If anything like that goes down with me or my friends, I'll have to start buying and carrying guns again. Big holster, outside the jersey (so it's not a "concealed" weapon).

I'm glad you made it out the other side. Keeping your head about you is a good thing. There's no way some gang-banger is going to keep up with a trained cyclist.

Another alternative... I had some kids playing chicken with me one day, so I opened up a full sprint right at them, showing teeth and grunting at 38mph...