I'm so frustrated by a recent event, that I just have to post. I know that I'm "preaching to the choir" for the most part, but really need someplace to let all of this out.

On Memorial Day weekend I wanted to ride on the Schuylkill River Trail to see how many folks were out. I also like seeing families cycling together and am a people watcher by nature. So this was to be a casual ride to enjoy the weather. Well, as one might imagine the trail was packed with people, many that looked as if this was their first ride in a long time. In the midst of all of this was a group of four riders in full team kit out riding a pace line at speeds well above what was reasonable for the conditions. They passed me in one direction early in the ride.

I made my turn around to head back home and eventually saw the four riders heading my way again, as they had also made a turn around at the other end of the trail. This time, however, things got ugly. A mother and daughter were also riding toward me when a squirrel ran into the front wheel of the daughter. This brought the daughter down and the mother on top of her. The pace line also got caught up in the mess, in part, because they were trying to squeeze past with riders coming toward them too. One of the four riders jumped up and started screaming at the mother and daughter that they should stay the hell off bikes if they didn't know how to ride. Both mother and daughter were stunned by this outburst. I stopped to see if everyone was OK while this rider continued to rant and rave. I quietly suggested that his outburst was doing little to help the situation, and he made the mistake of grabbing my arm while yelling for me to stay out of his business.

I've been trained to teach law enforcement personnel in the use of non-pain compliant techniques, and found myself restraining this guy while his riding buddies tried to calm him down. It only took a few minutes before he gained enough control that I could release him.

I'm a pretty peaceful guy, and this event has had me upset since it happened. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me that a team would go out for a training ride on a bike trail during a holiday weekend. They put everyone at risk with such behavior. Are people really that unaware, or perhaps that self involved? BTW, mother and daughter seem to have recovered. I saw them a few nights ago and both had a few bruises and scrapes that were still healing, but for the most part they were fine.