Stop me when this sounds familiar: It’s after class, and you are casually strolling down the sidewalk. You’ve just endured a stimulating 50-minute lecture, and your brain is slowly regaining its ability to function again when suddenly you hear a strange whirring sound coming from behind you. You sluggishly begin to turn around when suddenly a blur of chrome, nylon and wind-blown hair goes streaking by. You mutter an angry comment “Stupid bikers,” and continue meandering down the sidewalk fantasizing about your futon.

As someone who rides a bike to class, allow me to apologize on behalf of all other bikers. Common courtesy would be to provide a verbal warning of some sort that we’re coming, but after weaving through countless slow-moving walkers, it gets a little redundant.

However, this somewhat tense relationship between bikers and walkers illustrates a bigger problem: there is simply not enough room on the sidewalk for both groups. Two people walking side by side on virtually any part of campus take up over half. of the sidewalk. Add traffic coming the other direction, and the sidewalk is effectively full in that area.

So what can be done? Initially, you might suggest (especially if you are a walker) outlawing bikes on the sidewalks. However, as someone who lives off campus, I whole-heartedly object to that suggestion. On foot, it takes me anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to walk to class from my apartment, depending on how the stoplight timing works out.

This is far from unreasonable, and I don’t mean for it to sound as though I’m complaining about a relatively short walk. However, as most students can attest to, when you have an early morning class, an extra 10 to 15 minutes of sleep is absolutely glorious. If riding a bike to class (which typically takes about 5 minutes) can buy me some extra sleep, I am all for it.

Additionally, I have class in Lang at noon, and a class in the SEC at 1 p.m.. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of trying to get across campus in 10 minutes on foot, let me simply say that riding a bike is much faster, which is in turn much less stressful.

Instead of creating new laws or restrictions regarding who is allowed on the sidewalks, I would urge the University of Northern Iowa to consider either widening the current sidewalks with a bike lane, or adding a second sidewalk that is narrower so that bikers and walkers can travel at a reasonable pace.

As a biker, one of the most frustrating things to endure is getting stuck behind a huge crowd of slow-moving walkers in between classes. Trying to stay upright without riding on someone’s heels is very tricky, and it is almost tempting to get off and walk alongside the bike instead, which defeats the purpose of having a bike in the first place. There’s no reason that bikers and walkers cannot learn commute in peace.