opinion by peter.

you know what really pisses me off about this headline? it’s that it chucks everyone who rides a bike in the same big basket. now when people drive past us in their cocoons of comfort, they are going to be worried about a group of us brandishing hunting knifes and stabbing them.

already you hear reports of drivers being “intimidated” by groups of cyclists. yes intimidation. a group of guys in tight lycra make you feel threatened as you speed by us in 2 tonnes of steel and plastic.

as for the rampaging, knife wielding cyclist. the victim allegedly told him to slow down, so he must have been on the footpath. other news reports said that he was about 17 – 24 and riding a white mountain bike, with a faded baseball cap, jacket and jeans. sounds like most of the guys that i would label cyclist.

so anyway, she tells him off, so he (allegedly) pulls out a hunting knife and stabs her repeatedly. know, i don’t know about you, but i am a bit more picky when it comes to what knife i take riding with me. colour coordination is essential and until csc bring out a hunting knife, i doubt that half the guys in our group would dare bring along a non-matching knife. with the exception of ryan, who would deliberately bring a green knife to clash with the red blood.

so early morning, bogan clothes, mountain bike (probably stolen), big f-off knife. i would say that he is probably just returning home from a bit of light breaking and entering. the big knife makes him feel like a man if he feels threatened by a 56 year old woman, and in turn can be used to jimmy open any of the old style house windows in the area. unless it was the guy pictured above just returning from a hard night of knife sharpening. if you got in front of him and made him stop suddenly, i’m sure you would get stabbed repeatedly.

so, cyclist…i think not.

headline should read – bogan stabs woman then escapes on bike

or – journalist tries to fuel fire with misleading headlines