Hitler rode a bike.
Posted on 06/15/2010 6:49:48 AM PDT by MissTed
Jamie Webb thought maybe she was speeding when a police cruiser pulled her and three friends over as they rode their bikes into Black Hawk from Central City.
Actually, the crime was pedaling. She was violating Black Hawk's ban on bicycling through town — the only such ban in Colorado.
"They said we had to walk through town. I think this sets a pretty bad precedent," Webb said. "There's really no reason for it."
Webb was the first cyclist ticketed under Black Hawk's new rule, which prohibits bike riding on nearly every street in town, including the only paved thoroughfare in Black Hawk.
City Manager Mike Copp said the reason for the rule, enacted in January, is safety.
The roads in Black Hawk are narrow and do not have shoulders. They teem with tour buses and delivery trucks that feed the bustling casinos. Demanding that those trucks provide 3 feet of space when passing cyclists — as required by a 2009 Colorado law — means trucks and buses must move into oncoming traffic, Copp said.
"We saw the conflicts going on with buses and with trucks, and we decided to be proactive on this," Copp said, noting that no accidents prodded the ban. "We don't want to be the city that knows we need a traffic light but waited until someone gets killed. This is what our city believes is best for its citizens, its businesses and its guests."
But Webb said she has often ridden on shoulderless canyon roads and has had no trouble with trucks.
"To say we all can't fit on the road together is ridiculous," she said. "We are all moving so slow through Black Hawk anyway, it's not like anyone is passing anyone."
After a period of issuing warnings, police this month began citing cyclists. To date, the town has issued eight $68 tickets.
Cyclists using the road to connect to the popular ride along the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway from Black Hawk to Estes Park are decrying the ban, which forces them to walk their bikes a half-mile through town. Another option is to ride over Berthoud Pass — but that excludes most of the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.
"This is unbelievable. We are going to do as much as we can to fight this," said Rick Melick, spokesman for the 380-member Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "Now that cyclists have almost the same rules as motorists, the idea a small town can ban bikes is ludicrous."
Since news of ticketing began trickling into the cycling community, opposition is forming. A Facebook page called "Bicyclists and Tourists Boycott Black Hawk Colorado" launched last week. The website dismountblackhawk.com is peddling shirts protesting the ban. Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to all things cycling in Colorado, is fomenting a grassroots push to get Black Hawk to overturn the ban.
"They are singling out one classification of vehicle," said Charlie Henderson, president of the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "I wonder if motorcycles will be next."
Black Hawk officials expected the uproar. And they are not going to revisit the rules, Copp said.
"Our council looks at what they think is best for its citizens, for its businesses, which in this case are casinos, and its visitors, which are patrons that come to visit the casinos," Copp said. "We have had positive feedback from citizens, casinos and our guests."
Who said anything about force? I wish they could use the sidewalks...in my area they are forced to not use them.
I live in a car and bike busy town, there are roads that are way too narrow and pot hole riddled...cars swerving to miss bikes on the roadways when perfect safe sidewalks are left empty. I won't ride a bike near town because it's too dangerous - would be great to utilize the sidewalk....but alas, it's against the law....
Completely wrong. The bicycle is the single most energy efficient method of transportation to date. Several times more efficient than walking even. Compared to other vehicles, there really is no comparison. A gallon of gasoline has about 31,000 calories. In my car, that gets me about 20 miles, for 1550 calories per mile. A bicycle on the other hand consumes about 34 calories per mile.
>> Who said anything about force? I wish they could use the sidewalks...in my area they are forced to not use them.
Fair enough. Thanks for explaining.
There is a bully in the school yard beating up everyone for their lunch money. Everyone except for one kid.
Some(ie:conservatives) would consider the bully at fault. Others(ie:progressives) would blame that one kid for not paying his share.
Think about it & get back to me.
(hint: its a local bicycle ordinance)
True, but if you’re used to cycling everything more than 200 feet SEEMS like a long walk ;-)
OK, but I think it will take a LOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG time of thinking to get to a point that a local bicycle ordinance is as bad as an attempt to exterminate an entire race. Are hallucinagenic drugs an integral part of that thinking process to help me get there?
Hitler rode a bike.
If you have to explain sarcasm......
I will not cater to the simple.
Interesting, and not only irrelevant, but misleading as well. We're discussing bicyclists as they are on the roads in the USA. Bicyclists seem to don an "in you face - let's see how many motorists we can piss off" attitude when they put on their silly spandex outfits.
The banned routes:
Sounds like the town of Black Hawk maybe quite a site in it's own right. Here's a tidbit about the mayor of this town of 105 population, if accurate. It looks like the bicyclist are trying to get to Hwy. 119 to make their scenic ride.
The city of Blackhawk website is down as of this writing, but the city’s (apparently official) Facebook page brags about the “many transportation options” in Black Hawk.
Mayor David Spellman, incidentally, seems like a real character. In 2006, he was convicted of felony assault after he pistol whipped his wife — beating her several times in the head with a .38 and then shooting three times in a drunken rage — during a domestic dispute, though the felony assault conviction was dropped after Spellman completed the terms of his sentencing and probation. In 2008, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations determined that Spellman personally received more than $1 million in state historical funds that were meant to preserve and restore the historical character of Black Hawk (the town council approved the purchase of land from Spellman using the state funds); the former town manager was forced to resign. In 2009, Spellman purchased the local newspaper that was critical of him and fired the editor. Mayor Spellman consistently has topped the “Most Corrupt Public Officials list in Colorado. He and the town he represent seem like real gold mines.
Alright, now I wonder where I got the info I had before. I’m not usually wrong, and neither are you, so I had to go check my info, and now can’t back up my side of the argument. Damnit, i hate that. :)
BIGTIME! You should see how obstructive they get on the winding New England coastline roads I take to work, etc. And no, they aren't even running close to 25 MPH.
I wish the spandex-cladd sissies had the same respect for motorists they demand from motorists. Jerks.
It's funny that you actually know NOTHING about what vehicles I own and use and how much taxes I pay. As I indicated before, automatic transmissions should be banned along with those who buy and use them.
You really weren't wondering if I was serious.
The libertarian philsophy was summed up by Will Rogers as "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose." Their "right" to indulge in their hobby ends when their activities impinge on the rights of others to use the roads in the manner for which they were designed.
I can get a vehicle that is designed to go 250MPH (if I want to spend a ridiculous amount of money). That it was designed to go that fast doesn't give me the right to run it that fast disregarding other users of a common resource - the road.
All I can say about their mayor and consequently the town is- no place I would want to live. Years ago before all the interstate we learned to avoid Rifle Colorado because it was a speed trap.
When the heat goes in the 90s as it has for the last few days here, they don't seem to be as active, and I haven't seen one in a week. (Another reason not to live in New England.:-)
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