Everywhere A Sign

Sign. Sign. Everywhere a sign.
Blocking out the scenery. Breaking my mind.
Do this. Don't do that. Can't you read the sign?
Signs, Les Emmerson, Five Man Electric Band (1971).


I am just riding along, enjoying a quiet day on the Spearfish route of the 2020 Black Hills Gravel Series. Cresting a small incline, I turn to face a barrage of signs. Yellow "MINIMUM MAINTENANCE" and "TRAVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK" signs scream of danger, as do the signs of a steep downhill and a sharp turn. Even "SPEED LIMIT 25" signals trouble ahead. But it's the dark orange "ROAD CLOSED" and "BRIDGE CLOSED" signs that catch my attention.

No, I do not turn around. I check it out. As a seasoned cyclist who regularly rides solo on remote rough roads, I carefully ride down that relatively steep, rutted, loose, curving descent and bottom out at a short, narrow bridge spanning a small creek bed. A second "BRIDGE CLOSED" sign barricades about 2/3 of the width of the road, leaving a wide lane for a cyclist or pedestrian to pass. The top surface of the bridge appears intact, no construction equipment is present, and nothing seems amiss, other than another "BRIDGE CLOSED" sign. I slowly ride over the short bridge without incident.

However, the sight of that sign barrage lingers in my mind.

I know that road and that bridge were built for motorists, and those signs are there for the average motorist. I understand. However, not everyone traveling that road is a motorist.

Not that I don't appreciate a cautionary heads-up, but those signs are not for me, or for any reasonably prudent cyclist or pedestrian. I could have ridden that entire stretch of road, without the benefit of any of those signs. I know, because I have ridden much worse roads, in much worse conditions, with no warnings. Absent those signs, I would have readily recognized those conditions and adjusted to them.

With those signs, many cyclists and pedestrians probably would pass through carefully as I did. However, some may blindly obey those signs and turn back needlessly. Others may not believe the blanket admonitions and plunge forward heedlessly. That's the problem with top-down, dictated solutions that are one-size-fits-all, or even one-size-fits-most.

I encourage you to thoughtfully consider such limits, prohibitions and requirements sought to be imposed on everyone, whether out on a remote road or elsewhere. Reasonably prudent adults in a free society can assess the risk of a situation and decide how best to proceed. Over time, the individual decisions of large numbers of free thinkers always surpass the detached decisions of the elite few. The history of America proves it.


Sign. Sign. Everywhere a sign.
Blocking out the scenery. Breaking my mind.
Do this. Don't do that. Can't you read the sign?

Signs, Les Emmerson, Five Man Electric Band (1971).

Signs. Five Man Electric Band (1971). This YouTube video claims it was created in 1974-75.