Transportation

This Bay Area Trail Is Enforcing the Speed Limit—for Bikes

Tough luck for mountain bikers caught going over 15 mph.
A mountain bike rests in Sausalito, California, where country park rangers are cracking down on speeding bikers.Flickr/lpcmidst0128

How fast should a mountain bike be? On the trails of Mount Tamalpais, in Northern California’s Marin County, no faster than 15 mph—and the county parks department is stepping up enforcement of the speed limit with radar guns. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that law authorities’ decision to post roaming sheriffs to “bike speed stakeouts” is an effort to reduce the number of collisions between bike riders, pedestrians, and equestrians. From the Chronicle:

Unsurprisingly, this decision has not received a warm reception from some in the robust Bay Area biking community, who live in what is arguably the birthplace of mountain biking.