nelson249

Unfortunately,we aren't immune. Once, I was threatened in downtown Kitchener because I had the temerity to ride on a street that was too narrow to share with some lunk head who couldn't wait 5 seconds.

exile

Sometimes the anonymity of darkness brings out all sorts of people. Try not to look like a victim and try and be ready for anything. You might also want call the police and let them know someone threatened your life. I doubt they would be able to do anything but they may step up patrols in that area.

BarracksSi

Hey, stop being racist!

Luddite

But, since it was a Canadian threatening you, it went something like this:

"Excuse me, I would like to kill you, if it's not too inconvenient"



I once was harassed by this cager guy and his teenaged kid, I was climbing a nasty hill, too slow for his liking, so he proceeded to drive erratically, buzz me, then stop etc. He then was driving at the same speed I was riding, acting threateningly. He said some stuff I can't remember now, and I was screaming at him "Back off, *******, don't **** with me" etc. He scared the **** out of me, actually. I thought they were gonna get out and beat the **** out of me. I started trying to remember where I put my blackberry and my U-Lock.

JoeyBike

As far as the local fuzz is concerned, the only reason for a white dude to be biking through that neighborhood, would be to buy drugs. I could not blame them for blaming me for being so stupid.

It's the knife that cuts both ways. I get to break traffic laws all I want to because the cops don't care BUT on the other edge, the cops don't care about some idiot choosing to ride a bike through Hell after dark.

Jonahhobbes

I had two kids run at me on Friday shouting "Get the bike!" I aimed at the mouthy one and he shouted "I'm kidding" and ran off.

iamsomeguy

i had two people throw beer bottles at me in separate incidents last week , one stopped and told me to get out of the road (im 6 foot 5 , 207 lbs) he got back in his truck really quick
ahh texas.....
more on the lines of moron rednecks on meth , but not nearly as bad as N.O. has gotten

echotraveler

guess you should keep trying more routes, or maybe change the route every few days...

make a safer route thats longer, you can do it...your fan club would appreciate it!

BarracksSi

Fify. C'mon, I can't believe you missed the opportunity.

Luddite

doh!

Bekologist

maybe you should start riding scraper style

I haven't been threatened by a motorist with a gun for a few years. when the guns come out its time for some real traffic skills. Joey, have you been chased by a motorist yet? that's always fun with the car up on the lawns and stuff....

zpl

I find it interesting that the unsafe route is just a block or two away from your safe route.

Do you have a helmet-mounted headlight? An especially bright one would be handy for shining in the eyes of someone approaching you in a threatening manner. 200 lumens would easily disorient someone if pointed directly at their face.

I'm sorry to hear you have to put up with this. It certainly puts your red light running into a different perspective. I confess I assumed you were being a bit overly dramatic when you would say it's unsafe for you to stop at red lights due to potential muggings.

Scott

jrich179

It's wild how much changes in a single New Orleans block. I have folks that live midway down one of the streets between his two routes, and you can stand on the porch, look left and see a fairly busy, nice thoroughfare at the end of the block; look to the right and see your crack dealer. And you always need to plan your routes with a map- due to the skewed street grid created by the lake and river, intuition fails and sense of direction will betray you (as an example: the bridge to the part of the city on the west bank of the Mississippi River travels due east from downtown NO).

Esplanade Ave. is considerably safer, but the McDonough students sometimes get pretty bold.

Sirrus Rider

Remember, if you start hearing a "crack" followed by a high-pitched whistle is not somebody trying to blow a kiss that you. It's at that point you should switch into overdrive, hit warp factor 9 and get your a$$es out of there.

JoeyBike

I think using the "crackhead" route will from now on be reserved for those stormy night rides home when no one is out.

dynaryder

Two ideas. First,better route. NO's flat,isn't it? Extra couple of miles shouldn't hurt. Or get a better headlight and run fat tires. My rims do fine on DC streets thanks to 2" tires.

JoeyBike

Just a few weeks ago. I'm A Victim Of Pickup Truck Agression

Before that, it was mid 1980s. A taxi in the burbs. I was riding down a narrow 2-lane road with terrible edges on "Fat City" Blvd. Bars and strip clubs on both sides and 5 blocks long with 4 stop signs (4-ways). It was after dark about 6pm in the winter.

Normally, I just stay in the middle of the lane and blast through all 4 stop signs so cars won't catch up with me. This night, a taxi cab was roaring up behind me and running the stop signs too so I could not create a gap even though I was on my road bike. He could not pass due to oncoming traffic. So he lays on the horn behind me, I give him the "You're #1 hand signal" as I am doing the 20 mph speed limit already. At that point I hear the motor respond to the accelerator being smashed to the floor! He squeezes between me and the oncoming traffic only because I veered into the crappy road edge risking a nice crash but avoiding being steam-rolled.

OF COURSE he is forced to stop at the very next (and last) stop sign due to cross traffic. I catch up just as he squeels into a right turn with the intention of pounding his rear deck with my fist, but I miss. He goes right-left, I go straight-right. We meet up a block away on a 6-lane road. He tries to block my path (I though he was in a big rush?) so he can yell at me but he was just past my short cut into the mall parking lot. So I just let out a hearty EFFFFYOUUU and another #1 salute and make my left turn.

Now ITS ON! He drives contraflow on the 6-lane to follow me into the mall parking lot. I cut down a parking isle and wait until he is behind me and well into that isle. I then cut between parked cars to the next isle leaving him now in the wrong isle. I stop, he stops with 2 rows of parked cars between us. I let out another EFFFFYOUUUUU! He guns the engine. I wait. He drives to the end of his isle, squeels a hard left, and another, which puts him in my isle on a head on collision course with me. I wait a second, then go right back through the parked cars to the first isle. He stops again perplexed at his situation. There is a silence for a moment. I seize the opportunity to yell "You must be the dumbest Hack in the world!"

He guns the engine again (like I said...DUMB). I simply cut through the whole lot between the parked cars and after maybe 10 rows where he can't see me I go up the ramp to 2nd story parking. (Had he followed me up there, I would have carried my bike down the stairs). There I spend the next 10 minutes under the stars sipping from my water bottle while the dumbest hack in the world criss-crosses the entire lot in search of me. Eventually, he gives up and I have a leisurely ride home.

Other than those two events...no problems.

JoeyBike

The "safe" route cuts through the hood too. It's just wide and fast if you can see where you are going in good weather.

NOLA neighborhoods are assembled differently than most cities. When the city was forming, they used natural ridges overland to move about. These ridges are "high ground" where wealthy persons built their mansions. The ridges are maybe one or two blocks wide. Wealth in NOLA buys you elevation. Poor people live in the spaces between the ridges. So you have this vein-like structure of nice looking homes radiating out from the river surrounded by the have-nots. Leaving downtown on any major surface street, you are never more than a couple of blocks from the crackheads. That's why I ride fast and don't linger at red lights.

JoeyBike

See my post #43 just above^^

Tires - I ride 26x2 on my Trucker. My lights are NiteRiders and really bright.

HuffyMan

Wow,
I'll never complain about rednecks and skunks again. These are scenes out of Roadwarrior. My worst encounter remains a brief cloud of black smoke from some kid's "tuned up" diesel.

thdave

I suspect daylight and non-weekend evening rides will be fine through that area, but you've got to avoid Friday and Saturday night rides. I'm sure the police is very busy those nights, too, and it will be tought to get help if you need it.

HillCusser

Maybe a 5 D-cell Maglite dropped into a pvc holster on the bike frame could be of some use in an 'emergency'.

rugerben

I can't speak for Joey, but if things were bad enough that I needed to carry a weapon of some kind, it'd be one of my guns. Although, as I said in a previous post, I just avoid the ghetto so it doesn't come to that.

SlimAgainSoon

That was a great story.

Glad you survived.

nelson249

Yep, I swear that's exactly what happened. How did you know? And he added: "Just wait until I get my Firearms Acquisition Certificate and a Restricted Weapons Permit and I will come back and shoot you in several months. Pray tell, do you happen to have your calendar with you?"