He was jumped by 6 people with no warning. He hit the ground at 20mph. Try crashing your bike at 20mph and see how quickly you jump up and start fighting - not going to happen. Options are limited at best and considering the situation things worked out pretty well. You can buy a new bike. Coming back from the dead isn't likely going to happen.

Here are the rules.

1. Escape - Flee, run, crawl, hop. Whatever it takes.
2. Fight back and escape - If rule #1 is not an option use this hybrid rule.
3. Fight dirty - Yes, it is ok. The dirtier the better. The crap on tv is worthless.
4. After you escape let the police deal with everything. Put it behind you as you will likely never see them again and living in the past sucks.

If you are going to carry pepper spray, keep it on your person. Try the Kimber Pepper Blaster II. You can easily keep it close and it has very good range. Sorry this happened and from what I have read you did everything right.

I think you missed my point. John R's contention is that if the OP would have had a stun gun, he would have been able to better protect himself against the six thugs that robbed him.

Therefore my question.

Sorry to hear about the OP getting assaulted and robbed. That really sucks.

Here in Minneapolis we have Trailwatch rides made up of groups of volunteers who ride the Greenway on just about every evening of the week (a MUP situated in an old railroad trench that runs W/E through South Minneapolis). Trailwatch has a mandate to ride, observe, and report. They communicate with various community leaders (neighborhood associations, ministers, imams, etc) and have a good relationship with local law enforcement. Maybe something like this would work on your SART. We've found that many cyclists are happy to volunteer their time in order to make the trails a little bit safer.

And atrocious spelling.

As the California economy gets worse and more people are let out of jail early, crime will increase along the Santa Ana river trail. It's just a simple fact. It seems that from the Honda center south all the way to the beach the amount of homeless and drifters have increased. I've been commuting the trail for over 16 years. It's sad but I am reconsidering the whole bike commuting thing. I am a single parent, and can't risk getting messed up, or worse.

No need to stop commuting. Just don't ride the SART at ungodly hours (when it's dark). No need to just chuck 16 years of commuting.

Some days I ride home from Westminster and enter the trail at 17th. Even the mood on the streets seems hostile lately. Last week I was sitting at the intersection of 17 and Harbor waiting for the light to change, a couple of gangbangers noticed my bike and started walking toward me yelling something in spanish. I started reaching for the pepper spray when the light turned green. I sprinted away with then yelling at me. This really freaked me out.
It seems that people have changed for the worst this last year.

I took a look at your Greenway. Its about a 5 mile stretch that commuters take in the big city to avoid traffic. The SART is altogether a different animal. The distance is about 36 miles from the Pacific Ocean (Orange County) to the next county line, Riverside. It's width is well over 100 yards with approximately 32 underpass type crossings. Not all those 32 are habitable for the homeless. I figure the "tough area" is from the Interstate 405 freeway to maybe Katella Avenue. That's about an 8 mile stretch.

Spanish is the common language in Santa Ana (74%), according to a 2001 survey. Here's what the study shows: http://swdb.berkeley.edu/News_Info/N...20Ana%20No.htm

Anaheim comes in fourth, with 42.8% of its population speaking Spanish at home, behind El Paso (69.5%) and Miami (66%). Los Angeles, at 42.2%, is fifth. Riverside has the nation's eighth- highest percentage of Spanish speakers, at 33.2%. The national average is 10.5%. California has the highest percentage of people who speak languages other than English, 39%, according to the survey. New Mexico comes in second, with 35.5%, followed by Texas with 32%. The national average is 17.6%.

Gangs in Santa Ana: The Santa Ana Police has a list of the "most wanted". http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/pd/mostwanted.asp

13 of them and 5 have descriptions of "gang related". Here's a Channel 7 clip on gang related activity in Santa Ana: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7427987

Y'all are making me appreciate my trails more and more. I used to live in L.A. and commuted on the Ballona Creek trail. Nowadays you hear about assaults there from time to time.

The Trinity River Trail around here is heaven in comparison. I've ridden it in the middle of the night and never had a problem. My bigger fear is encountering animals (I had a face-to-face with a large coyote this summer; luckily we were equally startled and it ran away from me).

That happened to me as well, Harbor and Warner, a couple of dudes crossing Warner began yelling a gesturing. I think it was my eye wear, made it look like I was giving them "hard looks". From the Stadium to Warner is probably the worse section of the SART to ride alone.

Top this thread because I am looking at riding from John Wayne to the Anaheim Conv Center in March 2013. Google Maps has me going on the SART from Warner to the golf course, so I think I'd rather just ride on the street. I'm comfortable riding in traffic, so just MacArthur Blvd to Harbor Blvd and be done with it?

I'd take my chances riding on SART than Harbor. Seems to me the drivers in Santa Ana are more dangerous than the gangbangers (and there are more of them).

AFAIK, there have been no further reports of cyclists being bikejacked since they caught this crew. It also depends on the time of day of your trip. I would feel safer on SART than Harbor Blvd. I also do not recommend going out the front of SNA and making a left onto MacArthur. The exit has 3 left turn lanes and MacArthur is like 8 lanes wide through there with no bike lane and multiple lanes getting on the freeway.

I would exit SNA to the south by making a right onto Campus Dr. Then, right on Bristol, right on Red Hill, left on Main, then left on MacArthur. It's the long way around the airport, but safer. From MacArthur (assuming you don't use SART), I would go past Harbor and head up Newhope, then a right on Garden Grove and a left on West Rd. takes to the Conv. Ctr. Newhope has a bike lane north of Slater and it has much less traffic than Harbor.

If you take SART, stay on it until Memory Lane/Garden Grove Blvd. Go west when you exit SART (go under Memory Lane, make a u-turn and then a right onto Memory Lane), and then a right on Lewis, left on Lampson and a right on West up to the convention center.

I've commuted on SART from Mcarther to Yorba Linda around 8 pm for the past months. There are always shady characters hanging around. You have to keep your head up, keep a high pace and be aware of your surroundings. I do keep my pepper spray in my hand ready to discharge. I have had on problems.