Uptown Bikers, Stay Vigilant

Thought I would share this blog post. 

http://www.uptownupdate.com/2010/06/uptown-bikers-stay-vigilant.html
Monday, June 14, 2010
A reader writes in with this disturbing account:
"I want to pass this information along in hopes it doesn't happen to someone else. Yesterday around 7:15 PM I was jumped by three black males in their early 20's. I was on my bike and was traveling through the Lawrence tunnel to the lake bike path. They acted like they were going to be walking through. Just as I was coming out on the east side of the tunnel, one jumped right in front of me and started punching. They were trying to steal my bike. I am a big guy too, 6'1, 240#. It was a planned attack. My friend who was a little ahead of me turned around and rode right in the middle of them and broke it up. Unfortunately, they starting punching him as well. We managed to keep our bikes and were not seriously hurt. My friend tried to follow them and a pedestrian said he saw the three changing their clothes. I just want to inform people of this kind of crap!"

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Permalink Reply by Digital Dario on June 14, 2010 at 7:49am
Thank you very much!

You should make a police report and bring this location/activity to their attention. Better to do it now than to wait until it happens to someone else.
Permalink Reply by Vitas on June 14, 2010 at 7:51am
shocking! i use the tunnel at foster. i've noticed a lot more people than usual hanging around the tunnels. more loitering than using them as walkways. i'll keep my eyes open. thanks for the heads up. sorry about your situation.
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on June 14, 2010 at 7:52am
Agreed. Especially given the fights and crap that have been happening on the lakefront lately.

Ruben Dario said:
Thank you very much!

You should make a police report and bring this location/activity to their attention. Better to do it now than to wait until it happens to someone else.
Permalink Reply by J M on June 14, 2010 at 7:55am
I did not write the original post as this did not happen to me. Was just passing along information so everyone can ride as safely as possible as the temps rise for summer.

Someone left this comment on that blog:
"jtcin said...
I am the guy that got punched up. This is serious. I am a 37 year old guy.
June 14, 2010 10:50 AM

"jtcin said...
I called the cops did a police report and my freind had to go to the emergency room for stitches.
June 14, 2010 10:51 AM"
Permalink Reply by Craig S. on June 14, 2010 at 7:59am
The Lawrence Tunnel. Not really all that unbelievable. I've lived at Lawrence/Wolcott for ten years and in that time, have only ridden to Broadway on Lawrence. The intersection with Sheridan by the J.J. Peppers is awful at any time of day or night. If I don't ride north to Winnemac and cross through Uptown to the LFP, I always ride Leland east to Sheridan south to Wilson to the LFP and while I've had my issues with guns pointed at me and eggs thrown at me on that route, I've never been confronted and roughed up. Guess it's time to take it further south to Montrose. By the way, when I'm riding home from the southside late at night, I never exit between Montrose and Foster on my bike. Makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Maybe I might to enlist my friends, Smith and Wesson to come along whilst riding.
Permalink Reply by igz on June 14, 2010 at 9:28am
ive been working on my Oozi mount for my handlebars

Craig S. said:
The Lawrence Tunnel. Not really all that unbelievable. I've lived at Lawrence/Wolcott for ten years and in that time, have only ridden to Broadway on Lawrence. The intersection with Sheridan by the J.J. Peppers is awful at any time of day or night. If I don't ride north to Winnemac and cross through Uptown to the LFP, I always ride Leland east to Sheridan south to Wilson to the LFP and while I've had my issues with guns pointed at me and eggs thrown at me on that route, I've never been confronted and roughed up. Guess it's time to take it further south to Montrose. By the way, when I'm riding home from the southside late at night, I never exit between Montrose and Foster on my bike. Makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Maybe I might to enlist my friends, Smith and Wesson to come along whilst riding.
Permalink Reply by Ryan L on June 14, 2010 at 9:31am
I almost posted this same link earlier Jeremy, looks like you beat me to it.

I ride Lawrence to the lake all the time at all hours of the day and I have never had a problem; however, I am always hyper aware of my surroundings no matter where I ride in this city. One of my many fears is being accosted on my bike by some a-hole who either thinks he is funny or is trying to steal my bike. Too many crazies and thugs in this city. I am seriously considering buying some mace that I can hook onto my keychain loop of my bag strap to quickly arm myself with at times like the one mentioned in this post. My second fear is what I would do to the man after I spray him the face. Step 1, spray in face. Step 2, brake a couple of ribs with my u-lock. Step 3, ride off into the sunset with a smile on my face and blood on my u-lock :)
Permalink Reply by Davo on June 14, 2010 at 9:41am
I'm witing for the time when a cyclist kicks the crap out of these f.faces with a U-lock. Anyone riding through one of those tunnels should have some kind of bike related weapon (c-wrench, Ulock, Chain, Mace) out and ready to strike. These d-bags need some stompin. I play ultimate at Montrose beach on tuesdays and because of these reports I have my U-lock in my right hand and am looking all over for suspicious people while I ride through montrose. I second Ryans fear, what does happen if you get a good hit in? I always see myself stomping their balls into a pulp. Then they can't have any kids.
Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on June 14, 2010 at 9:51am
Davo said:
I'm witing for the time when a cyclist kicks the crap out of these f.faces with a U-lock. Anyone riding through one of those tunnels should have some kind of bike related weapon (c-wrench, Ulock, Chain, Mace) out and ready to strike. These d-bags need some stompin. I play ultimate at Montrose beach on tuesdays and because of these reports I have my U-lock in my right hand and am looking all over for suspicious people while I ride through montrose. I second Ryans fear, what does happen if you get a good hit in? I always see myself stomping their balls into a pulp. Then they can't have any kids.

Never saw that U-lock fight video that was posted to bikesnob a while back, huh?

Protip: A U-lock will not turn you into the Ultimate Warrior.
Permalink Reply by Davo on June 14, 2010 at 10:34am
I guess I was a little unclear. I hope that I never have to attempt to strike someone with my u-lock or anything else. I also don't think that I'll become the ultimate warrior (although that would be pretty sweet). If that did happen, it would be rather impractacle suz the leg ribbons would probably get caught on my chain or tied up in spokes. I'm alos not looking to get into one of these altercations. When I hear about these attack, it makes my blood boil though. I've been jumped b4 by some kids and luckally for me all I could think of to do was hold on to my bike and yell what the F. I'm just saying that if for some reason I ended up hitting someone (I hope I catch them of guard) what would I do after with the rage. I don'think I'm some superhuman but I do have a bit of a temper. I looked for the Ulock fight but couldn't find it so I have no Idea what your talking about.
Permalink Reply by knowbody on June 14, 2010 at 11:15am
If someone were on a relatively light bike, it might not be too difficult to put it between them and an attacker while riding at speed but this may be sacrificing the machine for the effort. With larger rigs like mine, weighing in at an estimated 150 lbs., there's no way of sending it flying though getting hit by it would bring on a world of pain. Then there are other strategies too. Interestingly enough there's these alarms employing GPS tracking devices with capabilities for rudimentary cellular interaction that can trigger an event from a remote location. Depending on what it does.... that could be criminal (or maybe not).
Permalink Reply by J M on June 14, 2010 at 11:30am
One more update from the comments section. Clarifying where exactly this happened:
"jtcin said...
yes I called 911 and did a police report. This happened in the tunnel just north of lawrence by the martgate house. There is a tunnel that goes underneath Lake Shore Drive.
June 14, 2010 1:33 PM"

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