Californian

I've made the investment in cold weather gear and lighting this year and I've been riding after work here in Sacramento on the American River Bike Trail in the darkness each evening. The MiNewt.200 does a great job of keeping the path illuminated, and while the bike trail keeps you far from any cars, my big threat up until now has been deer & bunnies.

Last week was a near full moon, with temps in the high 40's and an occasional rain drop which made for pleasant riding conditions. I was about 10 miles down the trail (in the William Pond area for those familiar with the local area) and had made my turn back for home. There were very few riders out ; I'd only passed about 4 others in the first half hour. I crossed the American River and came to an open area where my peripheral vision caught something not quite right in the field immediately adjacent to the path.

I glanced to my right to see/hear at least 3 figures, clad in black head to toe, stand up from the weeds and start growling and grunting as I passed by at cruising speed. In the same instant they starting throwing things at me...in the moonlight whatever it was appeared lightly colored, and judging by the 2 objects that actually made contact with me, it wasn't full blown rocks. One hit me directly in the groin, the other bounced off my helmet and barely registered (kudos to Bigfoot & Friends on their throwing accuracy .vs a moving target).

I think because of their apparent height and timbre of their voices, I took it all to be a teen/pre-teen prank and didn't feel any anger or fear. I patted myself down thinking it may have been eggs: it was not. I stood and peddaled until the groin pain began to fade and came across a fully lit rider pulled off to the side who gestured to me. She asked if I'd also been assaulted by the Bigfoot Kids and was on the phone with the Park Patrol reporting the incident. She'd mentioned it was the 2nd time this week she'd been shouted at and otherwise attacked and was hoping the Rangers would flush out the attackers as they didn't appear to be getting bored with it.

All things considered, it could have been much worse..especially if they were throwing heavy rocks. I think for this week's evening rides I'll head the opposite direction rather than arm myself with a defensive paint ball gun.

Have you had any non-asphalt confrontations where your helmet kept your skull in working order?

oilman_15106

No but I should have had my bike helmet on when I crashed into a tree on a snow saucer with my 4 year old granddaughter! Screwed up my shoulder again.

caloso

Holy crap! I ride there all the time but this is the first I've heard of it. Were they throwing dirt clods?

Keepfiring

Yea I try to avoid the Am. river trail at night, it's a great trail but you come across enough crazies even during the daytime. You heard about the guy who got assaulted by some some kid with a pipe a few months back?

Re: actual helmet protection question: not me, but my roommate got clonked in the helmet with an automatic parking garage gate while riding his commuter into the garage to store in the little bike locker thing. We still give him crap about it.

Starchalopakis

Booyakasha!!!!

Nachoman

Needless to say that's very dangerous. If the cops or park rangers don't do something about it quickly, maybe you should take matters into your own hands. Hitting them with a paintball pellet may just be more fun and games for these reckless brats.

bretgross

Glad that there's an official record of the incident. The ball is now in the court of the authorities. If they don't take action, and someone is injured, "Larry Parker" is gonna get richer!
Glad you weren't seriously injured.

caloso

Do us a favor and report it here: https://www.sacbike.org/hazard/

rydaddy

Crazy. I'll have to alert my coworkers who ride home that way.

Thanks for posting. Did not know about this.

Californian

Thanks for the link. Incident reported.

JoelS

Report it here too: https://www.bfro.net/

spry

Wait in the woods with your light off,when you hear the kids call the cops.
Glad it was not serious and hope your nutz get better.

spry

This is all wrong.
Bigfoot is a dude and would never hit a guy with a rock down there.

Staarkhand

True, didn't he get some John Lithgow-administered sensitivity training on the subject?

RichinPeoria

What would you carry when you are riding in the forest and are concerned that you will be attacked by Big Foot ?

Im thinking Bear Deterrent Spray ?

Keepfiring

Well, you could always ride around with your bear-suit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3CzYw5-qdA