Thread by @EnterpriseSBox

THREAD.

What happened when ‘No Cycling’ signs went up unannounced in our village?

In May, in the height of lockdown, a pair of signs went up in our village - along the road we live on.

It’s a small hamlet with an unmade road. It looks like this. There’s 13 houses.

1/.

Here’s the first sign (with a bike I made up against it).

It’s not very polite and it’s aggressive.

And frankly, unnecessary because aside from residents and a few walkers and cyclists, our road is quiet. It’s a dead-end with a bridge and footpath at the end.

2/.

Our lane runs parallel with the A65 (the main road between Kendal and Skipton - a major and busy cross-country road) and people who cycle on our lane do so largely because the A65 has a pinch-point where trucks and cars drive at 50 / 40 through a village on it. It’s unsafe.

3/.

There were rumours about who put the signs up, it was a secret in plain sight, a farmer who lives near the bridge and who seems to hate fun.

I live 4 doors from him and I’m a cyclist so, well, it annoyed me. During a pandemic he was trying to stop people using bikes.

4/.

So...I made an adaptation to a sign on my way out on a ride.

Not too badly. Just subtle. Just a bit annoying.

5/.

Two days later the labels were gone.

He was on to me.

So I did it again.

He removed the labels. Again.

It seemed he was having to monitor his signs. Funny.

Now, rumours were starting about WHY the signs had gone up and it appears that he was once ‘surprised’ by...

6/.

...a group of women cycling by as they came to the end of the road before dismounting and walking across the bridge.

It ‘surprised’ him as he was putting his wellies on at his front door.

Surprised. That’s it. Not struck or hit.

Surprised.

So his campaign started.

7/.

He then put up some bigger, uglier and frankly, angrier and more over-the-top signs. Proper solid plastic signs and big fence posts. (He’s a fencing and walling contractor).

They were proper sledgehammer to crack a non-existent nut territory.

8/.

Our road is unmade, unadopted but not technically ‘private’. People are allowed to walk or push their bikes along it to get to the public footpath.

People walk by, run and occasionally cycle. They’re polite because most see it as a nice cut through.

The signs were daft.

9/.

So I decided to put up some daft signs of my own.

Beware of the Kangaroo was the first one. Nice metal sign. EBay.

That was up for a few days and then another went up...

10/.

Beware of the Giraffe then went up high (stepladders, midnight) so the giraffes knew we were on to them.

A couple of people mentioned them around the village and wider area.

I kept quiet.

11/.

Beware of the Dragon was the next to be erected on a telegraph pole but it was a bit invisible so I moved it to the notice board.

It got noticed.

People started looking around for more daft signs and a mum and her son were ‘collecting’ them and posting on Facebook.

12/.

We’re into June now and the big signs are still up. I wrote to Lancashire Travel about the signs and that they were anti-cycling in a time when they were trying to encourage more walking and cycling and wrote to the parish council.

And started the inversion campaign.

12/.

Sorry 2 x 12/.!

Then another sign appeared on the A65 and another next to the public footbridge with the same ugly aggressive message.

They were inverted too.

The next days they were put right. He was now watching out for all his signs daily.

13/.

As well as the animal signs I got some other beauties and put them up. One on the bridge...

(Note tractor in background).

14/.

And another right next to the tractor and farmer’s house.

This was my favourite.

(That big bit of plywood above the sign was another No Cycling sign).

15/.

I was also now covering up the No Cycling signs with other temporary signs that were left behind by road workers etc.

They were often removed the next day or the day afterwards.

I emailed the parish council again.

16/.

I found a massive (A2 maybe) THINK BIKE sign which was broken and added that to the back of the farmer’s sign posts. It’s huge.

I occasionally inverted the No Cycling signs and they were righted the next day.

We also found out he was shouting at kids and women on bikes.

17/.

I spoke to the parish councillor again about the signs and the risk of injury to cyclists and the horrible tone of the signs.

I also put up this last sign.

Lots of people were asking my daughters if they knew anything about the signs and sending me pics ‘was this you?’

18/.

I then also got a more polite adhesive sign and put it over the NO CYCLING sign at the entrance to the lane.

Anyway, while we were on holiday a friend sent us a pic of the absence of. NO CYCLING signs.

They’ve all gone. No idea what happened. But they’re gone.

19/.

What’s the message here, maybe persistence?

I know I didn’t tackle it head-on but then that would have created years of anger.

A subtle subversive campaign plus lobbying?

I don’t know. It may seem daft but it was a bad image for the village and danger for cyclists?

21/.

I enjoyed the fun and creativity of it.

I love that people were looking out for the little silly signs which maybe made the aggressive ones look a little more daft.

Anyway, for now the passive-aggressive sign battle is paused.

Where is my Mind The Gap sign though?

Ends/.

BTW I’m going to put the THINK BIKE sign back where I found it now it’s repaired and backed with plywood.

Here’s another one I found and applied.

Let’s call it 16b/.