We’ve been riding most nights on the Capital Area Greenway (or Multi Use Path, MUP) and we’ve been having a fantastic time. In the first post of this series I mentioned buying some bike lights so we could be better seen by any folks that may be illegally using the pathway with motorized vehicles. We have the lights now, but that’s not the only thing we’re doing to ride defensively on the MUP.

There’s one portion of the trail that we find ourselves going through frequently that always seems to have some shady characters hanging out on the trail. Today in particular, there were a couple guys walking along the trail, one carrying a stick. We came up behind them, and I rang my bell, they moved to the left, and we passed without issue.

We rode up another few miles and then turned around to make it back to the car before it got too dark. As luck would have it, these folks had walked up to a part of the trail where there was a long hill. We were climbing (slowly) up it, and they were walking down. My wife was about 200 yards behind me, and as I got close to the subjects, one of them tossed a handful of pine cones in front of my bike, while the other laughed. My bike handling skills haven’t deteriorated too much in my 7 year hiatus from cycling, so I avoided them without issue. Knowing that my wife was behind me and would still need to pass the subjects I kept my mouth shut, freewheeled, and watched for her to pass.

As they noticed her coming, one of them went to either side of the pathway. My wife’s no sucker, and she decided that she was going to go up the left side of the trail, instead of trying to go in-between them. By doing so, she had options. If they made a move for her, she could plow through the grass and keep moving, or at the very least put distance between her and them until I could arrive and help. As luck would have it, these guys were either not motivated enough to do anything, or they were thrown off a little by her not falling for their trap and decided to abort.

I thought about her tactic for the next 7ish miles until we got back to the car, and all I can think is that it was a great decision, rather than going between the guys that had already messed with me. It gave her options, and when things could get unpredictable quickly, options are good to have.