Bike theft attempt

[From the Bike Hon list]
Just a heads up for area cyclists re. a bike theft attempt on Thurs., July 24,in north central Balto..

This past Thurs. about 10:30 pm I was biking eastward on 33rd. in front of Eastern HS/now a Hopkins office bldg. across from Stadium Place and a little east of the YMCA. I was on the sidewalk because my taillight wasn't working (generally there's very little foot traffic there), and it was out of the way of any fast moving vehicles. When I looked ahead, I suddenly saw a young man running towards me in the middle of the sidewalk. I kept biking towards him with the hope he'd get out of the way. The next thing that happened was he threw his elbow to my head striking my right cheekbone. The hedge on to the right of the sidewalk broke my fall. I got up, my cheek had swollen already, to find a smaller boy, about 15, between me and my bike which was guarded by my assailant, who was about 6 ft. and 17 yrs. He said "I want your bike," which seemed like an odd statement. In retrospect, I think he was having difficulty moving the bike--I believe the wheel got twisted around and the brakes jammed in the collision. Meanwhile I saw 2 other kids running from the Stadium Place side near Ednor, so the odds were going south. Fortunately,within seconds along came a police car which stopped with the officer immediately getting out and approaching me. The policeman said he first saw the kids and the bike, but when he saw me emerge from behind the hedge he knew something was up. When he stopped the kids fled...without my bike. Two other cars showed up pretty quickly along with an EMT vehicle. They offered to take me to the hospital, but indicated is was a small cut which they cleaned, so I didn't think it seemed necessary. We searched along 33rd and in the area between the Alameda and Harford Road--Homestead/Coldspring neighborhood. I couldn't recognize any suspects.

I've since gotten a new taillight and will probably change my route (maybe 39th and 36th St. behind Stadium Place enroute to Northwood) and start using an older bike. I heard a few people tell me they've heard of 3-4 other bike robbery attempts. So stay alert, carry your cell phone--if you have one, a whistle and not too much else and travel with a friend if possible.

Safe biking,
- DS

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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A little over a year ago, something similar happened to me north of JHU's medical campus. Fortunately, the kids were loud about wanting my bike as they approached me (group of about 3 or 4 youths, aged 12 or so, but larger than me since I'm only 5' tall with shoes on), so I ran the red light and pedaled as fast as I could to get away. Since then, I haven't ridden in that area (Washington, near North Avenue). It seems you can't really go anywhere in Baltimore without having to go through sketchy areas, so i stick to more roads with more cars, less abandoned houses, and I carry my cell phone, a whistle, and also some pepper spray with UV dye in it. Aside from stuff I need for work, everything I carry is pretty much replace-able.