Yikes! Scary situation. I hope you reported it to the cops since you got a description and know exactly where you saw the guys. I would definitely report it since, as you said, other women go through there and one day, one of them could be in that situation and not get out of it like you did! It's possible they may just have wanted to steal your bike, but even so, that's not so much fun either.

In the meantime, avoid going through that path alone. There's a path like that near here too. It's a fire road that's great for off-road biking, but it's also frequented by rather seedy characters, and I have been advised not to go alone. But it's only part of the trail that's like that, the rest of it is mostly families camping. I wouldn't go alone anyways, since it's kind of out of the way and I'd worry about crashing and being injured and not being able to get home!