Hey!

I would be freaked as well. Usually people don't come over tip you over and try beating on you. Total stranger, you don't know if you can put up with him or not.

A reasonable idea is to go somewhere and carry a small 2 by 4 or some sort of whacking stick, and pack it near some where that you can pull it out quick. So if you do panic, and you take a reasonable smack at the guy, you probably woundn't kill him, but enough to get him scared. Now if you're a taller guy, you maybe able to knock him out, but that would be hard.

Also, if you want to go through the trouble and possibly lose a bit of biking time, you can learn a bit of karate. However karate is almost useless when you get knocked OFF a bike. So you get to learn to use nunchuks. Im not kidding...my friend...a 16 year old guy takes kickboxing, and he also learned to use nunchucks. Those are rather good to pack. Self-Defense.

So you get to learn to use nunchuks.


:roflmao: .....nunchuks!....... :roflmao:

Hey Chris L why don't ya get a little Ninja suit with a smaurai sword strapped to yer back, and learn to use some o'those throwing stars. Maybe it's possible to get a spandex ninja suit.

:roflmao: nunchuks! Oh......stop...<snicker>.....don't....make.....me ...<snort>....laugh......hurts....... :roflmao:

Instead of Jackie Chan we got Jackie Chris :roflmao: Or maybe Jackie Monkey? :D

Oh jeez THAT feels better!

Well, if you want some martial arts advise, I'd go for some Judo or Aikedo. You don't want to carry anything around (gun, nunchuks, stick, etc.) that someone else could use against you if it got taken away from you.

Why Judo or Aikedo? Well, first off, they teach how to fall. That has come in very handy in several bicycle accidents I've had. For some examples, I've:

--taken a header with just cutoffs in college (before helmets too), where I tucked and rolled after trying to out-run a bus on the road, riding up onto a sidewalk only to find I was going too fast, cutting across some rocks only to find they were large stones, and trying to ride up onto the sidewalk only to find that the rocks were about three inches below the sidewalk, which I was hitting at a 45 degree angle. I gave up, went over the handle bars, did a nice judo roll and ended up upside down in some bushes with minor scrapes.

--found a curb at about 20 mph, bailed out again, and rolled. Again, scraps and a badly bent front fork resulted.

These, and several others (like bailing out just upon impact with the side of an SUV, hitting the pavement behind it, tucking during the fall, and pushing off to ensure I wasn't run over) came out okay, largely due to the fall training I had in both Judo and parachuting.

Second, Judo teaches chock holds, and defenses when an attacker is very close to you, or even on top of you. When I was in college, one of my Judo team mates was attacked in a school classroom, in front of his class. A big kid came up and tried to hit him. The Judoka-teacher reached up, got ahold of his collar with his hands, rotated them in a special way to pinch off the carotid arteries, and the kid was unconscious in about ten seconds. Judo also teaches how to have someone recover from that chock too. He was not attacked again.

Aikedo teaches responsibility for your opponent; you disarm without causing injury. This can be very frustrating to an attacker, but the attacker is completely rendered helpless. The flow of these throws, and the techniques behind them, are beautiful to behold.

The reason both these martial arts are so effective against attacks is that they use the attacker's energy and momentum against him/her (her? well it may happen;). The techniques allow little people to have an advantage, and lots of cyclists are smaller than the average brute (especially weight-wise).

John

Funny how the cops can't do anything when an actual crime is committed, but they can pull me over daily and find absolutely nothing every time. My cousin had somebody shoot at him not too long ago, from their front yard. He called the cops and gave them the guy's address, description of the guy, description of the gun and everything. All the cops said was "Well, we can't do anything about that, you need to get a restraining order." Like someone who's so ****ed in the head that they're going to attack a random person like that really cares about a restraining order. A piece of paper isn't going to stop a bullet, I don't care how many judges sign it.

John, I totally agree with you about martial arts. I'm a student of Judo myself, and I'm also a pretty good amateur wrestler. It really comes in handy in the rare situation when someone gets too violent with me (if they actually get out of their car, otherwise all I can do is write down their license plate number and know that the police are going to ignore me again).

The techniques allow little people to have an advantage, and lots of cyclists are smaller than the average brute (especially weight-wise).

That certainly applies to me! I only weigh about 62kg. I was actually thinking of looking into a martial art of some kind before this thing occurred, simply for the benefit of the training more than anything else. When I get a little more free time, I might see what's available around here.

That certainly applies to me! I only weigh about 62kg. I was actually thinking of looking into a martial art of some kind before this thing occurred, simply for the benefit of the training more than anything else. When I get a little more free time, I might see what's available around here.


Some sort of self defense classes I fully recommend. I did Tae Kwon Do for 6 years, but since this is mostly fighting with your feet I would also recommend some sort of...'on the ground defense' since most fights end up with people rolling around on the ground. My instructor had held a once per week self defense course as part of the regular cirriculum.

I gave up on TKD as I had busted my foot twice, broken 4 fingers, wrenched both knees, and the final straw was when I was kicked in the face (eye actually) and every blood vessel was busted in my eye, thing was red for weeks. I seemed to obtain injury just at the beginning of the cycling season and drastically cut into my riding time. :)

I don't want to give you the impression that such martial arts is dangerous. If you do it right and not get too ...zealous in your training you'll be fine. Me? I was always trying to push it and do things I had yet practiced well.

But a couple of things I have noticed in my time doing TKD:
1) great exercise!
2) builds your confidence
3) will relax you more
4) if at all possible AVOID A FIGHT! Noone ends up a winner, everyone gets hurt, and quite badly. Quote from my instructor "walk away if you can, run if you must, but if all else fails, defend yourself"

Digger

But a couple of things I have noticed in my time doing TKD:
1) great exercise!
2) builds your confidence
3) will relax you more
4) if at all possible AVOID A FIGHT! Noone ends up a winner, everyone gets hurt, and quite badly. Quote from my instructor "walk away if you can, run if you must, but if all else fails, defend yourself"


You need not worry about me forgetting number 4. I learned that lesson a few times at school -- and I'm not likely to forget it.