Attempted gunpoint robbery of cyclist recorded on helmet camera

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So the video negates the purpose of his Kickstarter. Wonderful!

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Jeeze man, just give him the backpack! That was terrifying.

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Whoopsā€¦

Something to note about going to dangerous areas. Theyā€™re, ya know, Dangerous. Kinda says so, right on the label.

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Iā€™m assuming the robber doesnā€™t have bullets or was using a fake, because he was trying to keep him from looking at the gun too closely. 6/10 times that would have been far uglier.

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Looks like he was targeted for traveling with obvious, available wealth. Thereā€™s a lesson there.

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idealism is a great thing when married with reality. I think the two finally caught up with this young man hereā€¦

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I can tell you, that even when you THINK the gun is probably fake, the fact that youā€™re not SURE makes being threatened with it a scary adrenaline pumping experience.

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Seriously that guy could have everything I had ā€¦

Also ā€¦ If thereā€™s one word I learned from Dora the Explorer, itā€™s ā€œmochillaā€.

Backpack, Backpack!
Backpack, Backpack!

Iā€™m The Backpack Loaded Up With Things And Knickknackā€™s Too
Anything That You Might Need I Got Inside For You

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Graziano was in Argentina as part of a cycling tour of 195 countries heā€™d kickstarted
to march

ā€œinto the most ā€˜dangerousā€™ areas on earth with gobs of expensive, portable electronics on display and will surprise everybody nobody with the level of welcoming and gracious people they meet when said electronics are stolen, leading to a serious reevaluation of the assumptions we make about nations. made when dreaming up this kickstarter.ā€

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dude is mighty lucky. thereā€™s nothing in that backpack worth getting shot over. Nothing attracts thieves like a nice camera bag.

I donā€™t think I agree with you. After all, nothing happened, the guy just waved a gun and didnā€™t hurt him when he had 20 chances to. If thatā€™s the absolute worst that can happen even when youā€™re basically seeking out trouble, its really not so bad and Iā€™d say that, in some way, his point is actually reinforced.

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I feel like thatā€™s a pretty low standard for ā€œwelcomingā€.

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On the Reddit thread for this video the guy says he understood what the robber wanted, but played it dumb, pretending he thought the guy wanted his bike (instinctivelyā€“he agreed afterwards, with the luxury of consideration, that the more rational thing to do would have been to hand the mochilla over)

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Unless he said somewhere ā€œit is impossible for anything bad to happen in these countriesā€, he hasnā€™t been proven wrong. People get mugged in safe countries.

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Some young guy in 1996 already did something like this that he called his ā€œBet with Americaā€. He simply walked through the most dangerous parts of major US cities, at night I believe, without coming to harm. The only incident was when some yahoos egged him while he was walking through an upper class neighborhood. Mind you, he wasnā€™t toting any obvious expensive gear, just ordinary clothes and whatever was in his pockets.

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I canā€™t believe this thing got kickstarted, even less so after watching their video. What, theyā€™ve never read a Lonely Planet or seen their travel shows? There is a vacuum for badly-produced travel series with questionably-competent hosts? And how is a travel show where all the travelers are male going to speak to the real and legitimate safety-related concerns that are unique to women? At best, theyā€™re only going to be able to show that things might be kind of safe for (white) men.

Also, if their $100 per day budget is per person, and not for all three of them, this really isnā€™t very cheap for the majority of the 195 countries they claim theyā€™ll be visiting (they really appear unprepared to visit even easily-accessible islands in the Carribean, let alone isolated countries in the Pacific or Indian Oceans).

Iā€™ve visited about 45 countries over 15 months of combined travel time, and what theyā€™ve captured here far outstrips any threats or violence Iā€™ve ever experienced, so probably not a great start on their mission considering theyā€™re only 5 countries in. Apparently their common-sense approach to safe traveling involves displaying expensive camera gear while you ride through rough neighborhoods.

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I guess itā€™s a sub-point in the video, but I was both heartened (for cyclists everywhere) and embarrassed (for Canada, where I live) to see that in supposedly dangerous parts of urban Argentina, they have separated, dedicated bike lanes bordered from car traffic by a physical curb. I can think of a lot of Canadian, American, and British mayors who should see the part of the video before the attempted mugging starts.

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Iā€™m saying he got lucky, because I think the gun is fake. I think the guy just wanted to scare him good and didnā€™t actually represent mortal danger. Iā€™m also saying that thereā€™s a better than not chance he would have ended up with a wound by the butt of a gun or a bullet in a limb if this happened again.

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What I love is the absolute sound of frustration in the robber voice

ā€œĀ”DĆ”me la mochila! Ā”DĆ”me la mochila! Ā”DĆ”me la mochilaaaaaa! :cry:ā€

It was like he was saying ā€œOh, come on, why donā€™t you just give it to me, why you so mean?!ā€

PRO TIP: Use this phrase when mugged or bugged ā€œYo no habla espaƱolā€, emphasis in pronouncing habla instead of hablo, it gives verisimilitude.
German tourist use it in Spain when asked why were they hanging naked and unconscious from a balcony with a kazoo on the ass.

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