Stone-throwing
 

I've been told that children in certain countries are fond of throwing stones at cyclists. Have any of you experienced this?

Yes, in Morocco.

Not here in the USA.

I've heard of kids throwing stuff off of bridges at cars, and many overpasses have tall fences to prevent it.

The worst I've had was throwing around insults.

There was a thread about drinks being thrown at some cyclists.
http://www.bikeforums.net/general-cy...drink-you.html

I've heard reports from other cyclists about it happening in Morocco. Which areas are to be avoided?

Some people would say that all of Morocco should be avoided😀.
In my case I think it only happened three or four times. It was particularly nasty near a town called Sidi Kacem, on my way to Fez. The kids there seem to have good throwing arms. I found that starring down the little bastards seemed to dissuade most of them.

Had some rocks thrown down at me from a bridge while kayaking around Manhattan island, but not while cycling (only drinks on a couple occasions).

Eggs are the worst or more so duck eggs due to size they make a mess I can handle stone.

I got hit in the face with Silly String once in the US!

Never had a rock thrown at me but I've had several beer bottles tossed in my direction along with a loaf of bread?

No issues to report in Morocco on anything really. Very good people there overall.

+1 (in the Atlas mountains, many years ago)

water fights during thailand's songkran new years festival.
has become popular to race down the street in a pickup
with 55-gallon trash cans full of ice water in the bed.
dump buckets-fuls on cyclists as you pass at high speed.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam...-super-169.jpg

Has never happened to me in China and SE Asia, places where one might expect this sort of thing.

Someone threw an egg at me when I was unicycle commuting in Ontario once. Kids in a car I think. They missed.

Why would one expect this sort of thing in SEAsia?

I never had a problem in Morocco in four weeks there. Most people and children were very polite there.

Kids would be very busy in Holland then.

I had rocks thrown at me and others also encountered this in Ethiopia during TDA in 2013.

Try a google search with "bicycle rock throwing Ethiopia" and you can find other accounts.

I had stones thrown at me in various towns in Tunisia while I was touring there. Boys would also sometimes run into the road and try to block us. One kid actually tried to pull me down while I was riding. The stone throwing happened throughout the country. After my trip, I spoke with another cyclist who had biked in Tunisia and she and her friend encountered the same problem with stone throwing. My tour in Tunisia was before the "Arab spring".

I had rocks thrown at me and my son in San Juan,Argentina passing a villa miseria trench town.Another places where they throw stones are Ethiopian,Jordan

Vietnam war movies.

What?:rolleyes:

I got hit with a hamburger that was thrown at me from a passing vehicle in Washington state on my coast tour last summer. Fortunately, double cheeseburgers are much softer and more forgiving than stones. :thumb:

I don't know why my SE Asia and China comment is generating so much controversy. I live in this part of the world, so naturally I do most of my cycling here. People have posted in the past about hoards of kids living in poverty in rural Tibet asking cyclists for pens (of all things) and throwing rocks when refused. Laos and Burma are among the poorest countries in the world and I have bicycle toured in both of these countries. I have also toured in Thailand and Malaysia. The kids in these countries were on their best behaviour. I have never toured in Tibet so I can't confirm the stories. I have driven through Tibet but I did not see any kids near the road at any time.

kids in vietnam will occasionally ride/run alongside you trying
to snatch anything not securely secured to the rear rack.

I've toured mostly in the US, and have never had stones or any other objects thrown at me. Once in a while someone yells, but I can rarely understand what they are attempting to communicate.

For me it's usually "get off the road", but I once had a group of teens just swear very loudly as they drove past and laughed. I tried to look unfazed, but I'm not sure I succeeded... it was pretty startling.

Never had anyone throw anything at me that I'm aware of so if they have either 1) they have terrible aim or 2) I'm more elusive than I look. :)

I have a Jordanian friend who told me to carry a slingshot for this reason. I personally wouldn't, but the idea sounds amusing.

I've toured in Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and tiny Singapore. Absolutely no problems whatsoever with kids. In some parts of SE Asia, my arm got tired from waving to all of the folks (kids & adults) who were greeting me in a very friendly manner. SE Asia can be a wonderful place for touring.

In the U.S., I once had kids in a car throw full beer cans at me. They missed and turned around and tried to do it again.

Yeap. Same thing in Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. SEA is as a whole the friendliest region.

On my world tour, I had numerous incidents but keep in mind this was over a TWO YEAR period. Still, the worst areas for me were parts of central/South America (no surprise there); Eastern Turkey (was warned about it hundreds of miles in advance); Parts of Iran and Pakistan, and Vietnam. Specifically:

(1) In central/south America, common for kids AND adults to hold a rope across the road and expect money, and throw rocks or try and steal stuff if you try to get by or stop. Best solution is to get off the bike and walk.. or ride through at the same time a car or truck is passing.

(2) Eastern Turkey (kurdish regions) just have a high level of hostility to strangers, and you will be victims of this. I had volleys of rocks thrown by individuals and groups, but always managed to get by. Some of them were remarkably harrowing and I often spent nights wondering how I made it through the day!

(3) I was in Iran and had very LITTLE hostility...but i'll be darned I came upon a group of kids who were throwing rocks already at each other and they just decided I was a neutral target! :) They missed.

(4) The only time I was hit by a rock was at point blank range by a guy who popped out of an alley in Pakistan's Northern Frontier restricted zone. Got hit in the back, but kept going, it largely glanced off me.

(5) The biggest problem in Vietnam are the corrupt police who often, if they hear you are staying in a host family's house, will show up and force you to stay at some local hotel at a ridiculous price in exchange for a fat kickback.

These incidents happen because gutless state departments (the US, among others, but we are by far the worst) are too spineless to confront regional authorities about such behavior, viewing it as a "domestic" issue.

Don't forget the wealth your bicycle and equipment mean in many of the third world ratholes you ride through on
these tours. A $700 fuji is more than the annual wages for many youths (and not so young) in many of these regions.

I got by a couple ways.

(1) walk the bike through any trouble that you can't speed through. You can not defend yourself and it is dangerous to be surrounded when you have both feet off the ground! :)

(2) Keep some worthless coins like mexican pesos or Vietnamese dong to throw to the animals.

(3) I did not carry a "weapon" nor was I interested in confrontation (I was usually smiling and singing, deception is the best tactic) bit I did carry a "riding crop" that I used to fight off dogs and it scares people too.

(4) Snatch and grabbers will generally scoot away as soon as they "get" something, so I used to put a plastic bag full of worthless stuff loosely on across the top of my bungie cords in back, and they'd snag that. It happened a grand total of one time. :)

I have a (largely humorous but it is practical) about "cycling in dangerous places," on my world tour website, Roughstuffs' World Cycling Network.

In DC I've been chased/threatened/punched by kids & in Northern Virginia have had a pebble & soda cup thrown at me. Morocco is a natural touring destination for Spanish/Euro bike tourers so it's unfortunate to read that there's some rock-throwing kids.