I arrived at my shop in the Highlands about 9:15 this morning looking forward to getting out for a 20 mile ride before opening the shop at noon. After taking care of a few chores, such as walking the dog, checking email, etc and I was out the door on the fixed-gear bicycle before 10:00am.
This ride takes me west on Christy to Barett, then a block north to pick up Breckenridge and continue west towards downtown. After passing under the railroad overpass on Breckenridge and continuing a few blocks through stop signs and lights, I was traveling slow at 5 to 10 mph. At about Shelby Street I noticed a group of 6 to 8 youths (late teens, early 20s) spreading into the street ahead of me.
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Their attention seemed maliciously focused at another youth on the other side of the street heading away from them. I heard some raised voices and shouting and things were looking like a disturbance of some sort.
I wondered if I should turn and avoid the street in front of me. I decided to veer to the left side of the street away from the group and proceed. As I crossed the intersection at Shelby, the attention of several in the group turned towards me and I heard one say,
"Get the guy on the bike!"
The young man closest to me was 2 or 3 strides away. At that instant I put everything I had into accelerating, veering to the left and ducking my assailants blow. He lunged and attempted a close line type manuever towards my throat. I ducked so the main force of the blow hit me in the helmet and sun glasses, and I felt him against my side trying to get a grip.
He caught on and was able to pull my new iphone from my hip.
As I broke free of him I heard several shoes hitting the ground just behind me as the pack gave chase. I suspect that if I had been on a geared bike instead if a fixed-gear, I might not have escaped.
I continued on at full speed looking for a policeman. At about 3rd street, I saw a city inspector getting into her truck. I told her what happened, she called 911 and soon there were 2 patrol cars there and a report to file.
I went back to the shop, got the car, and was off to Verizon for a new iphone.
All in all, a harrowing experience...I am lucky to be writing this from my shop and not a hospital bed.
Victor Miller
A bike shop in Louisville, Kentucky, we have over 300 quality vintage lugged-steel road bikes from the 1970s and '80s available for restoration, including Schwinn, Raleigh, Peugeot, Motobecane, Ross, Masi, DeRosa, Puch, Astro Diamler, Nishiki, Atala, Zullo, Concord, ItalaVega, Dawes, Fuji, KHS and Trek. Sizes from 47 to 63CM. The inventory is constantly changing and there's always a wide selection available on our website. www.vicsclassicbikes.com
