Tony V

Two days ago I was on the way home 25km. to go, on the M7 cycle path west of Sydney,I was doing about 30k/p/h when from out of the blue I struck a steel cable that had been put across the path at about chest high.I went down very badly,luckily the cable broke away when it hit my chest a couple of inches higher I would not be here.
I told the people that control the path and also the police.We are 99.9% sure that it was school kids who did it on their way to school (the little *****s)
I got a grazed left knee and elbow and some soreness all over me.I was very lucky.

AlmostTrick

I'm glad to hear you came out ok. Mean people suck. It would be nice if the perps could be caught.

CCrew

Dayumm. Neck height they could have killed someone. Glad you're OK!

XR2

When I was 6 or 7 someone had fixed their sidewalk and roped it off with very thin rope.And of course I came wailing down the sidewalk,got me neck high.I can remember laying there thinking WTF just happened.The old bastid came out of his house and scolded me for marking up his concrete.My father had a nice conversation with the geezer.The old guy came by the house later with some ice cream for me and apologised.Wasn't very sincere as I recall but dad rode a Harley and had a few tattoos from his WW2 navy days.He could be persuasive if needed.Left a scar on my neck for a few years.I had forgotten all about it until I read your post.If it happened nowdays it would be on the news,lawyers and lawsuits.

shmily_dana

I hope they catch the SOBs.

coldfeet

I do worry, a little, about this kind of cr@p. For me, at the times I ride, they would have to be quick putting it up between pathway traffic. And they would be at risk of being hunted down by a pack of angry cyclists. There would half a dozen within minutes.

Fenway

As far as I'm concerned the little brats should be charged with attempted murder. The cable could have very easily killed, crippled, or otherwise blinded someone. If the cretins aren't caught odds are they'll escalate, or foster copycats, and that cannot be tolerated.

coldfeet

Although it would put you at risk of being charged yourself if caught, these days I think there would be a better result from giving them a sincere thrashing. Not crippling, but many, many, careful bruises.

Luddite

Holy crap!

+1 coldfeet, little scumbags need an arse whooping for sure, geez.

Panthers007

Hey Fenway - you must be familiar with the Minuteman Bikeway that goes from Cambridge out to Bedford, Mass? The other year some funny-guy strung-up fishing-line with razorblades attached. At neck level. They never caught the attempted murderer. Thankfully someone found it before anyone got hurt - or worse.

Tony V

Thanks for the reply guys,I did 35km.with a bunch of mates this morning to ride the aches out.
Again, thanks.

CB HI

Not sure why so many are so quick to assume it was kids. Many (maybe most) of the people that have been caught doing this type of thing have been adults that felt they had a greater right to walk a trail.

spinnaker

I seem to remember a local case here where someone put up a cable across a mountain bike path. He ended up killing the rider. They caught the guy and turns out he was just pissed that people were using the path for mountain biking.

Glad you are OK. Are the police going to investigate? This could have been very serious.

Panthers007

What next? Trip-wire and pits full of punji-sticks?

chephy

Wow. Glad you're okay. This absolutely is attempted murder.

Whoever did it deserves more than a few years of jail time. Unless it was a 9-year-old, in which case he deserves to not be able to sit down for at least a couple of weeks. And his parents need to be held responsible too.

stapfam

Have to agree here. In the middle of a Forest we came across some barbed wire strung across a trail at the bottom of a fast downhill. Luckily no one hit it but it was at waist height and had been nailed between two trees. It was secure and we could not pull it down and draped some Branches over it to warn others. Contacted the forest ranger and they had caught the Culprit. A walker that did not like Horses messing up his walks. The ranger got the location from us and went out to clear the Wire.

Daft thing is that this was a long walk from anywhere and not many MTB's use this part of the Forest. It was mainly horses in this part so dread to think of the suffering it would have caused a horse and rider running into it.

DX-MAN

There are some misdeeds that do need to be handled the old-fashioned way; these are examples. Forget cops and courts -- bamboo canes, bullwhips, willow switches, rubber hoses...you get the idea.

I'm thinking of a gauntlet of punishing weapons.................................

Oh, if only....

You know, the "olden days", such as the days of William Wallace (see Braveheart), punishment was brutal, vicious, painful, and final. Wallace was castrated, disemboweled, decapitated, and then quartered after death. While that is a bit extreme, punishment needs to breed some fear into people. This whole 'civilized' process of law, while the results are not fun (see Bubba and the Prison B++ch), is just too sanitary. Too much concern for technicalities; I mean, SO WHAT if the cops forgot one of your miranda rights? You ***** and butchered a teenager! DIE SCREAMING, M-F!

perryw

That's rather frightening to think about. Glad to hear you're alright

DieselDan

When animals are the target, the laws are different.

BurnMyEyes

Get one of those cable cutter things they have on tanks and whatnot. Mount it on your handlebars

wunderkind

Wow... that is just wow. Glad you are OK. There really are some sub-species out there that want to wipe out the human race.

Keith99

My sister is a Horsey type. When she got married their first house was in Sylmar near the mountians and right next to an open field. Neadless to say they rode there a fair amount, not just riding but also to get to trails. There were dirtbike riders also (motor, not our kind). Most of the time when it was kids they would back off the gas whne near the horses. Not the same for adults, some of whom would rev their engines when passing.

rekall

there are reports of this having happened on the schuylkill river trail in philadelphia as well. with fishing line. invisible. go****mn cretins.

DX Rider

You left a couple of things out:

1.) They disemboweled him while he was still alive and than torched his bowels in front of him.

2.) They also soaked his decapitated head in tar and mounted his head on a pike above the London bridge as a warning to others.

nelson249

We had a cyclist killed last year on the Iron Horse Trail in Kitchener. He was crossing angled railway tracks and he struck the "protective" barriers erected by the city (which were inadequately marked and exactly at the wrong height) and was thrown from his bike. It REALLY sucks when so-called safety equipment kills people.

OP, I am glad you are ok and I hope they nail the SOBs.