A Lifesaving Wallet and Trail Booby Traps

Two interesting MTB news items to start off your Tuesday… Several months ago we reviewed the Jimi Wallet, a plastic case for holding your credit cards, cash, etc. while you ride and it turns out the Jimi works as body armor as well. Cassie Nobbs was riding at Porcupine Rim in Moab when she took …

By Jeff Barber
March 3, 2009 Last Updated: August 15, 2024

9 comments

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Two interesting MTB news items to start off your Tuesday…

Several months ago we reviewed the Jimi Wallet, a plastic case for holding your credit cards, cash, etc. while you ride and it turns out the Jimi works as body armor as well. Cassie Nobbs was riding at Porcupine Rim in Moab when she took a nasty spill and fell about 8 feet onto a pile of rocks. Luckily, Jimi had her back and absorbed the impact of one particularly sharp rock that could have done serious damage. The photo above shows the drop and the after-effects on the Jimi. Maybe next time Cassie will get 5 of them and line her entire jersey pocket before riding Porcupine Rim 🙂

Booby Trapped MTB Trails

Unfortunately this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of booby trapped trails and it’s a scary to think about how easily this could happen. A rider in Tasmania was injured when she ran into a head-height wire strung across a mountain bike trail that knocked her off her bike. Police are investigating this as a very serious crime that has the potential to kill someone – attempted murder anyone?

In 2007 an eco-terrorist targeted mountain bikers on a Texas trail with neck-level trip wires and the guy wasn’t caught for more than a year. Avoiding trails where trip-wires are found isn’t really an option because that means the terrorists have won (seriously). At the same time, no one wants to run into one of these things at speed. It seems the only option until police find the culprit is to walk the trails each day before anyone rides to look for hazards… Or just stake the place out at night and catch the bastards.

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Mongoose
Mar 5, 2009

Hey 'bjjoondo',

Yeah, they are trying to hash it all out so both groups can have some harmony. I really do not know the entire reason why they were doing this, but either way it was pretty childish. I do not play disc golf, but I have never had any runs in with them, nor did they seem like a bad bunch of guys & gals. You know, no matter what, there will always be a bad or a bunch of bad apples in the bunch. It is a real bummer, because I miss riding their. I love the freeride area and was worth the 100 mile drive.

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RydingMountains 2007
Mar 4, 2009

I think last summer same thing except it was barbwire at neck height

tcburns92 2009
Mar 5, 2009

So I pretty much just joined this site to throw my 2 cents in on the matter, having had a few accidents on local trails from vandalism. I say get yourself together 5 other guys, 6 paintball guns, 1000 rounds each, and stake it out. I guarantee you that, not only will you catch the person causing, or attempting to cause you bodily harm, but you will also get out some frustrations and ensure safe passage on your trails from that moment on ;)

trek7k
Mar 5, 2009

Speaking of shooting paintballs, my buddies and I were once the target of that as well at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs. Some kids were hiding out in the woods near the trail and let loose on us as we rode by. Fortunately none of us got hit but we avoided that stretch of trail on the way back out.

Asfyxiate 2007
Mar 4, 2009

That's super scary, I live in a place where I would never even dream of such things, I agree with element22, I have seen some hikers move logs/downed trees to block the path at key points in a trail to stop bikers, I think it's sick and that this war should just stop (too optimistic, I know).

Syd Patricio Ontario // 2008
Mar 3, 2009

The funny thing about that article about Texas, is that its not just there. I have a few problems of traps in Toronto as well..It seems that some hikers believe that the trails that we (mountain bikers) made are for them only and they cut and droped trees over fast parts of the trails and strung fishing line across the pathways....I can't believe the sick individuals out there.

bjjoondo
Mar 4, 2009

WOW, as both a Disc Golfer and MTB'er, I'm totally shocked that DG'ers would do such a thing!! Most DG'ers are the most laid back folks I've ever met, even more so than MTB'ers. I guess there's some hard feelings on park usage between the groups, bummer! Hope it can all be straightend out and both groups can use the park in harmony once again!

Mongoose
Mar 3, 2009

We had a awesome trail here on the west coast of FL that was a an awesome freeride & aggressive XC trails, but it was closed down (for now anyway) because of this same scenario. The disc golf yahoo's were booby trapping all the MTB trails and freeriding area because they did not want the MTBR's there. The county closed it down to work out these serious childish issues before there was any fatalities. Quite a few MTBR's were injured, and some of them quite seriously. The park will be re-opened, but under better control and stronger policing. We also have had issues here on our local trails with the kids & grown up a_______ booby trapping the trails. Always a sour apple in the bunch!

Hidden Spikes Cause Flat Tires on One of Colorado’s Most Popular Trails: Buffalo Creek | Singletracks Mountain Bike News
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[…] traps on the trails has seemed like an issue that only those in the UK, California, and Vancouver (among others) need worry about—all places far from […]

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