This is Terrifying!

[jesusbuiltmycar]

https://road.cc/content/news/horrific-neck-injury-...

[quote]Cyclists and dirt bike riders in Rhondda Cynon Taf are being warned to look out for barbed wire being strung across trails after horrific pictures of injuries sustained by a man due to such a trap were shared on Instagram.
[/quote]

What kind of lowlife scum does something like this?

[anonymous-user]

Dog walkers who don’t understand what a dedicated cycling trail is, think they have a right to be there, and get angry when there are cyclists coming past them and their furry stting machines…

We have the same issue in Bristol where trail runners run in the opposite direction to riders on the Ashton Court trails because they think that’s somehow safe and acceptable.

[Bathroom_Security]

People being people I'm afraid.

Will never change. There are people in my group that would mame someone if they caught them doing that.

I can sort of sympathise, imagine living in a quiet village and having a load of farty motorbikes running all over the woods at speed like they do in places like Coldharbour in Surrey. Sunday morning and 100s of motor bikers descend on your village like a plague. Would drive some people nuts me included. Same with cars. I used to live in Woking and had this absolute tosser in an Audi R8 with a straight piped exhaust (Lee 91 is his plate) and he used to drive past the flats I lived in on the limiter setting car alarms off it was that loud. All day every day that's all he did. Drove me to distraction

I always be as respectful as possible when passing people, even if some toss pot is coming the opposite way up a bike trail.

[Evanivitch]

It's been happening across South Wales for years.

There's constant conflict between illegal motorcycle riders, unofficial mountain bike routes, official mountain bike routes and pedestrians. Same thing is repeated across every valley.

[Davie]

That does make your blood run cold... it's bad enough when "characters" put branches or boulders on trails but wire, you've no chance seeing that if you're going at pace. Thankfully haven't seen any such things around here nor some of the trails I ride further afield but had a few run ins with walkers / dogs that are casually strolling along dedicated bike trails. They're rarely every wrong through.

I guess it's no surprise when various groups come into conflict over shared spaces or somebody has had enough of illegally ridden motorbikes and sets out to put a stop to it or it's just somebody with a very twisted mind... either way, it does happen and it will keep happening when opposing tribes meet on common ground and tempers / patience expires.

Could have been a lot worse, which is quite a sickening thought.

[yellowjack]

Evanivitch said:

It's been happening across South Wales for years.

There's constant conflict between illegal motorcycle riders, unofficial mountain bike routes, official mountain bike routes and pedestrians. Same thing is repeated across every valley.

Sadly it has been happening in South Wales, and for decades too. It used to be fishing line across the path back in the early days of the Clyne Valley path. An old railway line turned into a properly surfaced traffic free cycling and walking route, but obviously some utter knobheads felt unable or unwilling to share space with cyclists. To see it escalate to barbed wire now is shocking. Tempting, sometimes, to fashion a nice hardwood dagger and carry it when out and about. Does the job as well as a metal one and can be burned or buried with little prospect of recovering it if I felt compelled to use it. No doubt being found carrying such a thing would result in a severe punishment, but I imagine a conviction for "carrying a length of barbed wire" would be difficult to achieve unless that person was caught in the act of tying it across a trail.

One place I used to ride (on MOD land) there was a stack of fence-post sized logs next to a trail which mysteriously used to find their way onto the trail in the form of a giant "pick up sticks" with depressing regularity. Sometimes I'd take to hopping over them in the hope that the architect of the obstacle would see how much fun additional obstacles could be. Other times I'd dismount and "caber toss" the damned things deep into the ferns, gorse, and Rhododendrons while yelling threats of mortal violence against anyone caught sabotaging trails into the surrounding woodland.

[Evanivitch]

yellowjack said:

Sadly it has been happening in South Wales, and for decades too. It used to be fishing line across the path back in the early days of the Clyne Valley path. An old railway line turned into a properly surfaced traffic free cycling and walking route, but obviously some utter knobheads felt unable or unwilling to share space with cyclists. To see it escalate to barbed wire now is shocking. Tempting, sometimes, to fashion a nice hardwood dagger and carry it when out and about. Does the job as well as a metal one and can be burned or buried with little prospect of recovering it if I felt compelled to use it. No doubt being found carrying such a thing would result in a severe punishment, but I imagine a conviction for "carrying a length of barbed wire" would be difficult to achieve unless that person was caught in the act of tying it across a trail.

I know the Clyne Valley well, it's quite the time warp between Blackpill and Gowerton. I know there's a lot of official and unofficial trails in that area but haven't ridden them.