The Park and Facilities Catalog announces the introduction of its latest bicycle parking rack invention - the space-saving MK1 Bike Dock.

The MK1 Bike Dock has a unique, patent-pending design that helps bicycle planners park a large number of bicycles in locations where space is limited. Those locations typically include universities, colleges, schools, urban areas and office complexes.

"We know the challenges that architects and planners face when they need to provide bicycle parking for hundreds if not thousands of bicycles," said inventor Chris Luyet, Vice President and General Manager of the Park and Facilities Catalog. "So we designed the MK1 with the smallest footprint possible to accommodate a large number of bicycles and to create an atmosphere that encourages more people to RIDE than drive."

The MK1 Bike Dock keeps bikes upright

Ilia Evans, a mechanic with the "Jack the Bike Man" charity in West Palm Beach, Fla., holds two galvanized outdoor bike racks donated by The Park and Facilities Catalog

The Park and Facilities Catalog recently donated three outdoor bike racks to the "Jack the Bike Man" non-profit organization in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The charity was started more than a decade ago by Jack Hairston, a retiree who one day happened to notice a man struggling with a broken bike.

Jack pulled some tools out of his garage and fixed the front brakes on the bike. The grateful man told his friends and afterward some of them brought their bikes to Jack to be repaired. Eventually his backyard started filling up with a steady stream of broken bikes and Jack kept on repairing them.

Word about Jack spread. Not only throughout the local community, but also the local news media. Fast

Vlad Gawlikowski, Health, Sports and Fitness Coordinator with the Boys & Girls Club of Palm Beach County stands with the outdoor bike racks donated by The Park and Facilities Catalog

The Park and Facilities Catalog recently donated two outdoor bike racks to the Boys & Girls Club of Palm Beach County.

This worthy cause is making a difference in the lives of young people. There are 13 Boys & Girls Club facilities in the county and they serve more than 8,000 children ages 6-18.

The first Boys' Club was started in 1860 by three women in Hartford, CT. Since then more than 4,000 clubs have been established across the country serving more than 4 million boys and girls.

One of their most famous alumni, Denzel Washington, is a spokesperson for the organization.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County were founded in 1971.

The

How well does your state rank for investing in bicycle infrastructure? Pictured above are a bike shelter, bike repair station, tiered bike racks and outdoor bike racks

Does your state care about bicyclists? What are your state and city officials doing to make streets safer for bicyclists? What are other states investing to make life better for bicyclists and how does your state compare to them?

Bicycling today is bigger than ever. According to Statista, there were 66.5 million cyclists in the US in 2016. That means 12.4% of Americans ride a bicycle on a regular basis. That's a lot of bicycles on the road. Millions. Bike sales are booming. The Millennial generation even prefers bikes over cars.

So what is your state doing to accommodate this trend?

Fortunately, there is a group monitoring state progress - The League of American Bicyclists.

They

The McHenry County College added a custom bike rack to their campus to promote bicycle commuting over car driving

There's a quiet movement taking place on college campuses across the US that will have a tremendous impact on changing attitudes in the future about our planet's resources.

That movement involves the creation of sustainability departments on nearly every college campus these past 10 years and their efforts to implement and promote best practices to reduce our impact on the Earth.

Sustainability, according to a definition created by the United Nations and adopted by many organizations is basically: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs."

In other words, don't grab up resources today so there's nothing left for our children tomorrow.

Some of the ways that colleges accomplish this is by focusing on activities such as:

Constructing "green" buildings