Oh, those crazy hobos.

Bad idea about jogging alone at 1 AM with an MP3. It's a problem waiting to happen. If you can't talk her into something more reasonable, you should go jogging with her.

I do sometimes, she's in much better shape than me so it forces her to go on without me or stay behind with me and not get a workout. I'm getting her to go on 20+ mile bike rides so she doesn't need to jog, let alone at night. She gets approached a lot. One time I was even with her and there was a group of about 5 guys sitting on a corner shouting trashy cliches like "hey baby come over here" etc... and we just ignored them, as we passed and they saw they weren't getting her attention they got rude "hey rude b***h" and walked a little from their corner but didn't follow. we called the police and they said they'd have someone come down and talk to them but couldn't do much more.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/SirMike1983/ductshot.jpg

Carry bear pepper spray like http://www.tbotech.com/bearspray.htm or http://www.udap.com/product.htm don't waste your time with a little pocket size can. They will just take it from you. Bear spray is good for 20 ft. Mount it where your water jug was. If it's not legal to carry in your state or country, move away. If it is legal, cary it and use it if some sicko tried to stop you.

(I just googled those, don't know the vender)

Carry a chain with a heavy lock on the end. Swing it over your head and yell.

Whatever you do, practice and test your weapon. Survive. TG you got away.

Erica: glad you're ok. If this guy has been harrassing others,you might want to look into stepping things up with the police. Ask the local captain for updates on the report you filed,talk with local advocacy groups,or maybe even go to the media. Someone needs to do something before this guy escalates.

Re: batons. In alot of places,ASP-type batons are considered weapons,and even need a permit for carry. A U-lock is legal everywhere,can be carried in a back packet or easy-access bracket on the bike,and cyclists have a legitimate reason to carry one.

+1 on the pepper spray. it might not be enough for a truly determined assailant, but will definitely make creeps like this guy think twice about their behavior. and in the situation you described, you would have been perfectly within your rights to use it.

Self-defense is a topic rife with misinformation, due to the number of industries and livelihoods built up around it.

To carry a weapon, any weapon, is to be a warrior. I am perfectly serious about this. Pepper spray is not just 'aim for the eyes and hope for the best'; it implies the control over adrenaline to deploy correctly, the positional awareness to be in the right place to use it, and the mastery of hand to hand combat necessary to get and hold that place. Otherwise it becomes a totem; instead of thinking about the total situation the consciousness becomes focused on the pepper spray, which is then taken from you unless luck or fortune favors you.

I do not recommend this approach to self integrity to nearly anyone. A weapon is a crazy aggressive thing to have, and if you don't have everything it takes to deploy that weapon it's sheer madness to carry one. Any hand to hand weapon is very likely to prove ineffective unless deployed by someone who can hold their own in unarmed combat. Period.

There are two phases to an assault, before and during. There's a lot one can do about before, with situation awareness, active attitudes, intimidating behavior like waving your U-bolt around like a crazy person, whatever it takes: basically all psychology. If an assault is occurring I know of a very few things that will protect a smaller and weaker person from someone larger and more aggressive.

Most martial arts are useless for this, as is nearly everything you're taught in a self-defense class. Forget hitting or kicking people, putting them in wristlocks, genital twisting, eye gouging: none of these deal with the basic fact of a larger and more aggressive person who will quickly be on top of you, on the ground, grasping you by the neck and arms and probably hitting you as well.

The best thing for surviving this case would be to study mixed martial arts for at least one year. Portland is a great city for that. This will involve much more being hit, slammed, and twisted than nearly any lifetime of random violence can bring, but it might be fun depending on your personality. A good compromise would be to study brazilian jiujitsu or judo, also for at least one year. This will teach you to take someone to the ground, get on top of them, immobilize them, choke them or break their arm, using techniques which are actuallly effective against larger and stronger people (who have not trained to counter them); it will involved being slammed on the ground, crawled on top of, choked and twisted, but no getting hit or kicked, and many athletic women get into it. I studied Judo myself (I'm male and powerfully built for a mellow hippie) and found it fun.

There aren't shortcuts to turning the odds around on a situation like being assaulted by a naturally more powerful person; you need to know something they don't, and you need to have faced situations enough like it that training will take over. Then again, few people are assaulted at all in this way, and those who are often get off lightly by making noise, getting spastic with the fingers in the eyes, breaking free and running with adrenaline, etc. It may not be worth it to spend a year taking weekly or twice weekly grappling classes; what is definitely not worth it is wasting that time on kicking bags or twisting wrists and thinking this is going to help you get out of a bad situation.

Portland would be the perfect city for an all-women grappling training circle to teach effective self-defense in a supportive environment. For all I know that exists already. Good luck out there and I hope I don't sound like a paranoid; I simply don't want people thinking that consumer solutions like a can of mace are effective ways to maintain personal integrity in the face of determined assault.

You can also think of pepper spray as the same thing a skunk deploys. A skunk or a porcupine is not a 'warrior', nor do they have the skills necessary to defeat a larger, stronger adversary. The lesson the porcupine teaches is that you don't have to be strong enough to defeat a predator to avoid being that predator's lunch. It suffices to be an expensive meal. Predators usually don't dine on porcupines because a serving of porcupine tends not to be worth the mouthful of quill that it costs.

I think having a working knowledge of how OC spray or a taser deploys, as well as some rehearsals of what you should do, will suffice to drive off all but the most crazed attackers.

p.s. to the originator of this thread, I PM's you a lengthy and hopefully helpful response.

Looks like female cyclists in Portland are starting to speak up about this James guy:

http://forums.bikeportland.org/viewtopic.php?t=256

This has urged me to start partner rides with other females at my work as well as making sure we all attend a self-defence class.

This world is full of crazy people. I just never want to go through that again. And I never want another female that I know to go through that. It would have been much different if it was night time and I went under that bridge for sure.

Please be careful out there.

Description: White male, mid to late 30's, 6'2"-ish, light brown hair, "chiseled" facial structure, older looking blue road bike with a rack on the back (items stored on it), wearing a hoodie or a baggy sweatshirt and slightly baggy pants. Name is "James."

Location:
http://static.flickr.com/54/144350112_df6466bc72_o.jpg


This stuff about they did it to me because I am a female drives me to distraction. The crazies are happy to injure anyone. In fact, it might be worse for males. I can't tell you how many times some guy in a car comes along and decides to frighten me by swerving his car into my bike. Then the guy or guys in the car get a big laugh when you practically lose control of the bike. It's no good to call the police. The police are overtaxed with complaints about crazies, and the police can't handle all the problems. All the police will do is to tell you to be careful out there, and maybe get a license plate number. But even a plate number won't help you. Its his word against yours.

And if you do use pepper spray and the guy drives his car into a tree, he will claim that you sprayed him for no reason. He will say that he just asked you for directions. If you use force on the driver, the police will arrest you.

The problem is that nobody knows anyone anymore because neighborhoods are largely gone and women are out working. And even if somebody sees what happened, that somebody won't want to get involved. It used to be that people checked up on one another, and it used to be that people had enough time to take an interest in other people's problems. With the streets jammed with traffic, crime rampant, and everybody working, everything is pretty much out of control.

The only thing I can suggest is to be super careful and don't engage in coversations with anyone you don't know.

The problem is that nobody knows anyone anymore because neighborhoods are largely gone and women are out working. And even if somebody sees what happened, that somebody won't want to get involved. It used to be that people checked up on one another, and it used to be that people had enough time to take an interest in other people's problems. With the streets jammed with traffic, crime rampant, and everybody working, everything is pretty much out of control.

The only thing I can suggest is to be super careful and don't engage in coversations with anyone you don't know.

Speak for yourself. I live in a neighbourhood in a city of neighbourhoods. Women here do work outside the home if they choose to, I know it's wrong to think of them as equals with free will and all, but we get by okay:rolleyes:

How did the decline in imaginary TV neighbourhoods contribute to this individuals encounter with an unstable person that she didn't know in a largely industrial area?

Speak for yourself. I live in a neighbourhood in a city of neighbourhoods. Women here do work outside the home if they choose to, I know it's wrong to think of them as equals with free will and all, but we get by okay:rolleyes:

How did the decline in imaginary TV neighbourhoods contribute to this individuals encounter with an unstable person that she didn't know in a largely industrial area?

I am writing about safety. I don't know what you are talking about, other than you are trying to be superior.

I am writing about safety.

The problem is that nobody knows anyone anymore because neighborhoods are largely gone and women are out working.

Promote the Safety! Rah Rah!


Where did you mention safety in either post trayer?

Pepper spray has one definite advantage; it gives the person concealing it a sense of confidence. Actually using it may not be necessary, as the confidence it gives can be empowering. This empowerment could lead to the victim to change their position from defence to offense, which will throw the wacko off-guard and confuse them. Imagine this scenario if Erica had pepper spray in her pocket, and she was fingering it after she dismounted her bike, ready to unleash it:

Wacko: "ANSWER ME. I DON'T KNOW IS NOT AN ANSWER. ANSWER ME IN FIVE SECONDS OR I'LL LET THE AIR OUT OF YOUR TIRES."

Erica, now leaning forward, non-dominant hand pointing, dominant hand on pepper spray hidden in pocket: "Listen to me, buster. You so much as even TOUCH my tires or come one step closer to me, I'll make you sorry you ever met me. Girls don't like you because you're a CREEP; now get the F--- out of my WAY, NOW, CREEP!"

Now this will put him on the defensive, and will probably confuse the heck out of him. This also forces him to play his hand; if he did have plans to attack you, he's going to do it now...but you're ready with the pepper spray, which he doesn't know you have, which gives you the upper hand. Of course, seeing this change in your reaction will make him think; what do you have that suddenly empowered you? A gun in your pocket? He may try to diffuse the situation by asking you what you have in your pocket; you have to keep up the offensive and tell him you're not answering any more of his "F---in questions." Never show him what you have (pepper spray) until you need to actually use it, to maintain the element of surprise.

These creeps prey on women not because they're women, but because they feel they have power over you. Oh, and if you are going to kick him, forget the knee and aim a few inches higher...there's a much more vulnerable spot between the legs.

This stuff about they did it to me because I am a female drives me to distraction. The crazies are happy to injure anyone. In fact, it might be worse for males. I can't tell you how many times some guy in a car comes along and decides to frighten me by swerving his car into my bike. Then the guy or guys in the car get a big laugh when you practically lose control of the bike. It's no good to call the police. The police are overtaxed with complaints about crazies, and the police can't handle all the problems. All the police will do is to tell you to be careful out there, and maybe get a license plate number. But even a plate number won't help you. Its his word against yours.

And if you do use pepper spray and the guy drives his car into a tree, he will claim that you sprayed him for no reason. He will say that he just asked you for directions. If you use force on the driver, the police will arrest you.

The problem is that nobody knows anyone anymore because neighborhoods are largely gone and women are out working. And even if somebody sees what happened, that somebody won't want to get involved. It used to be that people checked up on one another, and it used to be that people had enough time to take an interest in other people's problems. With the streets jammed with traffic, crime rampant, and everybody working, everything is pretty much out of control.

The only thing I can suggest is to be super careful and don't engage in coversations with anyone you don't know.

Actually, the "Problem" is that the problem has always been there. The difference today is that women aren't afraid to talk about violence against women like they used to; it used to be very hush-hush, so you simply didn't hear about it back in the "Good ole days." Now that women are empowered, they aren't afraid to talk about it, so you hear about it more.

As for harassment from motorists, getting their license plate number can go a long way. From that you can find out who they are and where they live, and let's just say that galvanized roofing nails blend in very well with asphault, stand pointy-end up on their heads without tipping, and will easily sink into their tires as they roll over them. Simply go for a walk by their house at night, stop to bend over to tie your shoe, leave your little gift for them as you do so, then carry on. It's not hard to predict what path their tires will take, and if you take out two at the same time, you'll really ruin their day. If you really have it in for them, wait until they replace with new tires, then repeat. :lol:

Actually, the "Problem" is that the problem has always been there. The difference today is that women aren't afraid to talk about violence against women like they used to; it used to be very hush-hush, so you simply didn't hear about it back in the "Good ole days." Now that women are empowered, they aren't afraid to talk about it, so you hear about it more.

Thank you. The stories my great-aunt would tell her granddaughters and grand-nieces about things that happened to her mother, sisters, and herself were the stuff of nightmares. These things occured in the urban US between 1890-1930, generally because they had the gall to leave their houses for school, shopping, church, or work. As unpleasant as some of the interactions I've experienced in my life have been, none of them can compare to the "good ole days" family stories I've been told.