bikevoice: Packing Heat?

Monday, September 06, 2004

Is it ever appropriate to carry a gun while cycling? Is it appropriate to ever carry a gun? Never mind, forget I asked.

Liz Schleeper said...: To answer the last post's question: I do know of a situation which called for a weapon. A few of us were at foot of Love Gap on the Sherando Lake side, throwing bikes into 39-27ish to climb the 4 mile climb up Love Gap from Rt. 250 to the Blue Ridge Parkway. JF and JD were the fastest of the group and they were tarrying a bit at the bottom as the rest of us plodded up. A few minutes into this roughly 15 min climb, I heard a gunshot. Not unusual since there is hunting in the woods on right hand side of Love Gap. At the top, we learned that a loose dog was chasing JF and JD up the hill, and an oncoming descending car hit the dog. The dog was very injured but not dead (I did not get all the details) and the driver, JF and JD all knew it was best to put it out of its misery. The driver had a gun. Of course if us cyclists had been descending this very steep grade (10-15% I think) and the dog had chased then, the gun may have served a different purpose. Anyway, the gun was needed but I am not sure anyone would want to lug anything extra up Love Gap.; 21 September, 2004

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