Something seems very wrong about driving to the beach to go surfing. You’re all set to enjoy a free ride from Mother Nature and marvel at the power of the sea, and yet you get to the coast by burning her very lifeblood and spewing toxic waste into her lungs.

No, much better to go by bike. I see plenty of surfers here in Barcelona heading to the sea with their boards on side mounted racks. Apart from the fact that the Mediterranean has practically no surf, these racks work fine.

But an alternative from ACG SurfRacks puts the board overhead on tall stands. Why is this better? Because it makes you narrower (and therefore less of a nuisance on the boardwalk), taller (added visibility) and our favorite, the board itself acts as a sun-shade, kind of like the canopy on those dorky BMW cocoon-like C1 scooters. Add to this the fact that a side wind is less likely to blow you out into traffic and you have a solid set of specs.

The racks bolt on to your bike and offer two padded T-bars, front and back, to which you can secure the board. As the chaps behind the racks are surfers, they’ve spent more time out on the waves than working on their website, so we have no prices for you. There is, though a list of surf shops which stock them. Predictably, the majority are in California.