Jackal

I was riding on the trail on Sunday afternoon, and was physically attacked by a pedestrian.

He was walking right in the middle of the bike trail, and as I was riding by (at 18 mph) this perpetrator kicked me in the thigh, presumably to knock me off of my bike. I was completely stunned. I am fine, besides some bruising, but it could have been worse, especially if I had caught him.

He ran off, and I could probably have caught him, but its probably good I didn't.

What would you have done?

Long story short, be careful out there.

Elvo

Where was this?

elcruxio

Personally I would have made a citizens arrest and called the cops. Then again that's just me.

superdx

The hell? Maybe he was just a crazy person? If he was looking to rob you, you'd think he'd have kept it up.

jmio

would have been a bad, very bad day for that guy, but, i'm 220 military trained and love to give a good a$$ whoopin! I only cycle to cut up from lifting, so not your typical skinny cyclist. good on you for not catching him. Did you call the cops?

Machka 

1. You ride a ROAD bicycle ... right?

2. What were you doing riding 18 mph on a MUP, and not only a MUP but a MUP with pedestrians?

3. And how did a pedestrian manage to kick you in the thigh while you passed him at 18 mph?? That was one amazing shot.

Dudelsack 

Yup. I get the feeling we're not hearing the whole story.

Campag4life

The guy may have pissed that you were riding so fast OP by him...he took it as disrespect.

I will say the smart thing is never fight. To deny that there is a small cross-section...some would say big ...that isn't crazy is to deny the obvious. Its the same with any confrontation...including road rage. Best to avoid angry crazy people.

But, that doesn't keep guys from fighting at times...sometimes with costly consequences.

badger1

This ^^^^

dvdslw

Breaking News!!! You cant ride your "Road Bike" on the "Bike Trail", Really??? I don't know where you guys live but here in Central Florida you can most certainly ride your road bike on the bike trails. Every bike shop in town has weekly rides on them and you cant go out at any time of day without either passing them or being passed by them. To the op, glad you're ok and I would have probably done the same thing unless I had been thrown from the bike or crashed. Better to avoid confrontation when possible because you just never know who or what you're dealing with. I would have called the police with a description of the guy and left the dirty work up to them. As far as hearing the whole story, who knows, we weren't there but just last week there was a crazy homeless guy swinging a golf club at passers by on the West Orange Trail and the Police had just detained him as I was riding by. I wasn't there to see if he had been provoked but he was acting crazy and looked pretty intoxicated. Maybe he was upset with how fast you were passing? Maybe he wanted your bike? Maybe he was crazy?

achoo

I wonder what kind of responses the OP would have gotten had he posted he was going 14 mph instead of 18.

They're not that much different.

phoebeisis

He heard you and pivoted in time to land a kick?

Tell us more.
Did he appear to be laying for you-sorta' planning to kick the next cyclist
or was he startled-lashed out? can't be that since you would have veered to clear him by as much as possible??
What was said ?
surely he "MoFo-ed" you?? said something??

unionmade

No excuse whatsoever for a pedestrian to attempt to hurt a cyclist. I hope the cops catch him.

I do try to stay away from the MUP's on my road bike. I don't even like them for my commute. Pedestrians are just too unpredictable.

merlinextraligh

This obviously varies by where you live and the specific trail. In Jacksonville, you can routinely do 20mph without a problem. For the most part, there aren't that many users, and other than the first mile or so, slow cyclists, kids, pedestrians, dogs etc. are few and far between.

But when you're around any of the above you need to slow down and give them a wide berth. I simply assume they are going to do the stupidist thing possible, and pass them in a manner that they couldn't hit me if they tried.

They've got the right of way on the MUP, and its your obligation not to hit them, no matter how stupid they act. Here it was intentional, but if the OP was prepared for them to mistakenly jump into him, he couldn't have kicked him.

RIRview

Here where I live, the MUP's are clearly marked with painted lanes that not only say "Bikes" and "Peds," they also have symbols (footprints and a bike stencil). While most people stay in their designated lanes, there are always clueless walkers who stroll down the middle of the bike lane, and either appear annoyed or startled when bikes have to swerve to avoid them.

Machka 

That's what your bell is for.

Heathpack 

Well in our town, we have two different things: MUP and Class I bike paths.

The MUP are unpaved and used for biking, hiking/walking, and horseback riding. Everyone is supposed to yield to equestrians, and bikers yield to hikers/walkers.

Class I bike paths are different things- paved and used for cycling & pedestrians. Almost all of them have a sidewalk for pedestrian use and two bike lanes separated by a dashed yellow line. The bike lanes are painted with bicycle symbols and the sidewalk is marked with pedestrian symbols. There are no official right of way rules published, just ride to the right & ride safely. No published speed limit for cyclists. I assume there are no published right-of-way rules because the paths are designed such that cyclists will be seperated from pedestrians.

Of course this is not what happens, pedestrians walk on the bike path rather than on the sidewalk. So you definitely have to watch your speed or (better yet) ride in the lonely part of the day. But as a general rule, I'd have zero guilt riding fast on a bike path, especially if doing so is an alternative to gumming up rush hour traffic on a 4 lane road. I wish actually there was some sort of bicycle cop patrol that would ride around and remind pedestrians that everyone would be safer if they walked in their designated lane.

H

BillyD

The problem is that if he admitted to 18 he was probably doing 22 or more. We're not hearing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Frankly, my suspicions arise right away when I hear a sob story.

So Mr. Jackal, you going to come back and explain yourself, or are you content to just toss a grenade in the room?

wphamilton

I had the same thought and in this scenario I doubt that the bicycle speed was much of the issue.

Not enough information.

therhodeo

This is always true of my posts. If I say I rode 30 miles at 22mph then likely I'm just being humble and I went 25.

Heathpack 

Except @Machka, 95% of the peds are wearing earbuds and cannot hear you. I wish that there was some huge societal shift towards the only acceptable behavior out in public being situational awareness/attentiveness as to what's going on around you.

H

SpeshulEd 

Unless you're going 12mph and gawking at the trees, I don't even see the point of being on an MUP. I find the ones around here more dangerous than the road.

gsa103

You should report the incident to the police along with a description. The police will do nothing, unless it happens to another cyclist, in which case, your report will establish a pattern of behavior and can help get a more aggressive prosecution.

Gallo

The guy gets kicked and it is his fault?

wow

so I can feel free to assault anyone I deem is performing bad behavior?

To answer op question I am not sure I would have behaved as well as you did. I most likely would have chased down and confronted. What happens next I cannot guess. My guess is escalation.

I think you did the right thing. I think calling the police and reporting is a good idea. I hope it never happens again

darb85

yelling slow down would have been the correct plan of attack from the ped. but you need to slow down on mup. but that is crazy.