When I'm on tour, I am more vulnerable than when I'm at home. I'm not in my usual environment. I am probably in an area that I don't know very well. Predators (including drunken asshats) often pick on people who look out of place, and cyclists can be seen as easy targets. Often this is harmless fun and taunts from teenagers, but sometimes it isn't. Hank Raines over on crazyguyonabike told of being roughed up by some guys in a pickup truck. I've had some pretty harsh encounters myself, which resulted from nothing more than a stare. This is usually more apt to happen if you're by yourself, since the kind of people who tend to initiate this kind of thing also tend to be cowards at heart. Of course, the usual advice about defusing confrontations before they escalate into physical violence always applies, that's just common sense. However, I always think it would be good to have a backup plan in case things go ballistic.

Many times, rural hillbillies think they can get the better of you in the middle of nowhere, where there is nobody around to see what happened. I had a couple of encounters on my recent tour where a pickup truck did something aggressive as it drove by, on a remote road. Given the uneducated and basic nature of some of these people, I wouldn't say that "country folk" are always going to be safer to be around than city folk. Most of the time, people in small towns are "nicer", at least on the surface, than city dwellers. But underneath that nice exterior can lurk much more dangerous and weird prejudices, most likely arising from never having left their home county. That's not a stereotype, it's just an observation of some of the people I've met. Many others are just fine, of course, but it only takes one to ruin your day.

To give another example, I have a couple of "go" bags in our basement, for me and my wife, in case we had to leave our house very quickly. Do I expect to have to use them? No, not really. Do I sit around all day fretting about emergencies? No, not at all. Do I feel better knowing I'm somewhat prepared in case something did happen? Yes, certainly. For me, the pepper spray is primarily for dogs. I don't really anticipate having to use it on a human, ever. But it's nice to have it there as a backup.

Neil

p.s. Sometime I do carry a small can of pepper spray when I'm in my home town, yes, particularly if I am going to a bad area of town. I also carry other means of defense, which I won't go into here. I live in St Louis, which is apparently one of the more dangerous towns in America in terms of crime. I don't walk around afraid of being jumped, I just try to take reasonable precautions. I don't carry pepper spray with me everywhere I go, but we have a couple of cans in the car.