booby traped trails

delcol

was out at my localish trails last week (rivington) out over great hill in the middle of nowere open moor land, on the paved section there were rocks placed across the trail i went through a gap in the rocks a feww inches wide only to look down and see someone had stuck nails into the mud between the flag stones luckly it didnt puntre my tyres,. then for the next few miles over the moor there were rocks purposely placed across the trail hideen behind the long grass.
was talking to some local riders who told me it was the same over winterhill were hikers had put nails on fences ect..
this got me thinking after seeing the letter in wmb mag this month,..

how comon is this in this country and what kind of traps ect have other ppl encountered..

sorry if this has been posted before.

HJ1976

Aparently thiis is has been happening (again) in Guisborough, and it is shockiing as most MTBers respect other people and their right to use forests, moors etc.

Andy B

It is well out of order, not just for us MTB'ers, what about dog walkers & small kids?

If a dog got one in a paw or a kid fell over onto one it would be very nasty, the sort of people who do this are selfish idiots who do not think for one second about the consequences.

drewcole81

I wonder if there is a hikers forum anywhere that we can join to find out if people are talking about this kind of thing?

ddoogie

You hear horror stories of people finding fishing line strung across the trails and sharp objects littering the trail. I've never heard of any serious accidents caused by that kind of thing though.

drewcole81

something should be done.

fabienno1

Not exactly the same but on a small road near me the locals were getting fed up of people using it as a rat run and so one local started laying home made tacks on the road to stop car users. Occasionally I rode down this road (as it was my friends road) at high speeds as it is very steep.
Thankfully there were no punctured tyres of any sort but it shows what stupidity there is out there.

drewcole81

I have joined a Hikers Forumn to speak to people about it on there, i shall keep you all posted on my findings.

Think the best thing to do is for people to take plenty of pictures of what they find, maybe the BIKE RADAR guys could help us out and have somewhere that we can post these pics, its not much but if a logg is kept then when something happens there is a case book already?

Dodgex1

I've witnessed fishing line at neck height. Don't know if anyone remembers one of those Tonight with TD programs where a motocrosser rode into some steel 7guage wire that someone had put across the trail at neckheight, destroyed his voicebox., Logs and thick sticks are common place on our trails, the fact that I've got 10inch of suspension to gun over them with mean it rarely bothers me but other people have trouble.

CitizenLee

It's crazy to think that people would do this. I hope those responsible get caught and brought to justice (sorry, dont mean to sound like a Daily Mail reader there!)

Naughty kids doing stuff like this one thing as they often dont realise the consequences of their actions but adults, now that really does shock me. Ramblers and walkers especially. I thought they were all well to do outdoorsy types, not vandals intent on hurting people!

Dodgex1 wrote:

I've witnessed fishing line at neck height. Don't know if anyone remembers one of those Tonight with TD programs where a motocrosser rode into some steel 7guage wire that someone had put across the trail at neckheight, destroyed his voicebox.

I remember that being on TV a good while ago. IIRC he was riding around a playing field on a council estate and they residents decided that vigilantism would be a good idea.

I heard this type of thing used to go down on the North Shore in BC too... local residents sabotaging the skinnies and stuff by removing support beams and hammering in nails to spike tires.

A few of these are in order I reckon... :shock: :shock: :shock:

lonzo

I think I might have come across this on the XC course at chicksands - branches stuck in the ground and logs strewn across the XC course, my mate had a nasty crash after hitting a log which had been put across the course on a fast corner. Could be a coincidence, bits do fall of trees from time to time, but it seems to happen a lot and in the worst places.

jammieeeee

These people want their bollocks cutting off!

HJ1976

jammieeeee wrote:

These people want their bollocks cutting off!

With their own fishing wire?

drewcole81

nar.. use cheese wire.. and take there limbs.

drewcole81

I seem to have got the hikers talking about it on there forums now... good'o.

lost-time

drewcole81 wrote:

I seem to have got the hikers talking about it on there forums now... good'o.

Well, when you get something decent 'copy and paste' ok?

The worst I come across is logs/branches laid across the trails ( these are on bridleways too ).

CTCMTB

Obstructing and sabotaging trails is something that sadly seems to be increasingly common.

If you do come across any obstructions that you think have been placed on the trail deliberately the best thing to do is contact your local rights of way officer if it's on a public bridleway. Alternately your recreation officer if it's on Forestry Commission land or in a Local/Country/National Park.

CTC have created http://www.clearthattrail.org.uk as a very useful tool for trail users to keep there local public rights of way (PROW) clear.

The obvious problem is that if you're riding where you don't have a legal right there's very little that can be done to control the obstructers/saboteurs in relation to cycle use. Regardless of that the people obstructing the trail are obviously putting all trail users in danger. If you can record the obstruction and better still take some photos, especially if you're lucky enough to catch the people doing it (don't put yourself in danger there though) then you'll start to build a case against them.

I don't know of any recorded cases where the obstructers/saboteurs have been taken to prosecution but just the threat of that happening is usually enough for them to see sense.

If you need any additional information feel free to contact us here at CTC National Office www.ctc.org.uk/mtb

madmole

Its pretty common for Off road driver and motorcyclists as well. Planks with nails and wire at head height. Been several nasty accidents

Last one punctured the tyres of a mountain rescue land rover out on a shout

best bet is to report it too the police. They do tend to take "attempted murder" pretty seriously

Weve had a lot of problems at Leith hill with ramblers snapping small trees down to block the Byways to cars and motorcycles. The council are aware of the problem

Also now the Ramblers Association have got motor vehicles banned from over half of the routes they used to be able to legally drive they are complaining that all the Restricted Byways are getting too overgrown to walk down. How did they think they stayed clear? the council certainly dont cut them back

crianza34

At the end of the day it's bang out of order, it's not like we bombed millets is it?

lugsey2k5

hj 1979 where abouts in middlesbrough do you live?

and iv came across hundreded of thorny branches layed across trackes etc by walkers

robbierobrob

WORLD WAR MTB!!! THE ATTACK OF THE RAMBLERS!!! :twisted: :twisted:

why would you even want to be a rambler? walking is so boring, biking on the other hand...

Anonymous

Read this Article
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/16/BAGIHOMGND1.DTL&hw=bikes&sn=006&sc=773

HJ1976

lugsey2k5 wrote:

hj 1979 where abouts in middlesbrough do you live?

(Looking around for anyone else..) I'm in Marton- got some lovely woods right outside my front door- not barve enough to fide in them though due to Yoofs etc

baccaman21

There WAS an incident last year up north somewhere that was well documented in all the MTB mags where some poor fella was killed in an incident involving wire across some section of singletrack that was used by walkers as well as riders. They call them BOATS - Byeways open to ALL TRAFFIC or BRIDLEWAYS... for some reason ramblers seem to think the countryside belongs to them and them only... oh and horses are ok too... but not us riders - we should be in cities clogging up the roads.

It's very sad, and the incident I refer to was appalling - I'm surprised no one here remembers that?

teacherman

Less serious but a guy who's house backs onto a short section of singletrack i ride ALWAYS throws his cut back roses onto it. Good bunny-hop prac. though!

drewcole81

I dont remember that, but something should needs to be done about it, if i knew how i would set up some kind of web page about it... but i've only just learnt how to turn this computer on!!!

The hikers forumn i joint hasnt really come up with much, they all just think its bad that people would do this kind of thing. Maybe MBUK should get on to it, print something small asking people to look out for this kind of thing?

You should chuck the roses back over his fence, there is a guy who has a massive garden that backs on to the single track in Danbury where i live, he puts all his grass clippings over the back.. it does make for a soft landing but now there is huge piles of the stuff.

I thought that garden waste is resonsible for a large part of carbon output? report them...

baccaman21

teacherman wrote:

Less serious but a guy who's house backs onto a short section of singletrack i ride ALWAYS throws his cut back roses onto it. Good bunny-hop prac. though!

yum... thorny puncturey... nice

HJ1976

Is it the Hikers, or is it more likely to be 'delboy and rodney from the estate who walk their staffies in the woods on a night and meet up with friends to d a little business' if you know what I mean?
Hikers while sometimes annoyiong (and ranked by their sock colour like some kind of masons) are mostly harmless surely?

CitizenLee

teacherman wrote:

Less serious but a guy who's house backs onto a short section of singletrack i ride ALWAYS throws his cut back roses onto it. Good bunny-hop prac. though!

Isn't that Fly-Tipping? Get him done

HJ1976 wrote:

(and ranked by their sock colour like some kind of masons)

Haha, that made me lol.

AndyGates

HJ1976 wrote:

Is it the Hikers, or is it more likely to be 'delboy and rodney from the estate who walk their staffies in the woods on a night and meet up with friends to d a little business' if you know what I mean?

Probably the latter. I hike and I'm not an utter cock.

Strikes me that talking about it as if it's "us n them" is only going to make it really us 'n' them. Chill out. Most walkers are cool too. How do you know it's not local bikers indulging in a spot of malicious localism?

delcol

i cant be sure exactly who is doin it unless caught in the act,.

but the rocks piled up across the trails and nail i have encountered are spreed over a distance so it would be a case of being in the right place at the right time....

as for the local riders i am a local to the area all be it i am a newbie to mtbing, but all the riders i see out on the trail up rivington are friendly,.. even the ramblers are friendly,.. well to your face,....

can sheep move rocks and build walls :shock: