Counting bicycles at the entrance

Both texts are newly written practice sources about invented people, places or projects.

Text One: An original account of an invented cycle-parking trial.

The organisers of a community event wanted to decide where temporary cycle racks should be placed in future. Their record included more than the number of bicycles. It noted the time of each count, whether entrances were open and anything that might have made the racks easier or harder to see.

During the first hour, six bicycles were fastened to railings instead of being left in the racks. One visitor said that the racks were “too hidden”, but the note-taker placed this comment in quotation marks rather than recording it as a confirmed explanation. Later, a barrier was moved and the racks became visible from farther away. Fewer bicycles were then left at the railings, although the crowd was also becoming smaller. The organisers therefore did not claim that moving the barrier had caused the change.

The dated record preserved the earlier arrangement as well as the revised one, allowing the team to plan another trial. However, the note-taker had remained near the main entrance. The record could not show how many people arrived elsewhere or how many decided not to bring a bicycle at all.

Text Two: An extract from the log of a different fictional cycle-parking trial.