they are NOT messing around!

Perhaps learning by pushing against boundaries is just a part of being human. As kids, we all fight against rules and we push limits set for us by parents, teachers, grandparents, etc., until we understand exactly where we stand in this big, confusing world. As older kids, it remains equally enticing to push against boundaries, to read a sign beginning with the word "NO" or containing the word "PROHIBITED," and then to go and do precisely the opposite. Just to see. How serious are those little signs? Does anyone actually care? Will anything ever happen to me if I don't follow that silly little sign?

Like I said, maybe it's just human.

I've always seen those signs posted on pedestrian malls that tell bicyclists to dismount and walk their bikes, but I guess I never really knew if anyone actually cared about them. Apparently they do. Either that, or I've just had a string of bad luck. Well, not that bad, really. Just enough to learn.

In Denver, pedaling down the bus lane of the 16th Street Mall, two cops called me over while I was stuck at a red light. They didn't give me a ticket, but they did write me a very official warning to let me know that, yes, they did in fact care about those dismount bicycle signs, and yes, they do actually write tickets that require the payment of punitive fees with actual money for not following this rule. Lesson learned.

In Boulder, after grabbing a quick bite to eat, I hopped back onto my bike, coasted probably 20 yards at most until getting back onto 14th. At the red light, a cop pulled up next to me, and told me that they regularly issue $50 penalties to people cycling on the mall. Even after arguing that I had only rolled a short way just to get onto the actual road, she told me, "20 yards, 50 bucks." Again, I lucked out with the warning, and I learned that some cops really do care about those dismount signs.

I don't know if this is really worth anything, but for what little it may be worth, I've definitely learned to avoid the pedestrian malls on my bike. There really are people – typically people with badges and the ability to write expensive tickets – who actually care about the dismount rules spelled out on those signs. In the long run, it's definitely easiest, fastest, and entirely pain-free to keep it simple and stick to the bike lanes.