[RobertC3]

We have had a couple of incidents of booby traps reported on trails in our local area, East King County and South Snohomish County. One was fishing hooks tied from high branches and left to dangle at rider height. The other was sharpened sticks embedded to impale a downhill rider. The fishing hooks were thought to be some dumb kids, but the sharpened sticks were believed to be horse riders who didn't like the mountain bike use of "their park".

 

[sgltrak]

On Halloween night when I was in middle school 4 1/2 decades ago, I hit fishing wire strung across the street at chest height while riding no-hands down the street. It stretched and broke, leaving a welt on my chest for several days, but didn't take me off the bike.

I've encountered numerous questionably placed rocks and branches in the trail over the past 40 years, but can't prove they didn't end up there naturally, so I've always ridden with the mindset that something could be in the trail and I should be riding with the speed and control that will allow me to stop or avoid any unexpected objects.

 

[schnee]

Interesting. For some reason I've always thought of bike trail booby trapping as a purely American phenomenon.

It's not really booby trapping, they're in fully visible places, so there's no danger.

 

[evdog]

Y'all are making bike trails sound so scary! OP is going to never get on his bike again.

I've always ridden with the mindset that something could be in the trail and I should be riding with the speed and control that will allow me to stop or avoid any unexpected objects.

Not sure why anyone thinks it is acceptable to ride so fast that you couldn't stop in time for an unexpected object on the trail. I've seen a few suspiciously placed rocks on trails but the vast majority have obviously rolled down from above. Same with fallen branches and downed trees. Or worse you could run down a hiker, someone's kid, or wildlife. The only place I'd expect a clear trail is a bike park. But even there you could encounter morons stopped or crashed right on the trail.

 

[Harold]

 

[Locust29]

This is making riding gravel roads sound better and better every post.

 

[dir-T]

When I was in middle school my friend lived near a very short section of trail through a woods near his house. This was in the early 1980 in NE PA so mtn biking wasn't so much a thing as other kids riding BMX bikes home from school.

I was way into reading survivalist books at the time so was all schooled up on deadfall traps, snares, etc. We rigged an old teapot to fall from a high branch when a rider/walker would trip the wire and a little pit covered with sticks and pine needles not far from it. I think we even had some sort of bent branch rigged to "smack" someone a al John Wayne's "The Green Berets" movie.

Certainly not the felonious stuff that's the subject of this thread but OMG did we ever have fun with it.

 

[Sssnake]

My kind of trap!

Das wut 'm talkin' 'bout!

 

[Bikedog22]

I once met someone who lived out in the desert. He had problems with dirt bikers cutting across his property (not public land or public access), even taking down his wire fencing he put up. So he put a few dozen nails in some pieces of plywood, laid them across the trail and put dirt over the plywood. It didn’t take long for the dirt bikers to stop using the “trail” across his property.

My dog ran across plywood peppered with roofing nails and covered in leaves. I had to carry him out and he wasn't small. I had to walk my bike out too. I was and still am livid

Last I heard they caught up with the lady. This was back in 98 in Oregons Coast Range.

 

[Bikedog22]

Interesting. For some reason I've always thought of bike trail booby trapping as a purely American phenomenon.

I once read about an account of a dad riding with his kids in the UK. His front tire dropped into a hidden hole. Somehow his bars spun taking a core sample out of his femoral artery. He died right in front of his kids. The story was in a very early issue of BIKE

 

[Nat]

I once read about an account of a dad riding with his kids in the UK. His front tire dropped into a hidden hole. Somehow his bars spun taking a core sample out of his femoral artery. He died right in front of his kids. The story was in a very early issue of BIKE

That would have been awful.

 

[006_007]

I was led to believe there would be breasts involved. (Sad face).

Ya, I was thinking some sort of a surprise motorboat thing

 

[Picard]

this thread is misleading. I don't see any boobs on the trails !!!

 

[790097]

this thread is misleading. I don't see any boobs on the trails !!!

That's cuz they all leave when you show up!

 

[KirkC]

I went OTB back in July on my local trail because some kids decided to tie rope across two trees on a fast section. I didn't see the rope until I was only a few feet from it. I got on the brakes pretty hard, but it didn't matter over I went. It was my 2nd lap and I do remember kids in this area on the first lap. I've been riding a little timid since that event. It was dusk and the rope was really old and kind of blended in with the trail. When I was laying on my back, I heard some laughter and footsteps scurrying off. I yelled a few obscenities but didn't see them. Happy I didn't break my neck. Yeah, kids do dumb stuff.

 

[Mojave G]

Das wut 'm talkin' 'bout!

Or this?

-hint- it's a 360 video

 

[Nat]

Lefty protesting in 5...4...3...

 

[Catmandoo]

We had some issues a few times with a guy in a local running club, used to like to run certain trails in an opposite direction from how the mt bikers ride it. It’s a very tight and twisty trail with poor visibility, thus there were a few unfortunate encounters where harsh words were said. The runner, who was somebody known, would on occasion throw down a lot of twigs, sticks and branches the block the trail. The bike club management got in touch with him and reminded him that the trail he was running was an authorized bike trail, it had been built by mt bikers for mt biking and while it was open to hikers and runners, that there were alternative running/hiking only trails, that the trail was specifically marked as one way so as to avoid such conflicts. He got the message, problems went away.

 

[Nat]

This thread makes me appreciate trail segregation even more.

 

[Roge]

Let's not forget possibly the first MTB booby trap, Paola Pezzo on the way to gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.