I Fought The Law

And I won.

All the way back in February of this year, I was riding my bike through Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve on a fine Tuesday afternoon. The weather was sunny and brisk and there was only a small sprinkling of people around; mostly hikers but a few other cyclists.

About 2/3 of the way up the hill a hiker who was stood at the side of the trail greeted me and remarked about the view out over the valley. I was going quite slow on my bike so I didn't need to stop in order to have a brief chat, exchanging a few words about the grand valley laid out below us, and the perfect weather that we were enjoying.

Further up the hill, nearly at the summit, I came upon a ranger driving his pickup down the hill towards me. Since the trail, more of a fire road in reality, was only about wide enough for a single vehicle, I pulled off to the side to let him pass.

But instead of passing me, he came to a stop and rolled down his window. "Is that an e-bike," he asked? I confirmed that it was indeed.

And so he asked me for my ID and wrote me a citation.

Despite this, it was still a friendly and professional encounter, and when he was done writing the ticket we briefly discussed what route I should take to exit the open space. We were nearly smack dab in the middle, so I was somewhat keen on just continuing my ride as I had initially planned it, descending towards Lexington Reservoir, and the ranger agreed.

I carried on towards the summit and came upon the hiker who I had enjoyed a brief conversation with earlier. He had passed by the ranger and I when I was being cited, and asked what business he had with me. I told him I got a ticket for riding an e-bike, and he expressed his surprise and dismay that someone would be ticketed for something so mundane and inoffensive. After all, the preserve, and the trail we were on, is open to cyclists.

We chatted for a few minutes before going our separate ways, and I continued on towards Lexington to complete my planned ride, looping back through Los Gatos to get home.

A month or so later I got a notice in the mail, informing me that the fine for my citation would be just a little under $400. An absurd amount for riding a bicycle on a trail open to bicycles. I opted for a trial by written declaration, and wrote up an explanation saying that there was no reasonable justification for me to be cited for engaging in a prohibited activity (e-biking) that is virtually indistinguishable from an allowed activity (analog biking), and sent in the declaration and the bond amount.

Today, many months later again, I just received a refund for the bond. I don't actually know if there was a decision made on the merits or if the citing ranger failed to file his side of the paperwork, but either way the case is closed and I came out victorious.