Two bikes were stolen in Frostburg by a couple of juvenile detention escapees. We took two replacement bikes down to them and sent them on their way. We were at the Irwin exit on the turnpike and they were in Cumberland when the police called saying they recovered the bikes and caught the thieves. The owner of the Trail Inn picked them up, took them to the police station to recover their bikes and stored the replacements until we were able to retrieve them. I guess you could say that it was more of an opportunistic theft than one of targeting bikes on the trail, (wrong place, wrong time). However, I'm certain that had they locked the bikes with even a light cable the thieves would have looked elsewhere.

As a side note, later in the trip they stopped at Bill's Place in Little Orleans and the lady that worked there saw them locking their bikes and told them not to worry that no one would take their bikes. She took offense when they continued to lock their bikes until they went inside told her their story.

I also did the GAP earlier and felt very safe the entire time. When I did it I used an eye cable and padlock and looped the cable around my bike and through a tent pole before locking my bike. I figured I'd notice it if someone was messing with my tent pole to get to the bike.

+1. Thank You. Well put. For some reason certain people find trouble over and over, while others have no issues. I don't think that's all about the circumstances. It's also heavily influenced by attitude. Look for trouble, and you're more likely to find it. Practice situational awareness. But not with a chip on your shoulder. Be friendly and assume you'll get the same.

That's a life lesson, but circumstance cannot be discounted.

That is a terrific point! There is something very fundamental about being able to make eye contact. Couple that with a friendly smile and most folks are very friendly in return.

However, the subject of this thread is in direct contradiction to your statement. But yes, one should always try to be pleasant.

On a lighter note, what do you think of the AWOL? I'm thinking of buying a frameset for a winter build, I thought about purchasing one but I want to cut my steerer to my desired length and I have to have a triple in front.

You sure about that. You should have been with me on my recent trip. I couldn't get away from people. It seemed like everytime I stopped and got off the bike someone wanted to talk with me about the ride. I've never had that experience before but this year was incredible. Admittedly, even here around home people are always looking at my homemade coroplast fenders. They definitely stick out like a sore thumb. They work great too.

That's horribly tragic, but I don't think that's a direct contradiction at all - I said most folks will be friendly in return and I still believe that, though it clearly may not apply to people with serious mental illness or schizophrenia. But what a horrible thing to happen to that young man

I don't want to derail the thread, but I'll just say that I love it! I've done some touring on it, loads of commuting and use it for general errands, shopping and the like. I've got full fenders on mine, racks on the front and back and I swapped out the saddle for a B17.

It would make a great, versatile winter bike. And I do plan on riding mine through the winter, though around here (the BC west coast) that mostly entails lots of rain.

[QUOTE=winston63;17095971

I don't want to derail the thread, but I'll just say that I love it! I've done some touring on it, loads of commuting and use it for general errands, shopping and the like. I've got full fenders on mine, racks on the front and back and I swapped out the saddle for a B17.

It would make a great, versatile winter bike. And I do plan on riding mine through the winter, though around here (the BC west coast) that mostly entails lots of rain.[/QUOTE]

I run an AWOL as well and will be riding it on this trip, It is a pretty awesome bike. I haven't had any issues with it whatsoever. I'm running front and rear racks on it with some 42c tires and it rides like a dream!

Yea I am planning on avoiding the Williston area, I got the maps with the southern remapped route for my trip. Its the wild west up there with the oil boom going on. I hunt out there every fall and the conditions in towns up there have completely deteriorated. Can't even go into the bars anymore without expecting a brawl.

+1 My experience coincides exactly with this (17,000+ touring miles & cross-country hitch-hiking in my teens)

Yeah, that's been my experience. I wondered about the 42 cm tires, but I've found they roll just fine and the bike is a pleasure to ride under load.

Thanks for the input.

Don't kid yourself. Rural America is loaded with drugs. A rural police officer has one of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement because they tend to work alone in remote areas.

That said, I would not worry about it. Use your radar as others have mentioned. If you are going to stealth camp then be sure to look around. Make sure you are really in a stealth site and not nearby to some oxy user's party zone.

Hence one of the reason I like to hit camp late. If the druggies aren't there already then I pretty much don't have too much to worry about anyone showing up after 11:30PM when I show up to camp. At the same time when I show up to camp most people are already in bed so I don't have to worry about anyone calling the cops on me or anyone seeing me go to the campsite and deciding to come out and check on what I'm doing themselves. I may not get as much sleep as you get but I have less to deal with than you do.

I will fess I did run into a rather strange and unusual situation toward the end of the recent trip. I camped out behind a vacant store. It was in a strip mall and the other end of the mall had a grocery store in it. The end I was behind was being renovated...asbestos being removed according to what I saw on the signs when I checked out the area when I first got into town. The side door to the building was wide open...Sunday night. Out front you could hear the radio playing as someone forgot to shut it off. I set up camp around 11:30PM and headed off to sleep under clear skies and watching the meteors fly by overhead. I woke up 1-1.5 hours later and then I saw headlights coming from the far end of the building. I pretty much it had to the cops, but in this small town(Tupper Lake, NY)???? It didn't make any sense at all. The car kept coming and it had on the side spotlight as it went by me. It went right by me and didn't stop. It went around the corner of the building and shut off the spotlight as it went around the corner of the building. I was stumped. I was expecting to get busted and get thrown out. About 30-45 seconds later the car comes back and pulls up beside me...I didn't have the tent setup as there were no bugs or rain to worry about. The cop comes out of the car and asks me if I was okay and I said yeah I got into town late and saw the possible campsite and decided to use it. He got back in his vehicle and left. Nothing more said, didn't even check my ID. A couple of hours later he went by again and didn't stop that time. Definitely, in this day and age, the weirdest experience I've ever had. It's only the second time I've ever been paid a visit by the cops.

Not all that strange really. I have had similar encounters when camped in town parks.

In Texas (or maybe it was just over the line into Louisiana) when I was camped under a bridge, the cops gave a little wave and then went on when I waved back. It was a turn around point for at least three different varieties of law enforcement (state, natural resources, and maybe county) and all of them did the same thing.

We had a similar experience in Wyoming when we camped at a rest area, just behind the wall that said "no camping". It was a 120 mile stretch of sage brush with the rest stop about in the middle. We could have wild camped anywhere, but due to helping a lady at the rest stop, we were delayed well into the afternoon. It had hot water and bathrooms, so there was little incentive to move out into the sagebrush. Another cyclist that we had been leapfrogging since Yellowstone joined us. The police officer came in shortly after dark, shined his light our way, saw the bikes, and turned around and left. I think it is pretty common.

A buddy and I had the same experience in Weed, CA years ago. We woke to a uniform saying "when you boys wake up, we have coffee across the street". It was just two tired climbers crashed on a piece of green grass. I prefer to believe that most people are good at heart; and I treat them that way. I'm rarely disappointed. That said, I'm not naive...my SA is pretty good. If I'm uncomfortable, I'll pull out a credit card and grab a bed. If someone really scares me...well we'll see eh?

Sounds cold and dark. Other than that, have a great trip!

Yep, like most native species, they are more afraid of us than we are of them. It could happen, but in forty years of traveling by bike, I have yet to have a notably bad experience.

Marc