FORT COLLINS, COLO. — In the feud between motorists and cyclists, the hour was high noon.
A lawman stopped two visitors on a quiet county road and warned them that their behavior wouldn't be tolerated in these parts.
Their transgression: riding their two-wheeled steeds side-by-side instead of falling into single file when an automobile approached.
"Don't let the sun set on your behind in my county" is how the cyclists heard the deputy's warning.
Or maybe he said, "If you stay in Dodge, be prepared to follow the rules or suffer the consequences," as the sheriff would later say.
Either way, they were fighting words that shook a fragile truce between Colorado motorists and bicyclists and raised anew the question of whether the two groups can coexist on the state's roads.
As in other parts of the country, tensions between cyclists and motorists are considerable. Drivers complain about cyclists whizzing down mountain roads, oblivious to nearby cars. Riders say drivers veer dangerously close and toss soda cans at them.
The northern Colorado county of Larimer draws cyclists by the hundreds for its solitary country roads winding through fields and canyons, and around beautiful lakes. Larimer's largest city, Fort Collins, is a college town lauded for its friendliness to bikes.
But in the county's rural areas, some residents have grown weary of the spandex-clad athletes who fill the roads every weekend, said Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, who stands accused of sharing such prejudices.
The conservative sheriff takes potshots not only at cyclists but also at the nearby liberal college town of Boulder, which produces some of Larimer's cyclists.
In one recent column on the sheriff's website, Alderden wrote: "Don't you just love this time of year, when the birds, boats and cyclists come out? Well, two out of three ain't bad."
This spring, Alderden's traffic deputies stepped up their efforts to rein in those they saw as violators -- cyclists who rode two abreast, requiring motorists to edge into oncoming lanes to avoid them.
Among those stopped in May were a pair of riders from Boulder. They said Deputy Brian Ficker told them he didn't appreciate Boulder cyclists riding in his county and told them to return there or face a ticket.
Because they were not ticketed, authorities did not release their names, and the cyclists did not identify themselves in an account circulated in the cycling community.
