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Bikes on Swan Mountain? Yes!

Wes Hyde
Dillon

It must be summer because I am becoming aware of an all too familiar annoyance; commentaries complaining about cycling this, or cycling that. Recently an opinionated article was published with a heavy discontent for cyclists on Swan Mountain Road.

Reading the local newspapers would reveal this is heavily-treaded ground. Just because this is old ground for dissenting opinion in respect to cycling and vehicles, doesn’t make it any more fertile. The Summit County Cycling club has done a superb job at the grassroots level to try and alleviate the strain felt not only by drivers, but by cyclists as well.

Their efforts include fundraising for a well-publicized and well-documented bike path (in cooperation, mind you with county and federal officials), to circumvent the agreeably dangerous pavement that crosses Swan Mountain.



Banning cyclists, or in actuality, anything less than a vehicle capable of doing the speed limit from traveling on public byways is a bit of a stretch. Another implication the opinion produced is having to break the law as a consequence of driver frustration (not a cyclist on the road), which sounds like an early case of road rage.

Placing a ban on a singular roadway sets a bad precedence. Cyclists co-exist with vehicles on roadways arguably more dangerous like Loveland Pass and Independence Pass. Singling out Swan Mountain road simply constitutes artificial rhetoric. As the article is eager to point out alternatives for cyclists, I might suggest taking Interstate 70 to destinations as an alternative to an unsafe commute with the added benefit of cyclists not being allowed in this paved domain.



Put an intersection in the mix of cars and cyclists, and I bet you have some real fodder for the next opinionated attempt at banning cyclists from a subset of public roadways.


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