40 mins cutting thru the cable?

...sounds like you wasted a good bit of time and a good cable...
Should have cut thru the combo lock instead. Those locks are cheap and you can hacksaw thru one in about 5 mins (cut through the body casing on an old one once to see how the insides worked, they're really simple devices).

P.S. did ya know they Really aren't secure? Get a nice U-Lock. Or at the very least get a cable with integrated keyed lock in the end(this isn't great either, but its better than a combo lock at least)