paw888

OK - i just don't get this. Is there more to this story? I thought Madison was a bike friendly city!


Bicyclist beaten after telling other riders to get lights
By Linda Spice of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Dec. 2, 2008 12:02 p.m.

A 51-year-old man bicycling in Madison suggested that two cyclists passing him put lights on their bikes before they followed him to his home and beat him, according to Madison police.

The victim told police he suffered pain to his head and ribs after being attacked outside of his home on Lakeside St. about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 26, according to a report released today.

The man told police he was riding on South Shore Drive when he heard someone from behind tell him that he would be passing on the left. He moved over and a man and a woman rode past.

As they did, however, he said, "Get a light." The other man turned and asked what he said.

The victim repeated, "Get a light."

The couple yelled loudly at the man, telling him to mind his own business, according to police. The victim said the other man attempted to run him off the road before the couple followed him to his home driveway.

That's where a conversation about lights continued and the woman told the victim that he seemed to have plenty of lights and asked for one. He gave her a light and told police he did not feel threatened.

The other man, however, appeared to still be upset about the original comment and allegedly clamped his hands around the victim's head. The other man then twisted the victim to the ground and kneed him in the ribs.

The victim told police he last saw the two people pedaling down South Shore Drive.

The first suspect was described as a white male, about 6 feet tall, wearing a dark-colored jacket and riding a Trek time trial bike .

The second suspect was a white female, about 5-feet-4-inches who rode an Orbea road bike with orange on the front.

mmerner

https://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/316796

GutterNinja!

Great, another couple of rich roadie snobs. Considering how much they spent on their bikes, I'm betting they won't be that hard to track down. Probably belong to the local pretentious club.

Rob_U

A Trek Lime is a "Roadie Snob" bike?

GutterNinja!

No Trek Lime; he said a Trek Time Trial (something like this ugly beast)



And an Orbea of some sort.

Rob_U

Sorry, my bad. I guess I need to read more carefully!

Scheherezade 

Roadie ninjas beat up the Fred who was trying to help.

Cycling has such a great community.

o-dog

what a surreal story.

am I really reading this right or is my 3AM drowsiness really starting to set in hardcore?

z415

I remember one time I was riding and a drunk bum (they are all "cyclists" around here) yelled at me to turn on my light. I thanked him and gave him a buck. Shows how different people are, even if they have the same interests.

I-Like-To-Bike

Whatz the difference between a drunk bum yelling "safety advice" at strangers, a loutish motorist yelling "safety advice" at strangers, and a Safety Nanny yelling "safety advice" at strangers?

Nothing. Though beatings of them should never exceed the violence of an electronic beat down.

CB HI

So the roadies politely announce "passing left"; In return Fred, in a rude nasty tone yells "get a light" and continues the attitude until he gets put in a head lock and kneed in the ribs: AND everyone here only sees the roadies as the ones who were rude and wrong.

Especially bad when we are only getting one side of the story.

GutterNinja!

The followed him home buddy. You trying to excuse a couple of wannabe Lance's for beating the crap out of a 50 year-old man?

dobber

A confrontation takes two parties.

apricissimus 

Oh boy, let the demonization of "Lance-wannabes" begin anew

Edit: Actually, it never stopped.

apricissimus 

This is true.

I think I' probably on pretty safe ground by saying that the guy did not deserve the beat down (I find it remarkably easy to refrain from beating people up in my own life). But still, the guy should have minded his own business about the light.

bcubed

Inneresting concept.

You're suggesting he got beat up 'cause he cowered insufficiently? Or something else?

You don't counsel **** victims for a day job, do you? Bet that "takes two to tango" 'tude would go over nicely...

kuan

And that's what they did. The man gave them a light and they beat him.

trekker pete

with accurate descriptions of the bikes, I would guess that the cops could tract these two clowns down if they felt so inclined. But, I am sure they're too busy handing out speeding tickets for that.

nelson249

Geez, the next time someone disrespects me I guess I will just follow someone home and haul out the old .357 and finish the job properly. A little more than just rudeness here, how about assault and battery? It doesn't matter what the guy said it cannot justify these people following him after the initial exchange was over and reinitiating the dispute and beating the crap out of him.

treebound 

Double especially bad when we jump to our own conclusions with only one side of the story. Perhaps you should re-read the story and then edit your response to temper it down a bit. I'll help out a little here with some quotes:

Where is the implication of a "rude nasty tone", or of any "yells" from the 51 year old cyclist**********

Ah hah, here is the report of the rude nasty tone and yelling, it came from the two lightless cyclists according to the report.

This makes it sound like one of two things were happening, either the situation was difusing or it was an agitated exchange, don't really know for certain.

And now, with this portion of the report, we see who has anger issues and holds their anger the longest, and turns verbal comments into a violent physical attack.

'scuse me now, I think I'll go back to avoiding this section of the site. Nothing personal, just observations, have a very nice day.

(ps, please don't stalk me or follow me home, okay? )
(pps, someday I'd like to bicycle in Hawaii, I'll bring a spare light or two.)

lukasz

If I were in a surly mood I'd yell at ninjas too, but I've only been caught unaware while fairly passive. I usually encounter them coming at me (against traffic, OF COURSE) in a bike lane at night, so I think I would be entitled to. If someone is passing me, hey, whatever dude, but not if they are adding injury to insult by going the wrong way.

PaulH

They don't call those people bike ninjas for nothing, I guess.

Paul

dynodonn 

I don't know what these two cyclists paid for their bikes, but judging by the initial price of the type of bikes that they have that yelling at them to get a light seems like a mute point. They should easily be able to afford a really nice light system, and it seems that not having one is by their own design. I do see a lot of roadies with lights though, but usually they have just the bare minimum to be legal. Only once did I recommend a cyclist to get a light, since she was riding against traffic at night, narrowly missing me to avoid the traffic, collided with a motorist who was making a right hand turn into a driveway, and ending up on the pavement.

apricissimus 

Not necessarily. It's happened to me before that I didn't bring my lights since I didn't think I'd be home before dark, and didn't want the hassle of carrying them with me after I locked the bike up. Of course, I got delayed, or just miscalculated how long I'd be out, and wound up riding lightless in the dark, though I didn't intend to.

invisiblehand

I think that the comments are about the disproportionate response. Rude is one thing. Beating someone else up is taking it to a new level.