Hey Duck, you're take is pretty much mine. I didn't want to not ride through there because of the bad element. It's a very residential neighborhood, with families and children. It's just poor, and the societal ills that come with that. As for the street cleaning, the city does sweep through there. I've come up on street sweepers before. The residents also try to sweep in front of their homes on the street. I just don't think they can keep up with it.

The guy who came out of his house to help I don't really doubt that he wanted to help. I just didn't think there was anything he could do. I did say no thank you very nicely and resumed working on my tire. The same with the woman who stopped by me. There were times I wondered while riding if someone knocked me off or the like, would people come to my aid. Part of me was sure they would.

Speaking of getting knocked off, as I relayed my story to a friend at school she told me about another student who was riding a few blocks north of my route, and got knocked off his bike by some teenagers. When he got back on to ride away, they knocked him off again. They apparently shot a paintball gun at him initially and he thought he'd actually been shot.

So, while I don't want to shy away in fear, there's a fine line between being open minded and stupid Today I start my 15 mile commute instead of 10.