I've been cycling (mostly MTB?ing) for several years now and have never been the victim of any sort of "bike crime" until I picked up my bike again this year... A few weeks back I was chased by a group of youngsters near Retreat and was lucky enough to anticipate the trouble and got away in time with these ?scavenger? kids screaming "bring your bike here whitey" behind me. Sorry to say, but these children behave far more like animals than humans. I was attacked last night while I was cycling home from a local PnP at about 8pm. I had my bike lights on (two Silverback LED flashy thingies) and noticed a character about 20 metres in front of me. I immediately knew something was up with this guy and anticipated an attack of some sort. He stretched his arm into his jacket pocket and pulled out a knife - by this time I was all alone, and about 10 metres away - too close to turn my bike around. My "fight or flight" instinct kicked in and I started pedalling as fast as I could, towards him (what the hell was I thinking!) - I approached him at about 25k?s and lifted my front wheel as high as I could and wheelied right into the guy, knocking him off his feet. I remember feeling his knife shave my right arm as I shoved past him. Everything happened so fast I can?t understand how I didn?t wipe out because my feet were still clipped into my pedals and my front wheel landed at one heck of an angle in a pile of loose stones (I have my WTB velociraptors to thank for this, I think). At this point I just wanted to get as far away from this guy as possible. After I had cycled a fair distance down Prince George, I turned my lights off and purposely cycled back along the wrong side of the road (my mentality was to confuse him and perhaps disappear in the flood of traffic lights). My chest was on fire, and I felt like my heart was going to attempt a solo flight. I stopped a little further down the road and pulled my can of pepper spray out of my pocket and slowly made my way home (he attacked me on the corner of the road I use to get home, so I had to go back) ? the attacker was gone. Hopefully I did some damage when I hit him with my bike. I escaped without a single scratch... Now, there are a few lessons I?ve learned from this nasty experience: If you?re going to carry pepper spray or any other self defence item, make sure it?s accessible and within reach. Mine was in a zipped pocket and if I had been pulled off my bike I would NOT have been able to get to when I needed it. 2. Learn how to defend yourself on a bicycle and learn how to use your bike as a weapon ? in all honesty, I have PACIFIC BLUE to thank for my little stunt (remember that old ?bike cop? show on SABC a few years back?), which may have saved my bike and possibly my life. I used to watch TC Callaghan and the rest of the bike cops do their thing on their Trek Y22?s! Be VERY alert ? have eyes everywhere &observe your distant surroundings. I?m posting this as an eye openener for all fellow cyclists.
