Self defence when cycling (and other sports)

[Robbie Stewart]

Using a firearm is a split second event broken down into moments so quick you blink and you miss what happened. In a fluid situation with multiple people doing different things it becomes increasingly difficult to unravel moment by moment who's right and who's wrong. Go watch some videos on self defence where guns are involved in YouTube. Pay particular attention to how fast things happened. Notice how quick off the mark the gun owner has to be to survive the ordeal. Notice how quick things can turn against you. 

Now take all you've just learnt and apply that logic to being on a bicycle. You still so sure you can do it?

The best defence is to be actively engaged in fleeing the situation. Have situational awareness and suss out the situation, and if things make you uncomfortable then leave. If you find yourself in the fight it's a different matter, at which point if you choose to fight back you'd better be convinced you have the greatest chance of overcoming your foe. And even then, neutralise the threat and get out of there. Don't hang around. Leave as soon as feasibly possible.

For reference go watch Active Self Protection on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/c/ActiveSelfProtection

 

 

[Oli4]

11 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Not so long ago there was a guy who was hit off his bike with a big stick on Constantia Nek road going into Hout Bay.

One attacker ran and the other struggled to mount the guys bike and ride away, so in one fluid motion he grabbed a rock, tackled the guy off his bike and hit him over the head a few times with the rock.

The second assailant vanished. 

The guy mounted his bike and rode the 1.5km down to the police station in hout bay covered in his and the assailants blood to report the incident. 

I believe the guy in question kept it very quiet and now doesn't ride alone ever and takes the valley road turnoff to avoid the hout bay road stretch to chappies

Was this incident on Main Road between the Disa river turnoff and the township? Or higher up towards Constantia Neck? 

[MTBRIDER1234]

46 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Using a firearm is a split second event broken down into moments so quick you blink and you miss what happened. In a fluid situation with multiple people doing different things it becomes increasingly difficult to unravel moment by moment who's right and who's wrong. Go watch some videos on self defence where guns are involved in YouTube. Pay particular attention to how fast things happened. Notice how quick off the mark the gun owner has to be to survive the ordeal. Notice how quick things can turn against you. 

Now take all you've just learnt and apply that logic to being on a bicycle. You still so sure you can do it?

The best defence is to be actively engaged in fleeing the situation. Have situational awareness and suss out the situation, and if things make you uncomfortable then leave. If you find yourself in the fight it's a different matter, at which point if you choose to fight back you'd better be convinced you have the greatest chance of overcoming your foe. And even then, neutralise the threat and get out of there. Don't hang around. Leave as soon as feasibly possible.

For reference go watch Active Self Protection on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/c/ActiveSelfProtection

 

 

I am no expert, but have used firearms quite a few times. To aim and hit your target as opposed to sending off stray shots that are likely to hit some random person will take a few seconds. In which case the scollie who was already prepared has shot you.

Also how many people would actually be able to live with the conscience that they killed a man?

I hate these scumbag pieces of sh*t as much, if not more than the next guy. But seriously I would not be able to live the next however many years with the thought that I shot someone.

 

The police will accuse you of being racist, killing for no reason and the list goes on... most of the time when something like this happens they will not be on the side of the oke riding a flashy bike.

Just my opinion and I am no expert on firearms by any means haha

Edited June 17, 2022 by MTBRIDER1234

[Robbie Stewart]

10 hours ago, MTBRIDER1234 said:

shots that are likely to hit some random person will take a few seconds. In which case the scollie who was already prepared has shot you.

This is the MOST important thing to avoid. Firing a gun requires precision. You need to assess your surroundings and ensure that your backstop is not filled with innocent people. If you miss your target you had better be sure that there is no one behind your intended target. 

[Jewbacca]

10 hours ago, Oli4 said:

Was this incident on Main Road between the Disa river turnoff and the township? Or higher up towards Constantia Neck? 

As far as I know, between the Disa turn off and the police station

[SwissVan]

Ai reading this thread…. Some of us are really privileged not to have to think about self defense when we go out riding…. Other than what SPF (sun protection factor) to use.

 

[Robbie Stewart]

24 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Ai reading this thread…. Some of us are really privileged not to have to think about self defense when we go out riding…. Other than what SPF (sun protection factor) to use.

 

Nevermind considering safety while cycling. Earlier this week a guy in the neighborhood took a brick to the face while driving past Dunoon...

Luckily he came away from it with only bruises and scarring to his face... And therein lies the tragedy. That it's considered lucky to take a brick to the face while driving and not dying. 

Not sure how a gun could have prevented that.

[porqui]

5 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

As far as I know, between the Disa turn off and the police station

It usually happens in front of the graveyard and lower down to the circle at the police station. Most happen within 100m of the entrance to the settlement at the graveyard. It is scary how often it actually happens and most cyclists are not aware of the danger in that area.

[Jewbacca]

1 minute ago, porqui said:

It usually happens in front of the graveyard and lower down to the circle at the police station. Most happen within 100m of the entrance to the settlement at the graveyard. It is scary how often it actually happens and most cyclists are not aware of the danger in that area.

Yeah

Our normal loop involves going right at Disa, then right at world of birds up Ruyteplaat then back to the bottom of chappies to avoid that stretch

[porqui]

4 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Yeah

Our normal loop involves going right at Disa, then right at world of birds up Ruyteplaat then back to the bottom of chappies to avoid that stretch

I live at the graveyard and mostly I cycle up towards Disa and then down Valley (But that is also to add 10 km to my ride)

Do you go through Ruyterplaats and can that be done with a road bike?

Edited June 18, 2022 by porqui

[MTBRIDER1234]

4 minutes ago, porqui said:

I live at the graveyard and mostly I cycle up towards Disa and then down Valley (But that is also to add 10 km to my ride)

Do you go through Ruyterplaats and can that be done with a road bike?

Pretty sure the Ruyteplaats route that Jewbacca is talking about (if we are thinking of the same one) is offorad, so if you have a road bike, you will have to carry it a few hundred meters till you get back to the road.

[Jewbacca]

17 minutes ago, porqui said:

I live at the graveyard and mostly I cycle up towards Disa and then down Valley (But that is also to add 10 km to my ride)

Do you go through Ruyterplaats and can that be done with a road bike?

We call it 'spicy Gravel' and we do it on road bikes. 

The section that has the gate in the middle and then climbs up to the mossy red brick paving. We pop out the boom, head up towards the restaurant gates then hang a left to join the top of suikerbossie. It's very rideable on road bikes. 

Descend suikerbossie and head on to chappies. Job done

[tinmug]

I got lucky once: on hike with wife – nobody around for miles – then saw someone running in corner of eye to intercept us a 100-or-so feet ahead. Sent wife running back to car park, and I  started running towards the attacker. He stopped immediately, turned and ran away from me. 

But an utterly stupid thing to do, as most attackers would be armed. Avoidance is the best option. But the cable Roodie Sjambok™️ is a very good idea. 

[Jewbacca]

34 minutes ago, tinmug said:

I got lucky once: on hike with wife – nobody around for miles – then saw someone running in corner of eye to intercept us a 100-or-so feet ahead. Sent wife running back to car park, and I  started running towards the attacker. He stopped immediately, turned and ran away from me. 

But an utterly stupid thing to do, as most attackers would be armed. Avoidance is the best option. But the cable Roodie Sjambok™️ is a very good idea. 

I run up the mountain alone a lot. 

If you encounter anyone you are unsure of, leave the path and go about 10m off to the side. If they walk past and wave or walk past you're gold. If they wait/loiter or leave the path towards you, run away. 

They have no business following you to where you are. 

 

[porqui]

On 6/18/2022 at 3:38 PM, Jewbacca said:

We call it 'spicy Gravel' and we do it on road bikes. 

The section that has the gate in the middle and then climbs up to the mossy red brick paving. We pop out the boom, head up towards the restaurant gates then hang a left to join the top of suikerbossie. It's very rideable on road bikes. 

Descend suikerbossie and head on to chappies. Job done

Did this today  -  sweet.

It is not the same one as it was many years ago but I like it and it feels like a breeze. Will become a regular. Do not like the section from the circle at the nursery to about 100m past the traffic lights.

 

[roodie]

On 6/15/2022 at 5:31 PM, roodie said:

After I was bikejacked by 4 guys and knifes in the middle of the day on Marine drive  coming of the N1 on a Sat morning 1130 in traffic, I decided it's time to make sure I can at least defend myself. Coming from law enforcement and understanding the consequences of using a gun and the impracticality of it I did some research as a gun is not an option for me.
My conclusion was the following.
There are so many different scenarios that u can find yourself in and the BEST form of defence is to make space between yourself and your attacker as fast as possible. That worked for me on the day and I got away with my life and (lucky enough my bike) 
But if I was a second or 2 later I would have been on top of them and the situation would have looked very different and I had no way of defending myself at all.
Every person is different and from a safety perspective everyone will respond different but I had to arm myself for the possibility that I may well be faced with a knife or a gun.
Ultimately I just wanted some level of safety and also not just a single item or way of defence.
It had to be something that can cause injury and also something I could carry on me comfortably as well as hidden out of site but easy to get to.
So I made myself a defence whip and this gives me some reach in case of a knife attacker and is also "manual" in a sense and failsafe to some extend. It will cause some serious pain when it hit a target.
My second item is a knife and what I realized when they attacked me is that whatever defence I need must be on my body so that if I am on the ground I can access these items
to defend myself in case an attacker is using a weapon like a knife.
I am sharing so that other are also aware ( I know we all are in SA) and in 10 years it's the first time it happened to me,but it did and I know many are not as fortunate and some pay with serious injuries or even death. 
This apply to not just cycle but any outdoors sport or just normal life. 
I also had to think about the reality of using these items and a good idea to practice deploying them in different scenarios. 
I add some pictures for reference. The items are light and the belt I am using is super comfortable and carry both weapons with ease and within reach.

DM me if you want one ill make them on request