I don't get it. Why do people think they have a right to ride on a private road others pay to maintain? "Hey, they let xxxx in" doesn't matter it's their road.

I am going to say it and I will probably get flamed for it...

Cycling has an abundance of jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement than any other recreational sport that I can think of.. We all see it and we all know the types I am talking about..

It's sad really because there are a boat load of awesome cyclists out there who get a bad name and a bad rap because of these 'stud's' (in their mind at least)..

Flame away... :)

Maybe it's because in a great many cases, probably including this one, they do have that right. Not only the roads in Diablo Country Club, but the lower section of Mt. Diablo Scenic Dr. is also privately paid for and maintained. However,that road is also the public access to Mt. Diablo State Park with a great deal of public funding and the public has a right to use the road to access the park even though a portion of the road is private. In the case of the country club roads, they have been open to public use for decades. Depending on the exact circumstances, this may well have established a prescriptive easement that would now prevent the country club from denying public access.

I'm not sure I would say an abundance, but the problem is that in cycling, it doesn't take very many to create a public perception that there is an abundance.

Not to pick on any sport, but hypothetically let's say that there is a much greater percentage of jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement in golf or recreational softball than in cycling. The non-golfing and non-softball playing public doesn't really care, because the non-golfing or non-softball playing public doesn't interact with golfers or softball players when they are golfing or playing softball, so only other golfers and other softball players really care about the jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement, whereas the jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement in cycling not only can make life difficult for other cyclists, but also for automobile drivers and passengers and pedestrians (i.e., pretty much the entire population), so the negative perception outside the recreational sport itself caused by only a few jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement is much, much more significant.

If you want to change that to "the public perceives cyclists as jerks, snobs, and people who have a sense of entitlement more than the public perceives participants in any other recreational sport," then you are probably closer to the truth.

That said, in this particular case, overall, it is better for the public for cyclists to ride on the roads in Diablo Country Club. If I choose not to ride those roads, then I end up causing a lot of drivers on Diablo annoyance because I'm slowing them down. How about this, I once had a driver stuck behind me on Diablo Rd. who, after finally being able to pass me, yelled out his window as he passed, "Why don't you ride through the Country Club, a$$hole!" Huh. Maybe I was going to continue on Blackhawk Rd. (I wasn't), how does he know where I'm going? And I'm an expletive because I ride legally on a public road rather than ride on a private road?

In truth, I cause much less inconvenience to others if I go through Diablo Country Club. Indeed, I've never had a car stuck behind me when I've gone through, I don't think I've had any negative impact at all on any one else. What gives people more of a feeling that I have a sense of entitlement, when I'm legally riding as close as I can on the right side of Diablo Rd. as I grind uphill at a my best (but pretty slow) speed but inevitably prevent cars from passing, or when I ride through the private DCC and don't hinder anyone?

I do think the courteous thing to do through DCC is to ride single file (since I'm usually solo, not an issue). I think it courteous not to speed in DCC (not a problem for me, I can't ride that fast). I think it courteous to slow down to a reasonable speed going through stop signs, and to stop if there is any traffic around (I will note that, except when pedestrians are around, idiot cyclists who don't slow down to reasonable speeds going through stop signs endanger their own lives far more than they endanger others).

Sure, there are those who abuse the privilege of cutting through DCC, but the vast majority of people who go through DCC do it because it a) is safer, and b) does less to piss off the general automobile driving population than riding Diablo Rd.