Dodging Bullets on the Trail

Unless you’re the Chicken Little type, danger isn’t the primary consideration when you’re riding your bike. Sure, roadies and commuters have a variety of things to worry about, most notably cars and inattentive drivers. And as mountain bikers, there’s no question that your next crash is only a slimy root ball or unexpected kitty litter covered corner away. Occasional run-ins with wildlife or bad weather are just things that come with the territory. But dodging bullets? That’s terrifying.

***Volume/Language Warning*** Shooting starts at 0:59.

On a normal MTB ride in Capitol State Forest, WA, somebody target shooting was “unknowingly” firing across one of the most used trails in the forest. As soon as we realized how close the shots were, we heard at least two zip past just ahead of us seemingly at head level. They [sic] sound was apparent and “felt” close, the GoPro barely picked up the audio, so I increased the volume for the first two. With headphones you can hear them in the original clip, prior to me cranking up the volume. After reflecting for a couple days about this incident, we were actually really close to catching a bullet. I kinda regret that we did not confront this person directly with cameras and give them a solid tongue lashing and post their faces to social media, they got off easy. Please learn a lesson from this if you shoot for fun in the forest.

FYI, I have nothing against guns or target shooting, but this person was breaking multiple rules of recreational shooting and common sense!

This issue is not really even about guns, this is about irresponsible behaviour. People that dumb are probably a menace behind the wheel as well.