Photo by philliefan99.

Local cycling blog TheWashCycle reported yesterday that at least one person had been told that they wouldn’t be able to walk a bicycle under the steely gaze of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. But when some commenters chimed in to note that they didn’t have any problems walking their two-wheeler through the memorial, we wondered — what’s the deal?

Well, the fact sheet for today’s D.C. Residents Day at the Memorial pretty clearly states that there are no bicycles allowed inside the memorial. But a National Park Service source told us this morning that the confusion might stem from the fact that the Memorial itself has not technically yet been transferred under the authority of the Park Service. (The Memorial is still the responsibility of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Foundation right now, or so we were told.) Given that, there may be a mixture of authorities keeping things in line at the Memorial right now — and that might lead to some confusion regarding the rules.

As far as the National Park Service is concerned, though, the Memorial is not on the list of areas where bicycles are prohibited — though it seems as if enforcement on the matter might be being played by ear at this point.