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Be Careful Out There

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Old 05-22-24, 05:07 PM
  #1  
Bad Lag
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Be Careful Out There

I was out riding this afternoon but came to a red light and stopped.


Unbeknownst to me, a young man (~20) walked across the street in the middle of the block, not in the cross walk, not at a corner.

He walked directly towards me but from behind, in my "blind spot". Not expecting to hear anything (no cars), I turned to see him approaching after hearing his footsteps.

He was about 5-6 feet away but still behind me when I heard him approach.

When I looked at him, his right arm relaxed and the small baseball bat went back down to rest on his shoulder. He immediately changed his direction of travel, too.


His buddy, back across the street, ostensibly at the bus stop, was actually pissing on a building in broad daylight, in public.

A woman in a Mustang stopped mid-intersection and yelled at him to stop!

He started yelling back, telling her to, "**** off!" His baseball bat buddy started yelling at her, too, pointing the bat at her in a threatening manner.

She drove on.


All that transpired in about 60 seconds or so. Then the light turned green for me and I spllt.

Last edited by Bad Lag; 05-22-24 at 05:17 PM.
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Old 05-23-24, 07:15 AM
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Troul 
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Originally Posted by Bad Lag
I was out riding this afternoon but came to a red light and stopped.


Unbeknownst to me, a young man (~20) walked across the street in the middle of the block, not in the cross walk, not at a corner.

He walked directly towards me but from behind, in my "blind spot". Not expecting to hear anything (no cars), I turned to see him approaching after hearing his footsteps.

He was about 5-6 feet away but still behind me when I heard him approach.

When I looked at him, his right arm relaxed and the small baseball bat went back down to rest on his shoulder. He immediately changed his direction of travel, too.


His buddy, back across the street, ostensibly at the bus stop, was actually pissing on a building in broad daylight, in public.

A woman in a Mustang stopped mid-intersection and yelled at him to stop!

He started yelling back, telling her to, "**** off!" His baseball bat buddy started yelling at her, too, pointing the bat at her in a threatening manner.

She drove on.


All that transpired in about 60 seconds or so. Then the light turned green for me and I spllt.
thats were a 'yield" is practiced.
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Old 05-23-24, 07:41 AM
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Bald Paul
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I think you were about to be bike-jacked. You're lucky.
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Old 05-23-24, 08:27 AM
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What kind of area were you in? Seems like there would be a lot of witnesses in the afternoon?

I've cycled thru some shady areas before, mostly on my tours and I do know the feeling of being scoped out and it is usually best to ride like you're riding thru hell...just keep going




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Old 05-23-24, 03:24 PM
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SurferRosa
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Originally Posted by Bad Lag
I was out riding this afternoon but came to a red light and stopped.
Next time, keep going.
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Old 05-23-24, 03:59 PM
  #6  
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This could be anything from paranoia to luckily averting theft, injury or death.

There's no conclusion to be drawn, except as a reminder to be aware of our surroundings and make decisions accordingly. My commute used to take me through various towns where besides cars I had to worry either about being in a very rough neighborhood, or being in a town with ticket happy cops. What I did at lights depended on where I was as much as anything else.
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