Sure am glad Creepy Guy didn't follow you the rest of the ride. That is pretty creepy. There are some crazy people in the world.

I used my hand pump in a similar situation once. A man in a van kept making loops around me in an odd way. I stopped at a busier intersection, put the bike between me and the road, grabbed my hand pump, and slapped it in my hand repeatedly as he drove by. That was his last drive by. He got the point that I was not going to be an easy target, if that was, indeed, what he sought. Ever since then, I have made it a point to carry my pump and is one reason I do not want a cartridge system. Hand pumps are weapons, in my book.

Many years ago, I rode with a handgun in my jersey for a bit, after an incident. A guy passed me and had stopped in the middle of an isolated road, walked to the back of his car, popped the trunk, turned around, dropped his pants, and started you know what. So I would carry a handgun again, if I felt the need. Some men just don't get how violating a woman is almost as bad as murder. Murder is the ultimate theft, stealing someone's life. Rape is theft, too, of a woman's soul or mind and sometimes her physical health.

As illustrations of how men do not get it sometimes, two men threatened me on different occasions with rape because they had taken me for an evening out. One actually didn't but was trying to capitalize on his friends and business partners, who were married, who took everyone out. They threatened to the point I threatened them with that being the last time they would ever perform that act, after my family finished with them. They weren't afraid of my brother and cousins. Both had to hear that my dad had friends in the mafia. One almost didn't believe it until I told him Dad had childhood friends who were part of the Irish mob in Dallas, which is where the incident occurred. One ended up going to my hometown church, since his hometown wasn't far away. You wouldn't believe the way people, the women, oo'd and ah'd over him, "he is so nice and so nice looking, too." It was disgusting!

If it is my life and health or theirs, I will choose mine every time. They have made their decision and are forcing one on me I do not want but will make. Life isn't fair but we all have free will and the right to protect ourselves. I will protect my happiness.