Commute Mystery

Passing Motorists Seem Fairly Unconcerned, but They'd Feel Different if a Bike Suddenly Leaped Through Their Windshield!
I Took the Photo from the End of the Little Sidewalk. Why Would Bikes Cross Here?

While I look all around each time I encounter it, I’ve not seen any bikes crossing my route yet, or even lurking in the vegetation. The sign in the photo above (and below) raises a lot of questions beside the obvious; “Why did the bicycle cross the road?”

One wonders if these are wild, feral bicycles we are being alerted to in a civic campaign akin to the deer warnings so ubiquitous in rural areas. Might these be criminal bikes and hence the need for the “warning” element in the sign? Why, I wonder, does this sign coincide with the end of a sidewalk that runs for not much more than 50 feet total? How, exactly, DOES a bike cross the road without a human being involved? Can a bike cross the road by itself without a kickstand or perhaps it is only PURE bikes that cross roads by themselves?

And then there’s the sign itself. It’s new, and one of those temporary type signs, but otherwise appears to be a very official advisory sign of the sort that Texas installs so often; warning us to “Observe Warning Signs.” Has there been a rash bicycles crashing into motorists recently as they dash across the road toward the retirement home, or maybe they’re retired bikes that are making one last bid to sow wild oats? I see no evidence of scattered components, either from motor vehicles or bikes. Perhaps there’s been recent internet “chatter” and the Department of Homeland Security expects extremist bicycles, with explosive-laden suicide panniers attached, to dash out into the road and detonate themselves against passing targets of opportunity. If so, are these members of the “Bicycle Liberation Front” that are responsible for 90% the automotive flat tires in the US, or are they shady agents of overseas influences? And why don’t these bikes simply follow the advice so often offered and simply “get off the road?” I looked all around and didn't see any sneaky bikes hiding anywhere around, not even any WITHOUT suicide panniers. Nor did I see any gates from which bikes might emerge midblock.

I must note this is one of the strangest bike signs I’ve ever encountered. It rises beyond the more common dumb or dangerous signs to simply become – mysterious.

No Wild Bikes in Evidence, Just the Single Domesticated One
By the Way, the Bag is Not Silver in Normal Light - It is Reflective "Illuminite" and the Flash Went Off