NovaSteve

I love all the posters here.

I'm 23, and commuting about 12 miles roundtrip every day for about a month here in Woodbridge, Virginia, and I've been reading the posts here regularly in that time. It's probably saved my life.

I bought my bike (a $250 Trek mountain bike) about a year ago to get me through a time while my car was getting repaired. Woodbridge/ Dale City is by no means a bike friendly area, it's not a car friendly area either, it's not a people or environmental friendly area either. It's in the top 100 for worst commutes in the USA, and nobody has ever heard of this place. They're all trying to get out, that's why.

On my second night riding home from work, at 9:30 pm, April 2004, on a Friday, I decided to go see a movie figuring there would be less traffic when it let out. I was right, I pretty much had the roads to myself at 1:30 am. I didn't know anything about rules of the road with a bike then, I figured it was okay to ride on the left side as long as I stayed out of the road. I had one close call early on with a driver who was making an illegal left turn on a red light, and he didn't see me crossing the road he was illegally turning on to. It didn't bother me too much though.

At 2 am, I finally got to the BP gas station which marked my street. After turning on to it, I heard some feet running behind me and turned to look, and got punched right in the face and my glasses flew off. I stumbled off my bike and sort of crouched down submissively, there weren't any street lights around, or houses at that particular part of the mostly residential thru-street, and I was still being hit. I couldn't tell how many people were attacking me at the time, but reflecting on it I think it was two. They dragged me around by the loop on my backpack, and tugged on my helmet. One of them shouted, "Take off your Mother-f-ing helmet!!" But I was never given a chance to do so. At one point I got up and ran for the gas station which was the closest lit area around, shouting "Help!!" But I was quickly tackled again and told to, "Shut the F- up!!" And beaten some more. Then they ran and rode off with my bike. I still had my backpack, helmet, and wallet, but I got too scared and gave up feeling around for my glasses, and walked back to my house.

I called the police, and they quickly came over and told me they found somebody with a bike and drove me over to the spot to identify him. I had my old glasses on by then. I couldn't honestly identify him though because I never saw the attackers. They took him in though, he was on my bike which had a flat tire, and the occupant had scratched hands, and he was drunk. Pictures were taken of my bleeding swollen face, one of my eyes stayed swollen shut for a week, and stayed bloodshot long after that. I could see out of it okay though. I asked the cop if he wanted to fingerprint my helmet, and he said it wasn't necessary. The next day my brother came over and we went out and found my glasses. On my court day a month later, the lawyer stooge said it was pointless to go in because I didn't have enough proof, and pretty much told me to go home. I said I still had the helmet and said they could try to get some fingerprints off of it, and the cop from that night said he could come by my house and pick it up, but he never did. And that's how that ended. I figured the helmet probably rolled around in the back of my car enough to have worn the prints off anyway. I pretty much got *****, I'm sure I would've been had I been a woman, there were woods right beside the road, and like most **** cases the criminal was never convicted. What would've jail done to make him a nicer person anyway? I hope the close call he had to losing his freedom shook some sense into him.

I haven't lost my hope in humanity yet, and against the wishes of my friends and family I'm riding my bike at night again. Not at 2 in the morning this time. I donated my car to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. It had been a financial vortex, I never drove it very far, for fear it would break down, and I always kept my bike in the back to be ready for that.

Like the house in The World According To Garp, I feel my bike has been pre-disastered, I've had a good time on it since then. One of my previous bikes while I was living in Minnesota was stolen from my second floor apartment balcony, along with my sister's. Another bike was borrowed and never returned by one of my Brother's Mormon friends, whose bike was stolen. And I've had lots of tires slashed. In the last month, I've been honked and shouted at, had a bad spill, scraping the hell out of my left hand, and it makes it so much easier to read your stories of the same. Thanks!

scottogo

Hello.
I read your story and it's like humor from hell. I hope you are ok. Are you using a light? If those things had happened to me I'd probably roll up into a ball for a month at least. Thanks for your courage to keep going.

NovaSteve

Yeah, I have a light. I've put reflective tape on my helmet and backpack, and I keep lots of repair supplies in my bag too. Humor from Hell is a good way of describing it. My Aunts came to visit a few weeks ago from Texas, and we were riding in my Mother's car, and it was night, and we were waiting at the same light to turn left by the BP gas station. My Mom made a comment about the TV that we could see playing inside the SUV in front of us. She said it looked like they were watching porn. It was a video of a bunch of naked pole dancers, my Aunts got a kick out of it and everybody laughed at the time, but later on that night when I thought about it, it was pretty depressing. Maybe not if it was at a different intersection, I don't know.

cc_rider

Sounds like you had a very bad day. Glad you've recovered.
Woodbridge does have a rough reputation, but you can get jumped anywhere. Falls Church has some rough spots, one of them about two blocks from my house.
I'm starting to think that carrying pepper spray might be a good idea, or one of those screamer alarms. Just in case.

rideabike

This would be amusing if it weren't a true story. I feel badly for you.

Good thing you didn't take the helmet off though. That's probably not a good idea in the middle of a beating.

NovaSteve

I don't mind if my story is amusing. I'm a Darwin Award waiting to happen. That helmet really saved me from a lot of damage, because I could really feel those knocks through it. I would've done almost anything they said, I wasn't in the mood to fight in that moment, I was just thinking about getting a snack and going to bed right before it happened.

I've lived in the Woodbridge area for almost 8 years, and that was the only violent incident I've ever had. A few weeks after my thing, a guy I know who works at a store I go to a lot was walking through a well lit shopping center parking lot and he got stabbed in the back by a stranger. He recovered but the assaulters were never caught. I started reading the crime reports a lot after that. About 6 months before the DC sniper thing, there was someone on Minneville road who sat out somewhere shooting people through car windows with a BB gun. I don't think that person was ever caught. I don't get the local paper anymore. It's just so much of that random violent crap. In a time you'd think there'd be a solidarity among Americans especially in the DC region who was directly affected by 9/11 and the Snipers, I would have thought there'd be more of a sense of community around here.

My brother got really sick in March this year and was staying at the hospital, and he was very delirious and ran off at 9 pm down the corridor, out the doors, and jumped the fence. I drove around all night looking for him, and in doing so I passed the scene of somebody killed by a car on Rt. 1. It turned out he was a cyclist and there was traces of green paint on the frame and then they found a green bumber of a Ford Explorer further up the road. I don't know if that was ever solved, I was keeping an eye out for that in the papers for a few months, but never saw anything. You'd think it'd be pretty easy. My brother was fine, I ended up finding him at 1:30, standing by himself outside Wal-Mart, the third time I passed there, with a set of new bedsheets under his arm. He recovered within a few days, it was a mix of malnutrition, mono, and regular medication he takes for his diabetis insipitis (sp?).

I know it's not just around here, and I don't mean to make Woodbridge sound like a rough spot. Some of the most talented people I've ever met live around here. There's a crazy stress with people all over the world. Early in 2000, in Minnesota there was a 17 year old guy in Minneapolis named Tony Basta who went to the Perpich Arts High School the year before I attended there, he rode his bike home from his girlfriend's house and got shot and killed by a car full of people who didn't know him. Luckily they got caught. They were bragging about it at a party a few days later, and someone heard and told the police.

I moved to a different neighborhood from where I was attacked in 2004, it isn't on a through-street. I've plotted a pretty good route away from side streets, and I won't go out as late as I did that time. One of the things I wonder is if I had been out on the street, if it would have happened. It would've been more of an effort for someone to run out from a yard or a parking lot, out into the middle of a road to catch me. Plus there'd be a better chance for a passing car to see. Now I don't ride on the sidewalks through neighborhoods (something I picked up from here), and I go a lot faster.

I played around with my sister's pepper spray once as a kid and it blew back in my face a little. I don't want to mess around with it anymore. That screamer horn might be a good idea.

Newberry

Keep that positive attitude. I've felt the same way many times. Most of the houses where I ride are inhabited by non-working folks, and two meth labs have been found in our area. There are lots of great people here as well, but the "drones" can sure get aggravating.
I have some pepper spray on order to keep on my bike. Its from the same people who make the club, and supposed to be ok for storage in direct sunlight, or in a car.

One of those lanyard pull-pin alarms would be a good investment in a rougher area like yours. Good luck!

telenick

I grew up in Northern Virginia and left for Colorado in '84 ...about the same age you are now. VA, MD, DC weren't much gentler back then. I was pistol whipped in Anacostia when I was 16. I don't like urban life very much.

I've been living in a small mountain town for the last 10 years. Sometimes I forget how angry the world can be because it's so gentle where I live. I have to say that your story reminds me of how nice it is here.

I grew up in a family of artists too.