With winter here, I am doing a good deal of riding at night, and alone. I feel the need to defend myself.
I've had a fair amount of people confronting me. Nothing too serious. I have kids in raised pickup trucks driving by yelling "FA**#&T!!!" at me almost on a weekly basis. I am totally immune to that and don't even think twice about that. I've had people throw eggs and beer bottles at me. I can let that go too.
It's when people threaten physical harm and try to steal my bike that I feel I need to defend against. I've had people push me off my bike, and there have been recent incidents of cyclists being beaten and robbed on the same trails I ride on. One even happened 2 hours before the same spot I was just at. And the scary thing these muggings happened on a saturday afternoon.
I chose an airsoft gun, so if authorities were ever involved, they would know my intention was to only defend myself. If I had a real, but more subtle weapon like a knife, or stun gun, I could be accused of using it offensively. I also don't believe pepper spray would be effective either because every time I've been confronted, it was with 2-3 guys. I have never been confronted by someone acting alone.
If someones approaching me, looking to assault or rob me, I want to just be able to lift up my shirt. Have them see the pistol, so they turn around, get back in their car, and leave me alone. That's all.
What if the other person has a real gun? That's a chance i'm willing to take. I think in that situation though, I would know they had a gun before they knew I had a weapon (real or fake). People using a real gun offensively is likely to brandish their weapon sooner than someone who's using a fake gun defensively. In which case they can take my bike and beat me up, it's not worth my life.
Of course the idea is not perfect. Ideally the best thing would be to have a riding partner everywhere I go. But I just don't have that option. I'm open to suggestions that are more safe and effective for defending myself though.
Here's the pistol. It looks like a Walther PP, or a Kel Tec P32. Its metal, and has the clip, and cocking mechanism like a real pistol. It was ridiculously cheap. I removed the orange tip of course.
