No ride today ... had my kids this weekend and Sunday morning came around and they all asked if they could stay an extra day (sure makes me feel awesome when they ask that!). After asking their mom it was all good, but I have to take my oldest to the orthodontist at 5, so no time to ride unfortunately. I did fix the tube in my roadie this weekend and I swapped out the commuter tires for my CX tires on the CX bike.
Heard a crazy story on Friday night, on the news. The second half of my "to work" commute is on a MUP, a fairly busy MUP around here, called the Oak Leaf Trail. Was putting my kids to bed Friday night and when I got upstairs the GF asks what trail I ride to work? I tell her and she tells me about seeing this:
Man attacked, robbed on Oak Leaf Trail in Shorewood | Local News - WISN Home
Here's the crazy part ... I'm pretty sure I saw those four kids. Not far from where I first got on the trail I see three of them standing near a bridge, and the fourth (who looked to be older) coming up from under the bridge. I didn't think too much of it, but at the same time, anytime someone is just "loitering" on the trail with no purpose, it raises my radar a little. This path sees a lot of traffic, walkers, runners, cyclists, etc ... so to me, seeing someone just "hanging out" by the side of the trail makes me wonder. I didn't think too much of it though, because I had just dealt with a flat tire so my mind was somewhat preoccupied.
Got my attention though, made me think about what I would do if it happened to me. My backpack has a u-lock in it, and it's unsecured, but if they rushed me or something, I don't think I'd have enough time to pull it out and start swinging it. Dunno ... not that I'd stop commuting, and really stuff like this is pretty rare, but it does make me think.