Perhaps to turn on something like 'Bicycles ahead' warning lights for an upcoming section with poor visibility, or a tunnel or similar.
flug
joined 2 years ago
Or a simple bicycle counter - authorities are interested to know how many cyclists are using this route and at what times of day etc.
Hmm, something like a chip timing station so you can time your climb?
Presumably there would be similar ones at the bottom and top also, and perhaps at other points along the way.
It is on the uphill side.
Aha, now I see.
Further guesses: Place to pull over and rest; Place for cyclists to make a U turn - perhaps just before a particularly steep or difficult section.
A pullout area to allow backed up vehicles to pass?
It's strange that it's on the downhill side and not the uphill, though!
Other guesses: Brake check area (stop and let brakes cool...); U-turn area as we sometimes see for the 'j-turn' configuration; The pullout is for uphill cyclists but they have to make a u-turn to use it.
Hmm, Ed Martin is from Missouri and we are well acquainted with him here. Far, far right, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, big "Stop the Steal" guy, and all that.
Couple of highlights:
"They found that Martin had used his state office in 2007 improperly to encourage opposition to Attorney General Jay Nixon among anti-abortion groups, as the Democrat Nixon was likely to oppose Blunt in the next election."
"[Eckersley] filed a lawsuit against Martin and Blunt for his firing, saying he had been trying to enforce the state law for retention of emails . . . On May 22, 2009, the Missouri Attorney General's office announced that Eckersley's lawsuit against Blunt and others had been settled for $500,000."
[Tldr: He illegally fired a guy to illegally stop release of state records that showed a bunch of illegal and shady stuff he and others he was working with were doing.]
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-nominates-stop-steal-organizer-advocated-jan-6-defendants-dcs-to-rcna192451
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Martin_(Missouri_politician)