Originally Posted by
breezybikes
Hi Everyone
I'm getting ready to leave on a cross country tour in June (coast to coast)... and I'm a female going by myself. I'll have a friend traveling with me here and there, but for 3000 miles out of the 4000 miles I will be all by my lonesome. Unfortunately, the reality is that there is a difference in the degree of safety inherently possessed by a man versus a woman when traveling solo. I'm curious to hear about the experiences of women who have toured significant distances alone and the safety precautions that they took.
I've been asked by several friends and family members if I'm carrying a firearm. After much last minute debate I've decided that carrying a gun is out of the question. I'm far too inexperienced with firearms to feel comfortable using a handgun, universe forbid, in a time of necessity. And there really isn't enough time to act on such training now (classes, permits, etc.). I'm considering other self defense options, i.e. taser or mace or both. ???
Had this crossed my mind six months ago, I would have gone through the necessary training to confidently carry a hand gun on tour, but that didn't happen so I need to find an alternative form of self defense.
Any advise is greatly appreciated!
Cheers
L.
First of all, I'm not a female, just giving some thoughts.
The first part of self defence is not getting into tricky situations in the first place.
Seriously, I used to study karate under a female instructor. She was a 2nd dan black belt and when I was about a green belt she used me as an example when talking to a couple of the ladies in the class. She said in no uncertain terms that for all she was trained to a much higher standard than I was, if I jumped her in a dimly lit alley she'd have very little chance against me. In a street fight all her training would be worthless if I landed a single blow on her (I'm 6'4 and at the time weighed about 260).
If you carry a weapon you have to know how to use the weapon and you have to be willing to use the weapon. If you get unlucky an assailant takes your weapon and uses it against you. If you couldn't pull the trigger and drop someone with your first shot (and by that I mean kill them) you're probably better off not having a gun with you.
With a taser, mace, anything like that, unless it's readily to hand it's all but useless. If someone does jump you the chances are they're not going to hang around while you rummage in your saddle bag to find your can of mace.
The questions I consider when thinking about anything security related are pretty simple. First of all identify the threat. Then consider what you might do to avoid it, or to minimise its impact on you. At the same time consider how likely it is you will face the threat.
The high-impact threats you're probably thinking of first are being assaulted, on the basis a female is more likely to be assaulted in more ways than a male. Here your first line of defence is basic awareness of your surroundings. I'm constantly bemused by the number of women I see walking alone, after dark, in dimly lit areas, with hoods up and headphones on. Put another way they are in places with few if any people around to help them, unable to hear a potential assailant approaching from behind, and unable to see a potential assailant approaching from behind or the side. Simply dropping the hood and losing the headphones would give them so much more awareness.
Another line of defence, if you're not in a position to fight, is to figure potential escape routes. This is where practicality and glamour can clash - to take a simple example a woman wearing high heels and a tight tube skirt is unlikely to be able to move at any speed, whereas wearing running shoes and jeans would at least give her the option of running. I'll assume you won't be cycling in a tight skirt and heels, but I'm sure you get the idea. In a cycling context if you're using a narrow alleyway you're more vulnerable to ambush than if you're on a road that doesn't have walls either side.
For all it's important to think of threats that relate to your personal safety if I had to think of the threats that are most likely to affect you I'd list theft first. If someone steals your bike (or a crucial component, such as a wheel) you've got problems. If someone steals panniers you may find yourself left without crucial supplies. If someone steals clothes you can probably get by, even if you do end up smelling pretty bad by the time you find new clothes. If someone steals your maps or your GPS you could find yourself struggling to navigate.