Only in America...

[Andrew G]

When I saw this I thought it was a joke, but alarmingly it is a serious question!

Subject: [url=http://www.cyclingforums.com/t180561.html]How many of you carry a gun as part of your cycling equipment?[/url]

[quote]I spring-loaded the butt of mine, and concaved the end of the barrel, which has allowed me to attach it to my bike just like a frame pump.

[adrian]

Hey, don't knock it. I was only thinking on Saturday how useful it would be to be packin' heat for 'tection on the mean streets of Warninglid

[jon avery]

Doesn't seem such a bad idea when you live in Thornton Heath like i do. Also i'd love to seee the kids faces who chucked snowballs at me when i pull my magnum out! (and i aint talking ice lolly's!!)

[huw williams]

I was once doing a pre-breakfast mountain bike ride somewhere in the mountains of Montana. Stopped at the top of a long climb to admire the view of the remaining sunrise when a guy back-packing with his dog came up and started talking about mountain biking in general.

Suddenly the dog, Jake, sat bolt upright and the hairs on his back bristled up. A moment later there was the sound of breaking wood in the undergrowth and Jake started growling and inching forward to the edge of the trail, staring off into the trees.

"Steady Jake" said his owner calming the dog. "Just a bear" said the guy to me "It'll go away when it smells Jake."

"What if Jake took a shower this morning?" I asked

"Well, then we've got this" replied the guy, unsheathing some kind of high powered, repeating rifle, from the case tied to his rucksack, "bears don't have much to say when they hear this baby go 'gackle, gackle, gackle.'

I didn't have much to say either at the prospect of being stuck in the middle of the wilderness with a crazed gunman, his dog, a bear and the only rifle in the world that goes 'gackle, gackle gackle.'

"You ride 'round these parts you should be carrying somep'n." said the man and before I paid my respects and set off at some pace back into town, I promised that I'd visit the local armoury straight after breakfast.

America - what a country.

[sid_day]

When mountain biking last autumn in the Alpujarras in Southern Spain I came round a curve on single track to be confronted by a jumpy local with a shotgun.

He and some friends were trying to catch a wild boar for the village fiesta that weekend.

He thought I might be that boar. They can be pretty big and do have a ginery tinge to their hair.

His friends were on the other side of the ravine taking the odd shot at what they thought was the boar. You could hear the crack of the rifle.

Needless to say we kept things moving.

I also worked with an Israeli guy who had customised his camelbak to take a pistol when he went mtbing in Israel.