Back in May, it was reported in The Contra Costa Times that the town/community of Diablo (a rather ultra-rich place where the country club life abounds) were looking at passing a law/ordinance that banned all non-local cyclists from using their community as a shortcut to the road up the south gate side of Mt. Diablo.
On the one hand, I understand what the residents are angry about. Many cyclists blow through stop signs, speed (yes, speed) down the streets, don’t call out when passing pedestrians (there aren’t any sidewalks in Diablo), and generally being oblivious to their surroundings. Some (and I stress some) cyclists are huge douchebags when they ride (they are probably the same d-bags that many of us encounter while driving in traffic), so the bad apples have really spoiled it for the rest of us who are generally respectful and follow the rules of the road.
The East Bay Bicycle Coalition ran a post on their blog about what’s what with regard to the “bike problem” in Diablo and what’s needed so cyclists won’t use the shortcut, but rather will use Diablo Road to get to the south gate entrance to Mt. Diablo.
So…what’s needed? A bike lane, of course. Even if you’ve never travelled down that stretch of Diablo Road, you’ve most likely driven, walked or biked down a road that has no shoulder, no bike lane, and is narrow. It feels pretty unsafe on that road, huh. Well, if you have a mountain that’s very popular with cyclists (i.e., Mt. Diablo) and the only way to get up the road on the south side is to either ride up the unsafe road, or take the safer shortcut through Diablo, what would you do?
