I'm glad everyone's run ins with the law haven't turned violent, and I'm glad I've never gotten a ticket for just riding around. I've been pulled over by a campus cop for running a stop sign, and I've had a cop arbitrarily decide not to cite a motorist, when I ended up on the hood of the car after he ran a stop sign in front of me and admitted it was his fault. WTF
But this weekend - Not pulled over exactly, but I had a fairly bad cop experience Saturday night while out bike camping. I didn't even know what time it was, because I had turned my phone off when I lost service, but my friend and I had been asleep in our hammocks for a few hours when I got up to pee. I saw flashlights in the forest, and I didn't want to be bothered, so I quickly went back to my hammock. I heard some people rattle the doors on the restroom, which was closed because of Covid, and say "It's locked", so I figured it was just campers looking for a bathroom. Next thing I know, there are flashlights shining at our campsite. Then, a dog starts barking really loudly, and a man starts screaming something. It took me a minute to understand what he was saying, "Sheriff's department, K-9 unit. Identify yourselves or you will be bit." I put my hands up on the bug net, hollered that I'm here with one friend, and slowly sat up so they could see my face. They kept getting closer and screaming and the dog kept barking. Their flashlights were so bright that I couldn't see them at all. They told us to keep our hands where they could see them and made us stand around in our undies with our hands up while they asked us a bunch of questions and dug around in our bags for our IDs. The asked if we'd been harassing anyone with our flashlights, and I told them we'd been asleep since before dark. They asked where our vehicle was, and we pointed to the bikes. They asked where we were from and asked again how we got there. They asked if we had any weapons they should know about. They let their dog sniff around in my hammock. As soon as they called in our ID numbers their tone changed and they said we could relax. I guess they realized that we weren't troublemakers or something. One of them even started apologizing, not that that makes up for threatening us with a violent dog attack. They told us someone had called in about people trying to sneak up on their campsite and turning their flashlights off. They also told us that they had been sitting on the call since 7pm (it was midnight at this point), and they asked if we'd seen anyone else. Eventually, they told us we had to move our campsite. We were camped in a part of a national forest. The area was officially closed due to Covid and a sign said it was closed, but we were technically "dispersed camping" which is supposedly fine to do more-or-less anywhere in a national forest, regardless of whether the area is closed. Closed usually just means that there aren't any services available. We pointed that out, but they said it was state managed property and that we could camp anywhere on the other side of the sign. So at midnight, in the pitch black dark, we packed up our gear, and got marched to the other side of the sign. The rookie said "sorry" one more time, and I refrained from flipping the bird, and we wandered off down the path to find a place to sleep. We finally stumbled on a spot that was clear enough to access in the dark, and managed to get a few more hours of good outdoor sleep. We woke up next to a pretty lake, and rode 30 miles with 4000 feet of climbing, but man, there was no reason for any of that ... Paul in AR On Monday, September 14, 2020 at 11:48:13 AM UTC-5 Lefebeaver wrote: > I've been pulled over twice. Once was in the 70's when I was stationed in > Germany, for not having a bell on my bike - I went out the next day and > bought a Mickey Mouse bell, which I still have. The second time was on > campus in Santa Barbara - I had walked my bike down a sidewalk, got to > where it crossed a service road, turned down it and walked a short way from > the pedestrians and mounted my bike - and was immediately stopped by a foot > cop who told me I couldn't ride there. I asked where the sign was and he > pointed 50 feed down the road to worn, greasy, nearly invisible 'walk > bikes' sign painted on the pavement, in the right lane approaching the road > crossing and facing the other way. As we talked, dozens of other bikers did > exactly as I had done and rode away from us over the backward 'sign', so I > asked him why he wasn't stopping them. His reply: "Ever been duck hunting? > You can never get all the ducks. I got you." Since it was such a bogus > stop and the cop was a dick, I went to court to contest it on the grounds > that the sign was obscure and poorly placed, that it was in fact a road, > and I think I got the fine reduced from $50 to $10. > On Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 7:43:23 PM UTC-4 Joel wrote: > >> I was out today riding one of my usual routes. I had just gotten back on >> the bike (my Bleriot) after stopping to adjust the angle of my Albatross >> bars. I was pedaling and all of a sudden out of my mirror I saw some lights >> flashing and I pulled over. I got off the bike as a very young officer >> walked over to me. I asked him if I had done something wrong, maybe riding >> to fast (yeah I know being a wiseass is not really a good things). He asked >> me if I had just come from a street which was one I was actually heading >> towards.. I told him no and explained where I had ridden. It seems some guy >> asked a lady for directions, there mush have been more to it, he was on a >> bike, and I fit the description I was told. I was wearing a short sleeve >> gray sweat shirts as it was an unusually chilly day today and a Rivendell >> cycling cap from years ago. Another officer arrived smiling, he was the >> officer in charge. I put up my hands and said it wasn't me and he started >> to laugh.He explained to me they were looking for a guy in a gray members >> only jacket and a baseball cap with dark hair, my hair is silver/white. >> >> We talked for a few minutes, they apologized and I said no need. I went >> back on my ride and now was on that street wondering if a woman would come >> out of her house chasing me. >> >> In a way I had a good laugh but I wonder what this guy did to make this >> woman call the police. This was not my town but 2 towns away in CT while I >> live in MA. So something was up. >> >> So I wonder if any of you have ever been pulled over on your bike? >> >> Joel >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f75ed0a3-9ca2-44bd-bec8-a40024e1bb6cn%40googlegroups.com.
