San Gabriel River Trail-Warning!
06-04-12 | 12:25 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Super Moderator
iTrader: (6)
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 20,852
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From: California
San Gabriel River Trail-Warning!
This was posted in the So. Cal section of the bike forum yesterday: 
Any of you riders starting up in this area, be alert.
Any of you riders starting up in this area, be alert. need to let everyone know that a section of this Bike Trail is not safe so let me tell you all what happened yesterday Saturday 2nd. First of all, I have been riding this trail for more than two years starting at the Pico Rivera Golf Course to Azusa so I can go up hwy39. I usually do Christal Lake or the GMR loop back down to the Golf Course parking lot. Yesterday om my way back from Christal Lake I met up with a rider past Valley Blvd heading south so we started to chat about some knuckle head who was not keeping a straight line but instead was swinging right to left. No sooner I said that we looked in front of us and two Neanderthals wearing hoodies and bandannas covering there face were blocking our path. Upon seeing this and quickly preparing for the worst, I drew a line for this guy saying to myself if I hit this punk hard enough he might fall and I can recover and hit the pedals but instead I turned towards his left faking him to think that I was trying to go between him and his buddy but at the last minute I darted to his right. I barely escaped but as I looked to my right to see what was going on with the other rider, the two punks tried to block him and knock him off his bike. One of the punks kicked the rider in the knee, knocking his water bottle of the bike as well as his bike pump. What freaked me out was as soon as he was kicked the guy pulled a pump shotgun at the other rider and that is when I freaked out! For a minute I though we were both dead but fortunately the rider hit the pedals in pain and we both got away from these two. I pulled my cell phone out and I dialed 911. To make a long story short, 5 police cruisers showed up as well as a helicopter looking for these two criminals. No luck they ditched the cops and I am sure they will be around for another day to harass another cyclist. So be warned! I am going to look for a way around this neighborhood on my way up as usual.:thumbsup:
06-05-12 | 02:20 AM
#4
Pole Position
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 248
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From: So Cal
Damn, that ***** is crazy!!! And I was just making plans with to ride next Sunday, we were gonna ride from the riverbed starting on Beverly in montebello to Santa Fe Dam. Now I'm debating if we should change our route or just go prepared if you know what I mean... Anyway, it's gonna be 4+ of us riding together so I doubt they'll mess with us, they're a bunch of cowards that just try to beat up who the think to be defenseless...
06-05-12 | 05:28 AM
#6
Unfortunately what happened to you on the SGRT has been happening a lot now over there over the past 6 months or so. Im an avid cyclist (MTB/DH/ROAD) and big in the industry and there have been a lot of encounters over the past few months with the same exact scenario. Ive been riding everywhere in southern CA for the past 17 years and this is now the first trail where I feel uncomfortable riding. They are targeting the expensive road bikes. It isnt a "wallet" they are after. Personally I will not be riding the river trail any time this year because getting my road bike jacked is not something I want to deal with. Whether or not the police are doing any sort of operation to find these guys is unknown.
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06-06-12 | 08:51 PM
#10
Lexus Champion
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 2,284
Likes: 23
From: SoCali
LOL.....seriously though...this kind of thing is going to happen more and more considering that some people who ride these bikes own 2000+ dollar bikes...and that's a "cheaper" bike. Ride armed?
06-06-12 | 09:18 PM
#11
I dunno about the OP, but for me a bike trail through a bad area still = a bad area. Especially if you're rocking a $5,000+ bike, it's almost mandatory that you be more selective about where you ride - I sure as hell am.
06-10-12 | 03:51 PM
#14
Hundreds of people ride this route a week. There aren't enough specific road bike trails in Southern Cali as it is. We have to protect what we do have and stop these bandits on the trail.
