This is something everyone should know about...

--- On Sat, 3/14/09, Barb Hailey <jb_alaman@...> wrote:

From: Barb Hailey <jb_alaman@...>

Subject: [Triple08] Incident on Mines Rd.

To: tnt_cycle_alumni@yahoogroups.com, Triple08@yahoogroups.com, "Triple Crown 2005 Cyclists" <2005double3x@yahoogroups.com>

Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 7:25 AM

Hi all,

 

This story from a fellow GPC cyclist was just posted.  I thought you should all know about it and keep a watch out in that area.  There are more of them out there.

 

Barb

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Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:34:05 -0700

Subject: [GPC] Mines Road

From a Lawrence Livemore Lab Cyclotrons member.

Yesterday evening (about 5:30 pm), while cycling up Mines road just 

south of Tesla Rd I was shot (with paint gun) by a passing vehicle.  

At first I thought it might have been a badly timed rock coming off 

the vehicle, then I felt the burning sensation, then noticed 

passengers in the passing white mustang pop their heads back up from 

the back seat and realized I'd been shot.  I wasn't sure if it was a 

pellet gun or bb gun.  I immediately flagged down the next vehicle and 

asked if they could get the license number of the vehicle but the 

mustang had already gone to warp speed so the chances were slim.  I 

did not have my phone.  A few minutes later, when the shock wore off, 

I realized the weapon was most likely a paint gun (sound was familiar 

from my one experience with that sport).  Fortunately it only grazed 

my back and was not a direct hit (no paint).

This kind of e-mail usually ends with "be on the lookout for..."

....not this time!

Remember, I was going south on Mines.  There are not too many escape 

routes for the average vehicle.

I continued on my ride eventually arriving at the Del Valle kiosk.  

Did you see a white mustang come though here in the last half hour? I 

asked the attendant.  "sure did" was his reply.

That's when the story turns to the cyclist favor.

Three troupers, a bunch of park rangers, and a patrol helicopter 

narrowed the search quickly.

They found the teenagers (white mustang and friends in white pickup) 

on the southwest end of the lake, took significant video footage of 

them from the air engaging a number of activities to warrant trouble 

in court, surrounded them and placed them under arrest in the middle 

of the grass field in their wet clothing on a cold evening extracting 

a full confession.

Turns out at least one of the teenagers actually lives on Collier 

Canyon Rd.  He asked the officer if he could apologize to me in 

person.  When he did, I shared with him that I have kids his age and I 

tried to get him to visualize what he would do if one of my kids had 

shot his mom or dad while they were out riding their bike trying to 

stay in shape.

My hope is that this experience for this group of teenagers serves to 

at least reduce the number of aggressive vehicles out there by one 

white mustang and one extended cab white pickup, especially in the 

area of Collier Canyon and Del Valle/Mines Rd.

-Patrick Dempsey