to leave less of a mess for DPW to deal with.

[Token]

I vote for: The Fuck It!

BORG and DPW had it coming.

G&P is also on that path... close, very close to assholier than thou.

[maladroit]

You can't win. Anything like that makes it OK for people to just plan on dumping their bikes.

This is about recognizing that we've lost, and dealing with the problem as it exists rather than how we hoped it would be.

[Admiral Fukkit]

And all of this shit comes down to all the catering to fly-in people, the camps that provide for total fucking strangers for a fee, the bus service, the new emphasis on carpooling.... more and more ways to sell tickets to people who aren't able to pack it in and pack it out.
Could there be any other outcome?

[maladroit]

It was obvious to anyone who cared about the actual event, rather than getting attention from VIPs via special treatment and feeling a little bit like rock stars. Bad news: we're all roadies.

[BBadger]

I hate the barrier to entry shift from effort-to-attend to ability-to-just-obtain-a-ticket. It keeps out the people who can dedicate the time, effort, and dedication but may struggle to even find a ticket, and favors those who can just throw money at getting in. At a minimum people should have to drive their own accommodations in, even if carpooling. At least then the struggle is meeting and cooperating with other burners to attend, not just buying some ticket reserved for a bus service.

[Bless]

If you thought left-behind bikes were bad, there's at least seven trailers or RVs that have been abandoned between Nixon and Gerlach.



Talk about matter-out-of-place...

[maladroit]

That's bad due the scale of the moop, but that's evidence of like seven assholes versus 5,000 assholes. They're off-playa at least.

[TT120]

And all of this shit comes down to all the catering to fly-in people, the camps that provide for total fucking strangers for a fee, the bus service, the new emphasis on carpooling.... more and more ways to sell tickets to people who aren't able to pack it in and pack it out.
Could there be any other outcome?

This.

All the BORGS efforts to make it easy to get there are backfiring. Burning Man is hard. It should be hard. People need to be totally invested in coming and making it happen. STOP MAKING IT EASY TO GO!

[Jackass]

If you thought left-behind bikes were bad, there's at least seven trailers or RVs that have been abandoned between Nixon and Gerlach.



Talk about matter-out-of-place...

Looks as though they had the presence of mind to continue on with the frame and wheels, who wants that rotten old shell anyways?... Keep the meat and potatoes, discard the wilted salad.

[Admiral Fukkit]

The word on the street is people can order a new bike, I believe from the WalMart in Reno, delivered to the playa. In the goddamm box.
Then after the event... you, uh, take it home on the airplane... right... ??
A friend of mine who fixes bikes said someone actually brought one of these to him to be assembled. And left the box behind as a gift.

[Savannah]

If you thought left-behind bikes were bad, there's at least seven trailers or RVs that have been abandoned between Nixon and Gerlach.



Talk about matter-out-of-place...

[lucky420]

If you thought left-behind bikes were bad, there's at least seven trailers or RVs that have been abandoned between Nixon and Gerlach.



Talk about matter-out-of-place...

There are of course plans to get these cleaned up

[Savannah]

I don't doubt it! I'm just astonished by the number.

[Bless]

That's bad due the scale of the moop, but that's evidence of like seven assholes versus 5,000 assholes. They're off-playa at least.

At least moop on the playa is self-contained and not bothersome to the local populace. I think this gives TTITD an even worse reputation vis-a-vis the folks that live there.

[maladroit]

That's bad due the scale of the moop, but that's evidence of like seven assholes versus 5,000 assholes. They're off-playa at least.

At least moop on the playa is self-contained and not bothersome to the local populace. I think this gives TTITD an even worse reputation vis-a-vis the folks that live there.

Not sure how much worse it can get. The problems that have existed over the years have always been amplified to the maximum capacity that anyone there wants to hear about it. So they won't notice a net increase of bad stories. A small number of locals will be in the position to notice an actual increase in problems (gas station attendants, people with houses near the relevant roads) but to most people it will feel the same.

If we somehow fix this problem on-playa it will also help the off-playa problems...and that is the only place we could actually do anything anyway.

Having the whole event take a break for a few years and relocate might be the best thing that could happen.

[Jackass]

Actually the playa and surrounding desert as a whole are in better shape due to the LNT scene which came about through BM's use and restoration of the area and more interest and awareness through groups like Friends of Black Rock. From what I understand the margins of the playa used to be the local's trash dump, complete with junk vehicles and appliances and the such...

[Canoe]

I don't doubt it! I'm just astonished by the number.

Hopefully cycled back to the playa in subsequent years, and a bonus to those providing bicycles to residents of Reno and surrounding.