Black Hawk, CO Bans Bikes from Most Streets in town

Given that Black Hawk, Colorado is right on the route between the Peak to Peak Highway and Central City Parkway...

"...We're the innocent bike tourists,
In Black Hawk, Colorado we got stuck,
Caught between the aldermen and the police force,
So we're down on our luck,
Yes, we're down on our luck,
Send lawyers, guns, and money,
Please send some sanity here,
Send lawyers, guns, and money,
'cuz the law is getting near..."

(With apologies to the late Warren Zevon)
Click on the pic to be directed to BicycleColorado.org's coverage of this story.

Wow. Lucky we live here. Let's keep Los Alamos a bicycling-friendly community! Not to mention, we wouldn't want to lose any Federal Funds. The city of Black Hawk, CO just banned the riding of bikes from just about all the streets in their city. Here is a discussion by Simon MacMichael in Road CC. And if you think this is an isolated case of reactionary behavior in some blighted backwater, check this out: its been tried elsewhere, too.

I posted some related rumblings a few weeks ago about cyclists needing to protect their rights. One way is through high standards of riding. The other way is to have a few good lawyers around to help write non-discriminatory laws and defend against bad ones like this. The bike industry should be writing the checks.
The League of American Bicyclists has a blog set up on the Black Hawk ban.

Of course, there is the Boycott Black Hawk movement.

But the late, wonderful songwriter Warren Zevon said it best: Send lawyers, guns, and money. Modern politics responds to power and money, and not much else.