Dannihilator

Headed out early to get some training/ get a trail ride in. Was doing good until I came around a turn and went front wheel first into a ditch and over the bars I went. From my left knee down to ankle is all cut to hell from a peice of razor wire. Noticed some footprints in an area where there isn't trail. Yes filed a police report and went and got my leg stitched up.

Snuffleupagus

Damn.

This was on a legal trail? I'd be livid! Glad you're not too much worse for the wear, and you did the right thing by filing a police report.

Dannihilator

It was on a legal trail.

Snuffleupagus

Any idea why someone did it?

madbiker555

Ouch, I've had almost the same thing happened. I hit a ditch and flew into a barbwire fence, cutting the crap outta my knee. But I never got stiches and continued onto some dirtjumps.

Dannihilator

To get people who have legal access scared away from, they think it brings a message across, which is bs, it just gets the user that hits the trap pissed.

Maybee I should sue the state.(Ok not really.)

hebrew_rider

Sometimes at Mt.Tam, in san fransisco, there is piano wire strung at neck height between two trees. Of course, those trails are illegal.

Black Bud

Doesn't matter!

Reckless endangerment of ANY trail (or road, for that matter) user is NEVER ACCEPTABLE...OR LEGAL!!
The fact that the trail , itself, is illegal is NO EXCUSE for ANYONE to pull off such a stunt!!
If people want to stop illegal trail users/use of such illegal trails, they should report the incident(s) to the authorities and let THEM deal with the problem!!

Enviro-vigilante activities must be stopped!!! NOW!!!

Before someone is killed!!!

Quasi

Suggestion: go to Black's Law Dictionary and look up "Sovereign Immunity." Good for you to file the police report. That is the only way they will get caught.

That trap was completely wrong and illegal. But it is another reason for mtbers to do their best not to provoke walkers or horseback riders. Slow down when you pass, even if you are bombing downhill. If you are coming to a turn, really slow down, and say loudly "Rider coming!" or "Rider up!" in case there is somebody right there. If you don't do these things, bikes will get banned from those trails because the authorities don't have the resources to enforce the rules at every little infraction.

Bike riders are much more vulnerable to these kind of traps than walkers. Think about it. If you were a walker and you felt you were being run off your favorite trail by dangerous bikers, what would you do?

Dannihilator

I don't run people off the trails.

Karldar

One of my German friends got a flat on a goat trail(that's just what we called it) we were riding once. We stopped to repair the tube and look for whatever caused the blowout to get it off the trail. Turned out someone had placed a homemade caltrop(foot-long half-post studded with nails) in the middle of the trail and covered it with leaves. I thought my friend was gonna blow a gasket, he was so pissed! Not that I blame him, of course. His daughter came with him sometimes(in a child seat). He took it to the Polizei, but I'm not sure if anybody ever got caught. Ya gotta share the road with bikes so I don't see why we can't share the trails, too.

Drunken Chicken

I agree.

Kona: OUCH!

Hopper

Yeah, I don't care if the trail is illeagal or not, these guys need to think what they are doing, they could EASILY KILL somenoe, wtf is with that. They deserve to be charged with attempted murder or given to the MTB community to give ounishment. (How much damage do you think you can cause with a torque wrench?)

mtnbiker66

I have only come across something like that one time but it was not nearly that bad.Someone had pulled some logs out of the woods and put them in the trail on a high speed section in a blind curve.You did the right thing filing a report.

hooligan

Just wondering, would shin pads have helped (assuming you didnt wear them). You said knee down to ankle. Perhaps you got cut in the back of the leg?

Sorry to hear about this. Get better soon.

Dannihilator

Why would I wear shin pads on a trail ride?

mtbikerinpa

Torque wrench? Try a half-inch breaker bar.

mtnbiker66

To protect yourself if some idiot digs a ditch and lays razor wire? Sorry just trying to throw a little comic relief into a sad situation.

mtbikerinpa

I consider myself lucky that there are few if any nuts like afore mentioned around pa. If someone did that here there would be a mob of trail users as well as police. The horse contingent is strong here, and they are more picky about that than we are, and much more endowed with lawyers. Definitely did the right thing on taking it to the next level with the cops.

Quasi

That's because they are usually local property owners. Horses are something of a modern status symbol. They don't do you much good unless you are breeding them for show or racing, and they require a lot of land. Hence the mucho dinero required to have horses usually means the horse owners have some left for their legal representation.

KonaRider24: I didn't say you run people off trails. What happened to you could have happened to anybody. My point is that:

1. It was obviously a bike trap (a horse or walker would have easily seen and avoided it),
2. Somebody had some incentive, time, and took some legal risk of being caught constructing it,
3. It is a trap which could have killed or seriously injured a biker (paralyzed, broken bones), so a follow-up investigation by police could have tracked down the bulilder.

Somebody was either too mad to think all the possible repercussions through, or they were just stupid. Either way, the victim will suffer, and more will be constructed unless measures are taken to prevent them.

Do you think the rangers care much about bikers when all they usually hear is complaints about them?

hooligan

Why wear shin pads? For me, in case your pedals slip and send you to the hospital, if htye never stop bleeding and somehow get infected. What if other trails are wired? There are many "what ifs" and wearing your shin pads can put an end to many of those what ifs.

Guest

Along the same lines, but not mountainbiking, I was riding on the streets and suddenly, I came across a big pile of nails all over the ground in the bike lane. I didn't have any way of avoiding it and I rode all over them and ended up with flats in 100+ degree heat and about 5 miles from any bike shop (didn't bring a patch kit or anything, and never went without one since!). I had to trudge in the heat to the bike shop and pay $15 to have a mechanic change my flat. Never had that problem again, and I called the police and reported it, as well as the Streets and Sanitation to clean up the mess.

Why people do that kind of stuff is beyond me, but I hope they catch these people and make an example of them.

Koffee

Guest

Oh, hope you're feeling better KR.

Koffee

Maelstrom 

Out west we call them/him trail nazi's. Common infection when dealing with enviro-nuts. Get well KR.

MadMan2k

koffee: maybe you should practice bunny hops? probably pretty hard on a road bike though...

I hope someone finds that crazy person who digs traps in the trail so no one else gets hurt. Sorry you had to have it happen to you, kona.