Bike jacked
 

Yesterday a famIly friend was Intentionally struck by a motor vehicle. They took his work bicycle and other belongings and fled the seen. This happened in Redlands California.

scene

Easy picking... I am sure we are going to see more incidents. Saw a touring cyclist just the other day. His front bar was loaded with well placed and secured Cell Phone, GPS Device, Go Pro, and a copula other things. Just the mounting devices looked well over a 100 USD. He had a Giro Helmet with color matching Topeak Panners on what appeared to be a Carbon bike. As we passed I remember the set up distinctly because I slowed down the car and said to my wife, "Wow... That's a Colnago". Of course she is thinking, No.,. Not another bicycle.

I have no idea what the total worth of his ride was but I do note that in the wrong area... Easy Pickings...

Personally, I think this thread should be locked right now to protect the innocent. This could get ugly. Either an actual police report or other corroborated account or its off the table for speculation.

My practice is to have my cell phone, wallet and keys in my jersey pockets. I am prepared to walk away (run, probably) from the bike if my life is at risk.

Whom do you propose to protect. With this diatribe The limited info is to protect someone who was attacked. I named the city because there is allot of cyclists who ride there. I don't know if this was random or targeted on our friend.

My neighbor had a co-worker who was flagged down by a pedestrian last year. When he stopped, the pedestrian shoved him off his bike, grabbed the bike & rode away before the cyclist could even stand up.

A similar situation presented itself about 4 years ago. I was riding in South Seattle. A street person was walking in the middle of the road & tried to flag me down. I sped up. He looked more urgent & took another step towards my path. I moved over...& sped up. This happened a few times. At this point I was in a full 35mph sprint with my eyes locked on his & like him, my shoulder is down like I'm ready for football tackle impact. When he finally realizes "this is gonna hurt" he stands up & flails himself backwards as I go by.

I was very thankful the situation ended with out incident. Adrenaline powered fight mode doesn't last long.

Bike jacking is real.

I park my bicycle against a tree sometimes on my way to meet the wife at a community college. It has the only shade for several miles and is in front of the court house and highway patrol. An individual parked his pickup truck 10 or so feet from the bicycle and made a run for it. I stood up and his approach slowed and he turned and ran back to his pickup. I was prepared to hose him with bear spray but the site of me was enough to detour his something for nothing desires. I like most people don't like thugs. These kind of incident's and worse have been rare in my life and I hope they stay that way.

You reminded me of another incident.

I once was on a century ride & stopped at a park bench to enjoy a sandwich. From my vantage I could see a guy in a pick up staked out watching a porta-potty adjacent to the bike trail. He was hunting. Waiting for some poor sap to leave his kilo-buck bike outside as he used the john.

It didn't take long for Mr. Pickup to grab & go.

From then on I only ever choose the large handicapped John's where that have room enough to bring a bike inside.

Redlands is my home town and I continue to read the local paper and police and FD 'blotters'. Some of my children still live there. So far I have found NO reports of this actually occurring so I'd like to see some sort of verification, please.

Where did you hear about this incident? It seeks that there should be some sort of verification such as a link to a news story. This doesn't hold much weight as just a here-say anecdote.

However I also agree that there is a possibility of being bike-jacked that we need to be aware of. As a solo rider, there are areas I am hesitant to ride due to the possibility of something happening be it bike theft or mugging.

Cyclists are regarded as soft targets because they rarely have any means to defend themselves, especially in California: https://www.adventure-journal.com/20...reas-eastside/

If more cyclists would take responsibility for having the means to defend themselves from threats not just to the possession of their property, but the threats to their lives that were present in at least five verified incidents reported in the link above and by many other news sources, they wouldn't be so easily presumed to be the soft targets that they are.

From a tactical standpoint cyclists are at a huge disadvantage and there's no ideal solution.

I'm not suggesting tactcs. The fact is, anybody coming under a sudden ambush is at a tactical disadvantage. What I'm saying is that cyclists have a perception problem. That perception of vulnerability is no different than the same perception about other classes of victims like women and the elderly. The perception of those classes is altered in their favor when there is a prevalance of equalizers. The lack of an "ideal" solution isn't cause for inaction and capitulation.

Read the first post and not all incidents are reported.

[QUOTE][However I also agree that there is a possibility of being bike-jacked that we need to be aware of. As a solo rider, there are areas I am hesitant to ride due to the possibility of something happening be it bike theft or mugging./QUOTE]

It matters not weather YOU agree or not.

Wouldn't reporting an assault and theft of a bicycle and other belongings be worth reporting? I wasn't so much doubting the veracity of your OP but now it looks more like fear mongering than an effort to raise awareness of a situation by anecdotal evidence.

And you are right. MY opinion doesn't matter to you. But when you post something in an online forum you are going to get varying opinions. That is kind of how internet forums work.

You asume much. As stated before not all incidents get reported to the media.

You are wanting more info and I am having to go with NOYB.

Happens to joggers as well, for wallet and cellphone.
And there are simple attacks
I ride very early , given the summer heat here, and MUP attacks have gone up for trivial monetary value and thuggery from whatever cause.
This is approaching what the moto guys called "Glock in the tankbag" levels of insecurity

It has changed my riding

Update on being bike jacked: Our friends Humerus was damaged during the attack to the point of needing surgery so he won't lose his arm.

So, you're upping the ante. Get us some corroboration before your next update or I am flagging this. BTW it's spelled 'humorous'.

Alot of cyclists in Canada are no carrying a small weapon like a mini claw hammer or a chain whip.

Try to keep up. The subject of this thread was (allegedly) hit by a vehicle to incapacitate him and then ... jacked. How would a mini claw hammer change the outcome? Train wreck thread. Just as the o.p. intended.
:winter2:

Only buy a bike you can afford to lose! And do note, the prettier a bike looks, the more likely it can get stolen!

I suppose you should take the same route the OP suggested for me when I decided it was possibly an attempt at fear mongering and did not see the safety and advocacy aspect he alleges is there. YOUR opinion doesn't matter an it is NOYB. This is a special kind of thread where only opinions sympathetic to the OP are welcomed.

[QUOTESo, you're upping the ante. Get us some corroboration before your next update or I am flagging this. BTW it's spelled 'humorous'.][/QUOTE]

The humerus is the largest bone of the upper extremity There is nothing humorous about your blatant inability to realize you are not that important. I have given the available info and you want to slander me.