From Aspen, Colorado comes news of a dangerous vandal at work on a local trail:
While dirt biking around Basalt Mountain with his friends last month, local rider Bill Keenan almost lost his head — literally. According to the 37-year-old local equipment operator, a single piece of barbed wire was tightly strung between two aspen trees at neck level on Dead Cow Trail near Red Table Road and Cottonwood Pass. Keenan said he avoided certain death that day by springing from his bike just in time to partially block the razor-sharp rope. According to Keenan, he took a majority of the force to his upper torso and arm — saving his life, but scarring his body. His plastic chest protector was cut in half, and he sustained a nasty laceration on his limb, he said.
Thankfully, Keenan said, he did not require professional medical attention. But unfortunately for the well being of his sport, Keenan believes it was a hunter who hung the barbed wire in an attempt to deter off-road riders from using the area. “It was near-death sabotage,” he said. “It was definitely done by someone trying to hurt riders.
Keenan places the blame on hunters who hung the barbed wire in an attempt to deter off-road riders from using the area.
Keenan rides a dirt bike (an off-road motorcycle), but many of the same dangers apply to mountain bikers in the area. Barbed wire across a public trail is a danger for everyone — cyclists, dirt bikers, hikers, and hunters — alike.
“I know we’ll never find out who did it,” Keenan said. “But, hopefully, we can make the trails safer for everyone.”
Read more from the Aspen Daily News: Biker says he almost lost his head
