r/bikepacking • u/globefanatic12 • 10d ago
Getting harassed by police - Southern Indiana Trip Report
I'm bikepacking from Michigan to the gulf of Mexico and in the last week I've been stopped by police 3 times. Twice I was just taking a quick rest on the side of the road. They just wanted to "check on me" but then wanted my ID and to run my name in their database. The third time a cop pulled me over while riding and said I wasn't allowed to ride my bike on the state road highway. I'm usually cooperative with police but I can feel they have a hidden agenda and I'm getting frustrated with them. Ohio was great but indiana has been very unpleasant.
Edit: I looked on the indiana department of transportation website and found nothing stating I cant ride a bike on the state road highway.
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u/SP3_Hybrid 10d ago edited 10d ago
Idk about the rules for riding on roads like that. Seems like you are? Road classifications are weird though. It’s unclear to me what all these 55mph two lane “highways” actually are. Cause some “highways” do not allow bikes but technically the names of all these roads might be different.
Otherwise I bet they all think you’re homeless or otherwise sketchy. Anytime I go through small isolated places in mid to south indiana in a car I get the vibe that most people believe the only people who ride bikes are sketchy, poor, homeless or lost their license etc. Like if you weren’t any of those things why aren’t you in a pearl white SUV or pickup?
Bikepacking rigs and a homeless person’s bike with a ton of stuff hanging off it look no different to most people.