In San Diego’s East County: Turning Hate to Love

Last month, Channel 10’s Joe Little investigated an antagonizing and misspelled sign that was nailed to a tree on private property along Honey Springs Road east of Jamul. While the sign may have technically been protected speech, it was unnecessary and caused needless grief amongst the local riders and their supporters.

The story spawned a petition and this month the sign has been taken down as noted by longtime rider, Michell who sent the photo below.

The sign was located in Deerhorn Valley and on their community facebook page last month, there was a discussion about riders who ride to keep safe and visible on East County’s narrow and winding roads by “taking the lane”. Thanks to Michell’s level head and through explanation on why it is sometimes needed to ride the way we do, we all now have another ally in East County.

Michell goes on to say,

“[turns] out all that was really needed was some civil info about why cyclists are sometimes in the middle of the narrow lane and how cars can pass safely. There were a few receptive ears and the issue was brought up at the Deerhorn Community Meeting. A few days later the sign was gone. My contact isn’t sure if it was the property owner that put the thing up (and the down), though, since the guy apparently doesn’t live there. She think it might have been the ranch hand that was responsible.”

“At any rate, cars were giving me room when I rode around that area last weekend and the locals I chatted with were as friendly as ever. One thing you might like to pass along to other cyclists who ride [Great Western Loop], though, is for them to not feed the donkey anything but celery. Apparently the last donkey died from diabetes because people kept giving him carrots and apples (a lot of feeders added up to lots of sugar). :o) My contact also told me that a good way of earning sympathy from the locals would be to support their stance against having a casino in Jamul (it would be built on Hwy 94, which would funnel local traffic to Lyons Valley Rd & Skyline TT. That’s bad for us cyclists, too, considering how narrow and winding Lyons Valley Rd is (and 94 SE of Jamul is already too dangerous to ride for me as is… without casino traffic). “

To get involved with the effort to stop building casinos in Jamul (that would bring additional vehicle traffic and congestion to East County’s roads), visit the Jamulians against the Casino website to learn more and, sign their petition.

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In even more positive news, an anti-bike graffiti sign on Japatul Road at Dehesa Road has been modified to be more bike friendly.