People trying to scare you

General
1

Hi everyone.

I have had two recent incidents that really make me mad. I was wondering if
any of you have similar experiences and what could be done, if anything.

A few weeks ago, I was riding my Coker along the curb with busy sidewalks
and very busy traffic going beside me. I was riding at a pretty good pace
and suddenly, some guy lunged at me and screamed in my face “Get off that
bike!”. It scared the crap out of me and I wobbled and almost lost my
balance. He and his friend were laughing their butts off. The more I thought
about it, the madder I got. I could have fallen and got hit by a car ruining
my day and the poor innocent driver, let alone the ripple effect through
other people if it caused a serious accident (like relatives and friends,
police, maybe EMTs, etc.). I know from falling in the past that the Coker
will bounce quite a distance down the street. I could of maybe even been
killed by a motorist.

Saturday, I was riding my Coker on some back roads and a car with some young
guys (2 of them) kept passing me. They must have been bored and were just
riding around. Finally, they came real slow and quiet up behind me and
purposely made a loud boom that scared me silly. I wobbled and almost fell.
At least this time, they were the only car near me. They were laughing at me
as they drove by me. I couldn’t see what the guy in the front passenger seat
had to make the loud noise with, but he was putting something down on the
floor. I went to my car and stood for a few minutes while they came back a
couple of more times. I let them know I was really ticked off and I picked
up a big stick and waved it at them like I was going to hit their car. They
gave me the finger and then I waited for them to come around again. I waited
for over an hour and they never came back around. In hind sight, I was
stupid because they may have come back and beat the crap out of me or even
brought more guys with them to do it. But, I was angry and wasn’t thinking.

I just don’t know what is wrong with some people. I could have been
seriously injured or killed, damaged my unicycle, etc.

Jim

2

Jim-

Some people are morons. You’ve just seen a bunch of them recently. There will always be morons. There is no research being done to cure the malady. Pity, that.

There were two teenage girls in a car who swerved toward me once. Facing 2 tons of steel piloted by an idiot while you are perched, balanced, on a 12 pound unicycle is a bit spooky. I’ll bet they’re still stupid but I can’t be sure.

3

Advice: Take down their Lisence Plate number, and take down the info of a witness. Then go to your local police station (on, or off your Uni) and explain the situation. They can be charged with anything from wreckless endangerment, disturbing the peace, or a variety of other creative but fitting charges. I am actually waiting for this to happen so I, the unicyclist can finally have revenge. The cops should treat this as if you were on a bike or even walking and they almost hit you. It IS illegal to perform such acts with a dangerous weapon like a car.
-David Kaplan

4

Unfortuneately, a common theame. Car swerves, guy screams out the window as they come past. Definately the exception, not the rule. Makes my furry meter redline in less than 2 seconds. I’v come to accept the honkers- people in cars just don’t realize what a horrable threat they are, and lacking a voice to acknowladge your ability, they use the horn. Some times I roll with it, some times it scares me out of the sadle.

C

5

Recruit some local police officers into your unicycle club and have them go riding with you around town. I’d love to see the end result of someone doing that to an off duty police officer on a unicycle. It is my understanding that it is not a good idea to assault a police officer even when they are off duty.

john_childs

6

Thats why I always keep the desert eagle on me at all times

7

accordingly

give me a brake you could never fire one of those on a uni,it would be an instant U.P.D. for sure…

8

I think you could pull it off accordinly.

9

dont even try ,it would’nt be a good shot

plus if you ride around with one of these,they are so heavy ,you could only turn one direction

10

that is why I got a holster

11

I believe that a moderately sized rider could easily discharge a Desert Eagle, even chambered in .50 AE, while on a unicycle without disturbing their balance. There is probably a better solution to dealing with this problem, however. Pistols are a gas to shoot…especially energetic hollow points or pre-fragmented rounds into pumpkins or watermelons. Most enthusiasts, lifetime NRA members included, frown on the frivolous discussion of exacting revenge with firearms.

12

In article <a3nfa0$q$2@laurel.tc.umn.edu>,
UniDak <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote:
)Advice: Take down their Lisence Plate number, and take down the info
)of a witness. Then go to your local police station (on, or off your
)Uni) and explain the situation. They can be charged with anything from
)wreckless endangerment, disturbing the peace, or a variety of other
)creative but fitting charges. I am actually waiting for this to happen
)so I, the unicyclist can finally have revenge. The cops should treat
)this as if you were on a bike or even walking and they almost hit you.

Sorry to disappoint you, but if you’re on a bike or walking and someone
almost hits you, the cops will not do anything about it. In most cases,
even if he hits you the cops won’t do anything–he just needs to say
“I never saw him, he came out of nowhere!” and he won’t be cited.

The auto reigns supreme in the US.
-Tom

13

doosh@inl.org writes:
>In article <a3nfa0$q$2@laurel.tc.umn.edu>,
>UniDak <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote:
>)Advice: Take down their Lisence Plate number, and take down the info
>)of a witness. Then go to your local police station (on, or off your
>)Uni) and explain the situation. They can be charged with anything from
>)wreckless endangerment, disturbing the peace, or a variety of other
>)creative but fitting charges. I am actually waiting for this to happen
>)so I, the unicyclist can finally have revenge. The cops should treat
>)this as if you were on a bike or even walking and they almost hit you.
>
>Sorry to disappoint you, but if you’re on a bike or walking and someone
>almost hits you, the cops will not do anything about it. In most cases,
>even if he hits you the cops won’t do anything–he just needs to say
>“I never saw him, he came out of nowhere!” and he won’t be cited.
>
>The auto reigns supreme in the US.
> -Tom
I am not so sure, especially in David’s case (he’s unidak), since we have
a police officer in our club. If someone threatens to endanger someone and
simply gets cited for it, that creates a paper trail. If it happens again,
that doesn’t look so good for the person cited, and if he goes to trial
for sth else, it could be noted that he has been cited for … etc. Autos
reign supreme, but you’d be surprised how many cops are sympathetic – and
many have tried unis in their childhoods.

David

14

> I was riding my Coker along the curb with
> busy sidewalks and very busy traffic going beside me.

When riding in a situation like this (unicycle or not) you should be
prepared for anything. Opening doors on parked cars, people stepping off the
curb without looking, drivers talking on the phone not seeing you, etc. Wear
a helmet for any riding with cars.

The world is full of people who would as soon step on your face as say hi to
you. They are not going to wise up, unfortunately they are not going to move
away, and they are going to keep breeding and increasing their number. TV
shows like Jerry Springer and the many similar ones have immortalized their
kind, giving them reinforcement that their behavior is somehow socially
acceptable.

These people are not worth your time. Like bad weather and accidents, you
must prepare for them and let them wash on by. You can try to chase them
down and prosecute, but it can be hard without evidence or witnesses. If you
do, you know we’ll all be on your side.

So pass through the world, let the people who enjoy seeing you smile, let
the people who would call you a clown assume you didn’t hear them, and let
the people like those you described feel they had as little effect on you as
possible.

If you have a choice, ride other places.

> I know from falling in the past that the Coker
> will bounce quite a distance down the street. I could of
> maybe even been killed by a motorist.

This is a factor you must be willing to live with if you choose to ride with
traffic. Accidents can happen just from normal traffic conditions. You are
probably safer than the average motorcyclist, but you are still at risk. Be
prepared for the worst, and you will always be ready (good advice for any
road user, including in cars).

> as they drove by me. I couldn’t see what the guy in the front
> passenger seat had to make the loud noise with, but he was
> putting something down on the floor.

I won’t go into a discussion of what you could or should have done. I would
have assumed the guy shot a gun of some kind, and tried to make a note of
the license plate. You do not know which way the supposed gun was pointed.
It may have been pointed at you! Just tell the police that, and in that case
they would probably be highly motivated to pick the car up and find out what
was really used. There are people in all rural areas, it seems, that think
road signs are some kind of wild animal needing to be shot. These guys could
have been of that breed.

The last thing I would do in that situation is hang around to wait for the
same losers to come back. When you’re on a unicycle, the car always wins.

Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com

“You’re not supposed to wash your Roach armor” - Nathan Hoover, on safety
equipment cleaning methods

15

In article <a3nd0s$20m$1@iac5.navix.net>, “Jim Stover” <stoverje@alltel.net> wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I have had two recent incidents that really make me mad. I was wondering if
> any of you have similar experiences and what could be done, if anything.
>

a few months ago i had a nasty experience where i was attacked by a gang of about 8 young thugs, who blackened my eye , ripped out an ear peirceing (tragus) and broke my glasses, i was knocked to the ground and suddenly realised that i was still holding my unicycle, so i got up and swung at them with it untill they realised that it hurt to be hit with a unicycle. the police turned up and the youths ran away, a bystander had called the police, the police chased the idiots and caught 5 of them who were charged with assault and spent a night at he police station, it still hasn’t gone to court yet but i’m told that since they had traces of my blood on their clothes they won’t stand much chance of being found innocent, and some of them may go to jail.

i ve bumped into one of them a few times in the street, he’s never that pleased to see me, but he keeps his destance because he knows that
a. if he laid a finger on me i’d have him arrested.
b. if he laid a finger on me i’d whack him over the head with my unicycle.

i think that there are few people stupid enough to put themselves in such a position.

–

UMX aka ewancycle

citizen_smith@hotmailOBSCURED.com
(your know the deal, there isn’t realy a domain called
hotmailOBSCURED.com)

16

Hee, hee- good pun. But realy: I’m sure you are just pretending not to know that Accordinly is suggesting that we take up the old Russian (?) sport of hunting with eagles. Odd that he would suggest a desert and not golden eagle, though. Good form requires you to ride Cossack while shouting, “Fly, Desert Eagle, and wreck vengence appone our enemies!”

Christopher

17

citizen_smith@hotmailobscured.com writes:
>
> a few months ago i had a nasty experience where i was attacked by a gang
>of about 8 young thugs, who blackened my eye , ripped out an ear
>peirceing (tragus) and broke my
glasses…
>
(snip)…
>and some of them may go to jail.
>
>i ve bumped into one of them a few times in the street, he’s never that
>pleased to see me, but he keeps his destance because he knows that
>a. if he laid a finger on me i’d have him arrested.
>b. if he laid a finger on me i’d whack him over the head with my unicycle.
Glad to see you have a sense of humor about it all. Good luck with the
court trial. Please let us know how it ends.

David

Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01

18

ya people always try to mess up unicyclers, my only real problem with that it some teens trying to shove me in a ditch

19

Many similar situations have happend to me, but one reciently has put me at ease. I was riding down main street on my 6 ft when this guy in a brand new corvette drove up beside me and yelled “fall” as loud as he could. I was expecting something like this to happen, It usually does every time I ride in town, and it’s usually the same guy. Well, because I was somewhat expecting this, though it did startle me, it didn’t make me fall(It has in the past). Anyway, right after he yelled at me I yelled back “Wreck”. He was so shocked at this responce that he was dazed and ran into a yeald sign. He messed up the front of his new car pretty bad… I laughed

Revenge…No, karma will do just fine!!!

Avery

20

Oh my God! THAT is the coolest thing I have ever heard. I’d love to see the the insurance claim… It was all the wizzard on the 10 foot unithingie. He made it happen. If for some reason this was caught on video, let me know, and I’ll pay anything to see it just once!
-David Kaplan