Dear Action Line,
I can easily take my bike up the stairs at the swinging bridge because the metal wheel groove is open and easy to use. On the other hand, the stairs at Riverview school make it almost impossible to push a bike up the center groove because it is obstructed the whole way up. I’m uncertain who built those stairs or why they would make it so difficult for school kids to push their bikes up the stairs. Do you have any insight?
– Anita X. Planation
Dear Anita X.,
So a variation of this one was addressed by an Action Line predecessor a few years ago (see Herald, Jan. 2, 2023), but because you’re the second one to inquire recently, I guess it’s time for a retread. Plus, it’s a good excuse for a field trip on a bike.
As for the Riverview stairs, I had always assumed those metal things in the center groove were so you could rest your bike in them on the way up, or so the bike doesn’t run away on the way down, although I never tried it before. Turns out those stairs are owned by Durango School District, not the city. In 2023, a maintenance director from the school district said, “The metal groove is called a C-channel, a European design created to make the stairwell easier for bike riders to navigate. When you’re going up the stairs with your bike, you don’t have to carry it, you put the wheels in the groove and push it up.”
But as you can see in the photo with the Action Bike in them, they block the way for that. And even if they were for resting the bike, you certainly do need to carry your bike over the barriers in the groove, and anyway there are landings going up/down the stairs where you could rest your bike anyway. And it’s not actually a C-channel – when you Google image that, you get a channel with no barriers. So the mystery remains, but I’m guessing it’s just a faulty design by someone who never needed to actually navigate the stairs with a bike.
The stairs going up from the swinging bridge behind the Powerhouse, though, do have a helpful bike wheel groove as you point out (more like a “V” channel than a C-channel). And it’s on one side of the stairs, where if you get tired walking your bike up it you can stick your pedals and/or handlebars through the hand rail and roof supports to completely hold the bike in place. That’s a cool, simple design. I think what you need to do is petition Durango School District to add one to the Riverview stairs. I bet if you know a welder and made a proposal to do it cheaply, you’d have a good shot and getting it done. Of course, in the age of heavy e-bikes, I’m not sure it would work very well for those, especially the kind with the motorcycle-width tires, but I guess with a motor you can just ride the long way around instead of using the stairs. Or I guess use the motor-assist for going up? Multi-modal indeed.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Today’s Fun Fact: As indicated, C-channels, also called “runnels,” began in Europe, specifically the Netherlands, in the mid-20th century before spreading to the U.S. and elsewhere. Makes sense given the bike-crazy Dutch who have made bike commuting a priority for a long time. The Dutch people speak Dutch and may live in North or South Holland, which are two western provinces of the Netherlands. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg make up the “low countries” because of their topography, and “Netherlands” refers to being “down there,” which folks may recognize from other uses of that term.
