Originally Posted by
livedarklions
About 35 years ago, I bike commuted on a Raleigh three speed to work in a relatively tough neighborhood in Minneapolis. Apparently there was a teenager who must have liked my bike because one time he was waiting at the side of the road kneeling with a long stick. As I passed, he tried to put it into my spokes. The flaw in his plan is, of course, it's really easy to see and swerve around, and he ended up just looking stupid.
A person on foot has to be very clever to mug someone on a bike successfully. Unless they have you cornered, they're not really going to get close enough to be much of a threat.
I don't know. It happens, unfortunately, here in NYC. And crime, including violent crime, is on the rise. It's a byproduct of a lot of things -- the pandemic-induced economic disruption, which had all kinds of unpredicted effects over and above a huge rise in unemployment, and the protests over the killing of George Floyd and the resulting police disengagement from the city.
And sometimes it's hard to outrun someone on foot. I'm over sixty, multiple joint replacements, and I ride an undergeared folding bike.
I finish work around 11:00 pm. I've had some moments riding home. Yes, I know that it's possible to be surprised on the West Side greenway, and have insufficient time (and space) to get away from the situation.