staehpj1

Back in the day I used to wear a Tekna dive knife on my pfd when running whitewater. It was considered a rescue device. In theory for freeing a trapped person tangled or otherwise unable to free themselves. I bet very few were actually used for the intended purpose, but mine spread a lot of peanut butter

It would seem even less likely to see use when cycling. I own one, but am highly unlikely to actually carry it on the bike.

Duragrouch

You just reminded me... I have a small fixed blade with multi-position plastic sheath it snaps into, that a former whitewater kayak and raft guide gave to me when he went out of business, I think that was his PFD knife for the same purpose. I did a lot of favors for him so he gave me a bunch of stuff. Half straight, half serrated, with a strong tanto tip. Just pulled it out from my giant box'o'knives, I'll be darned if the blade isn't exactly 3.5", so legal carry. The other 3.5" knife I was thinking of buying would be a better blade shape to double as a trail cooking knife, but it's nice to know I have this one for now, not that I am thinking of biking in the area of the attack, so not urgent.

It's too bad that having a long bayonet on the bike would be way outside of legal code, because I saw a study that said, for someone not extremely well trained with an edged weapon, especially a heavy swinging one, the most effective and simplest defensive weapon is a poking stick (non-thrown spear), which is why soldiers are taught to use a bayonet on the end of a rifle, it's a much better standoff weapon than trying to competently use other large edged weapons. So that on the end of a solid staff would be ideal I think.

staehpj1

The odds of needing it are remote enough that I am unlikely to carry it, but something lke the tekna is what I'd carry if I were to carry one for that purpose. I just might consider it if I rode every day somewhere with lots of cougars especially if there were recent issues with them. That said, I have ridden a good bit in the Sierras and Cascades and never bothered or even considered it.
https://www.tek-tite.com/proddetail....dge_Dive_Knife

Clyde1820

In very few places does mere possession equate to criminality. Generally speaking, "offensive" usage is a crime but doing nothing of the sort (committing no overt act) is almost nowhere seen similarly. Thankfully. Despite the severe pressures, in some places, to do exactly that. (Flying on an airplane, for example, but that's an entirely different discussion. Nicely, they tolerate such in checked baggage, bless their hearts.)

My grandparents, my parents, and I have carried "pocket" knives. Mostly, daily since we each were young. Of course, today's modern "pocket" knives are a far cry from the hardware of 50+ years ago. Can't recall seeing anything like a mid-sized Benchmade or Spyderco folder, for example, back then.

One feature of ~3-4" folding pocket knife I can think of is: a "flipper" opening mode, as opposed to a thumb stud or hole. Very fast to deploy. Which in the case of being pounced-on by a big animal would be a useful thing. No telling which hand/harm would be injured or inoperable, so it'd also be nice to have something on either side. I've got knives of both opening modes (flipper and thumb hole). Don't often carry two, but I'm nearly never without both a sidearm and blade.

Had the puma been 150 lbs, somehow I doubt the lady would have survived. That bite to the face (or a similar bite to the rear of the skull) could easily have punctured right through, from an animal that large. Even with a somewhat smaller one, I wouldn't want to bet on the outcome, even if having 3-4 buddies to assist. Nasty situation. Blades or guns, or not.

Kudos to the group for saving the life. Good to see what determined humans can do, when they put their minds to it. A good lesson.

On a couple of occasions, I've been preyed upon by two-leggers. Funny, how a rock-solid attitude, never-say-die attitude and a few effective moves/strikes can be for putting down attackers. Never have been struck by a puma, bear or similar. On occasion, back in the day, I used to get that "hair on the back of the neck" feeling when trail running up in the hills. I had always assumed I was being watched by a predatory animal (quite likely puma), but never did have to cope with an attack ... thankfully.

Duragrouch

Nice looking knife. A website specializing in knife steels (run by a metallurgist), he came up with a new powder-metallurgy steel (very expensive process) that is hard, tough, and (based on tests) he rates 9/10 for corrosion, "almost as good as a dive knife".

The knife I have is half serrated, and I can understand the utility of that as a kayak rescue knife, possibly needing to saw through plastic or fiberglass, but for all other knives I prefer a plain edge; serrated is such a pain to sharpen, especially this one where the teeth are not points separated by radius valleys, not bad to sharpen with a ceramic rod, but instead the teeth are convexes of different radii, extremely difficult to sharpen. It's also single-bevel, with the right side flat and the left side beveled, which I define as a left-hand bevel, because for a righty like me, slicing off a piece of salami, the knife drifts to the right unless aimed a bit toward the salami, if that makes sense.

Couger attacks are generally not statistically common, however, upon relating the stories of the biker to someone in that general area, they said that was the second recent attack. So lemme tell ya, if I ever bike in a forested area outside the city, I'm gonna have a quickly accessible knife with me. Sadly, the city has been more dangerous in recent years, and overall this is one of the safer cities in the country, but in the past couple years, assaults and threats have increased where there's concentrated enclaves of drug users, and the rare shooting and death. I have not yet resorted to carrying any sort of defense, just avoiding being out at night. The more frequent occurance is someone disheveled walking alongside or wheeling alongside while biking a cheap BMX, a very nice bike, them in sneakers and the nice road race bike with SPDs, obvious theft. I took phone photos, let the cops know, never heard anything back.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Walt Kelly, Pogo

downtube42

I ghost rode a bike home from work a week or so ago. Riding my fixie commuter, ghost bike was an older but nice Cannondale. I'm not disheveled (wife may disagree), but man did I get some looks from the peeps in cars. It was a donation from a colleague, headed for the CO OP later. I'm glad nobody decided to go vigilante on me.

Duragrouch

I agree, and neither did I. I figured, a pic can't hurt, in case someone reports a bike matching that description as stolen.

In London I think, someone started a website where folks can report a stolen bike instantly, and he spreads that info to many supporters who keep eyes out for it, and he has a high success rate in recovery; He shows up, says he can call the cops or they can just hand the bike over and he'll get it back to the owner, no questions asked, and they always do just that.

Sierra_rider

Local story from yesterday...first fatal mountain lion attack in California in about 20 years:

​​​​​​https://www.kcra.com/article/el-dora...ttack/60286108

Rick_D

My in-laws lived outside Georgetown on 35 acres. Deer would eat the roses and where there are deer, there are cougars but I can't recall them ever seeing any.

Did a memo go out to some mountain lion email list: "hey, they're not so tough"?

staehpj1

I'd be way more concerned when trail running/hiking with my dog. I never ran or hiked with my dog in cougar country other than the very slim possibility of a Florida panther encounter though (highly unlikely especially where I am). Here gators and venomous snakes are a much bigger threat to dogs. I have just taken care with my dog around water. She aged out of running and even hiking now so it is no longer an issue for her.

Sierra_rider

There are deer aplenty in all the populated spots up here in the hills. Plenty of people actively feed the deer and then are incredulous as to why we have issues with the cats. They come for the deer, but often find that pets and livestock are easier prey.

I've had several mountain lion sightings up here...most of the time I was in my vehicle and they crossed the road in front of me. I did see one hanging out in a clearing, about 100' off the road, when I was riding my road bike near dusk. He nonchalantly looked over his shoulder at me, decided I was neither a threat nor tasty, and then went about his business. I just kept riding, while looking over my shoulder. A friend of mine got stocked by one, while out trail running locally. It charged him multiple times, hissing and screeching, but it finally ran away when he hit it in the face with a rock.

plumberroy

Just for your information. Any predators cougar size and down (dog is far more likely) a couple stabs on each side in lungs with a 3 inch blade and it will bleed out quickly. There was a guy did this to a cougar attacking his young son a few years back.
first thing they stood their ground and fought and the lady survived so they did something right . Situational awareness is a must in predator country. If you can't legally carry a knife or____
A screwdriver pokes holes just fine. I have killed a hog that was caught and being held by dogs with a big screwdriver.

dmickey68

ouch

DMC707

its their land too

Gconan

I would hate to get in a knife fight with a cougar. I'll bet he is faster and stronger than me. If you had a firearm you could fire a warning shot at its feet. Maybe the noise would send him off. Don't know if bear spray works or not. But if it did I would carry it.

rsbob 

The issue here with these cat attacks is that their habitat has been relentlessly logged for the last 40 years. The deer have moved out and the cats are emaciated and will go for anything that moves. This is the second emaciated cat attack in the last 3 years. The one I posted took place about 1.5 miles from my house and the other about 7 miles. Habitat destruction is driving the cats into areas where they typically avoided. Four days ago, a man posted a mother cougar and two almost full size juveniles a mere 1/2 mile from the house. I mountain biked those hills for 15 years and never saw one, but ran into black bear and coyotes. Damn logging.

Rick_D

They're generally ambush hunters and on you before you know it's there.

These, luckily, are vanishingly rare events, which is why it's news when an attack happens. In the meantime, always bring a tiny person along when riding in deer country.