My commute takes me down a nice mup that makes its way through suburban parkland with kid's play areas at regular intervals, probem is that after dark these areas seem to attract bored local teenagers.

I was on my way home just on dark last Friday night when a froup of 4 of these locals tried to convince me to stop. Fortunately they were far enough away from the mup that by the time they realized I was not stopping it was too late for them to react. I thought nothing of it and just kept going.

I had a late start today and went through that spot mid-morning.... and there they were, the same 4 teenagers that should probabkly be in school but decided it might be more fun to mess with cyclists. They were loitering just off the mup and as I approached they quickly formed a group right in my path. I anticipated something like that and went off into the grass and around them, as I did so the one on the end lunged in my direction and swung a punch that missed me - only just.

I called the police station once I got to campus and guess what?.... unless I can identify them and know where they live there's nothing they can do. Bottom line, they couldn't care less. Next time I see them there's going to be a big Kryptonite u-lock in my hand and a 4 inch blade ready to be deployed....

Is pepper spray legal in Australia?

No it's not, neither is carring a gun.

well, you know they are going to be there... ask a cop in a patrol car to stop nearby and watch what the little rats do to you.... then the copper can go after them...

also, fi they do try to stop you or hit you again and you cannot get away, ram the bastards....

robi

Rather than avoid them?

Got a cell phone? Stop 50 feet short of them. Snap a pic, turn around and get the Heck out of there, send photo to police. Even if police don't do anything for you, the punks will know you have a photo of them.

Is there another route you can take Cyclaholic? I know you should be able to ride where you like, but its probably best to stay safe.

Ah, the joys of living in a country where self-defense is all but illegal...

Pepper spray is illegal in Australia? That is disgusting. I knew that they took your guns away but I did not know that protecting yourself was deemed illegal.

No kidding, very sad!

I could take a ride with a bat utility belt with all manner of pepper spray, tazers, and a gun (I do carry that lol) affixed to it, and be well within my god given rights.

Must suck to have to rely on cops that won't do anything, instead of being able to defend yourself.

Socialism doesn't allow for individual rights to trump the "common good."

do you play baseball....?

Give it a rest. This has nothing to do with socialism. The Australians (along with most other developed democracies) have decided that handguns are more bad than good.

I'm not sure I agree. But their murder rate is about 10% of ours. That's not an argument that should be showed the door with scorn.

My 2 cents? Guns don't kill, contempt does. We seem to have more of that than the other developed democracies, too.

oh puhleeeeeeze!

I reserve and exercise my right to unsub from this thread.

You have a civic responsibility to kill them in order to protect the well being of other law abiding citizens. To fail to do so is to be derelict in your duty.

Why am I always the last to know these things.

Not sure if you are joking or not, but, you know what, you are right. Bored punks who think it's fine to terrorize people for their amusement are vermin. The world would be a better place without them.

If we made it a practice to exterminate such vermin, future potential vermin would thing twice.

Fine, I repeal my unsub. Shyte.

Where do you think you are? 19th century western America? Though I like the idea of swift and heavy handed justice, it's just not practical! However, I do see some inherent humor in your post, even if it was unintentional.

Avoidance is a pretty good move, but sometimes it's not practical/possible, and that's when you'll have to lay your cards on the table. What if you beat the snot out of some kids? Someone's bound to get up in arms about the mistreatment of their precious little snowflake. I like the picture route, though that assumes they'll have the good sense to consider the repercussions, and not be all "Nice phone, gimme!" I don't know if there's any good answer, it's a wild world out there.

Self defense =/= murder.

Also, the US isn't a democracy...

And "common sense" is neither common or sensible.

Even more amusing are the other posters in this thread who seem to have broken sarcasm detectors.
Nice sig.

Watch Fox do we?