What next???

[Aint Doody]

Hey, everybody! It's been a while since I've posted. This happened on Sunday while 35 cyclists were riding to and from Bar M Dude Ranch in Eastern OR. It was a beautiful day, and we were strung out for miles. On the way back to town three of us were riding together down a lovely road and were passed by a pickup truck with people in the back. After they passed us, one of the occupants in the back of the truck pointed a gun at us. I was yelling to get the license plate, but by then they were too far away for us to read it. I heard a definite "pop." I'm not very schooled on guns, but we did notice the barrel had a red tip.

There's no cell service out there, but when we got to the nearest house, we called 911. We were on reservation land and were connected with the Tribal Police Dept. We kept on riding and shortly saw the Tribal Police. They asked us questions and went to look for the truck. We were impressed with how quickly the Tribal Police responded to our call.

My husband was on his scooter and later said he did see the Tribal Police with a red pickup pulled over. I then heard yesterday that this same truck pointed a gun at another group of our cyclists. They might have thought it was funny to do this, but believe me, we were not laughing. I was frightened and so angry. I never thought we'd have to worry about having a gun pulled on us while we cycle. I will never understand why some people want to punish cyclists for being on the road.

I do believe that for the most part motorists in our area are courteous to us, but it only takes one idiot to cause a real tragedy.

[AuntieK]

I'm so sorry that this happened to you, Aint Doody. How scary. It always amazes me how some people think stuff like this is funny.
One thing about your story that stuck out to me was the fact that the gun had a red tip. Toy guns are required to have a bright orange tip to distinguish them from real guns. Could it have been a cap gun?
Regardless, still very scary.

[East Hill]

Red tipped guns are not 'real' guns. It was possibly an 'airsoft' gun, meaning that it was designed to shoot plastic pellets similar to BBs.

Supposedly this will not kill you. Unfortunately, as we all too well know, just being shocked by someone firing a 'gun' at you is enough for you to lose your balance and get injured.

It's good to know that the Tribal Police had words with the apparent offenders, but if there was a subsequent incident it obviously wasn't enough to dissuade the culprits. If the Bar M Dude Ranch set up the ride, you might want to mention this incident to the operators. Thirty-five annoyed cyclists may very well wish to spend their hard earned money elsewhere. That's a lot of tourist dollars which they can probably ill afford to lose.

East Hill

[Aint Doody]

Our club set up the ride--not the Bar M. It's pretty much a local ride we do each year. Whether the gun was real or a toy, it looked real enough to me. I have since sent a letter to the editor of our newspaper that pretty much said the same as my post here. And the 2nd incident happened before the Tribal Police were seen detaining that pickup truck.