Downtown Santa Rosa streets still wear the aftereffects of the Amgen Tour of California, which raced through town on May 19. They’re what Raissa de la Rosa describes as “rogue markings” that were spray painted on Third Street leading up to the finish line and at Fourth and Mendocino, right next to Specialized Bicycles’ vendor booth.

As co-chair of the local organizing committee for the Amgen Tour, de la Rosa said she has been working with AEG Sports, the event’s producer, and Morgan Hill-based Specialized Bicycles to get them removed at the bicycle company’s expense.

“Anyone who does this is supposed to do it with chalk,” she said, adding that once they realized the logos had been painted, “we contacted AEG and found out it was a problem in other cities, too. I assume we have a city ordinance that prohibits them, but outside of that, we don’t allow any advertising on public property.”

Specialized didn’t return phone calls or emails, and AEG spokesman Michael Roth promised to call back with a comment that never came.

de la Rossa said Specialized was asked to remove the markings, and when that failed, she got the name of a person who can take them off at the bicycle company’s expense. After she gets a cost estimate, the work can begin.

Andrew sent this photo to the Road Warrior Aug. 1 with the question, “This mark is painted all over Santa Rosa.  What does it mean?” Many of you correctly guessed that it was a bicycle company’s logo, including one man who called it vandalism. “Don’t our streets just scream “Your Logo Here?” wrote Jacob Bayless.

Tamara guessed, “Zoro the gay blade?”, a sentiment echoed by Billy Joe Messimer.

Brian wrote, “Ugh, I certainly hope it’s not the Norteños gang.”

Other guesses:

“It’s the road marking for a ‘No Texting’ zone!” – Dan Drummond Sr.

“I believe this is a symbol that the city of Santa Rosa uses to mark an area that needs to be repaired. (I.E. cracked sidewalk, pot holes, and things of that nature).” – Jason Hogan

Dave wrote to say, “Why they were allowed to paint the logo on the street is a bigger question.” (Quick answer: They weren’t.)

Some  speculated that the logo had been painted to advertise Bike Monkey’s Aug. 17 Annadel cross country mountain bike race. (Our call to Bike Monkey wasn’t returned, but we’ll still give the race a plug.)

And John added the final caveat: “”That wouldn’t do us cyclists a service if some knucklehead thought this was a neat way of advertising… ”

In Santa Rosa, NorCal Bike Sports at 425 College Ave. carries Specialized bikes.

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