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Anti-cycling graffiti being investigated along route of the Red Rocks Gran Fondo

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call a tip line

August 14th, Morrison, Colorado - The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating anti-cyclist graffiti spray-painted along the route of Saturday’s Red Rocks Gran Fondo event near Morrison.

Some of the cyclists participating in the ride, which had three routes ranging from 30 to 62 miles, reported seeing anti-cycling graffiti on rocks near 9000 Black Mountain Drive and on the asphalt of Brook Forest Road, said Mark Techmeyer, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies received a call about the graffiti at 11:30 a.m., he said.

“There were some very encouraging words spray-painted that said, ‘You’re almost there’ and ‘Good job,'” he said. “Then someone came behind with blue spray paint and wrote some negative stuff.”

Skip Thurman, a 51-year-old Denver resident, was participating in the ride with his wife and the couple counted eight negative graffiti postings along an 8- to 10-mile stretch of the route north of Evergreen.

“We’re 30 to 40 miles into the ride and on this pitch that goes straight up,” he said. “People are putting encouraging words, like ‘You can do this.'”

But what followed were postings of “You should all die;” “All bikes should die;” and a phrase that used derogatory language when calling for the death of both cyclists and gay people, he said.

“I have been (cycling) for 30 years; I have never seen this kind of hate on the road in my entire life,” he said.

The graffiti was the only negative incident at the ride, which attracted more than 350 cyclists, said Matthew Stanton, a Red Rocks Gran Fondo board member and an organizer of the event.

“Every now and then it just takes one person to put something like that out there,” Stanton said. “It’s not uncommon for riders to see some hostility. By and large, those are rare events.”

The interactions between riders, motorists, spectators and law enforcement were positive and respectful, he said.

“I don’t want the actions of one or a couple of people to overshadow the spirit that a lot of Colorado showed today,” he said.

The incident is classified as second-degree tampering, which is a Class 2 misdemeanor that could result in jail time, JeffCo’s Techmeyer said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the tip line at 303-271-5612. Tipsters can remain anonymous, he said.

Earlier this summer, two men were cited for dropping thumbtacks along a quarter-mile stretch of Deer Creek Road, a popular bike route in Jefferson County.

“It’s just that atmosphere, and here we are again,” Techmeyer said. “As a cyclist, I’m sure they are concerned.”

A participant in the Red Rocks Gran Fondo took this picture of anti-cyclist sentiment spray-painted on Brook Forest Road in Evergreen, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.