Concerns raised about possible attacks on cyclists after popular family cycle path sabotaged with piles of logs “deliberately” left by “idiots” and hooded men spotted shouting threats at passing riders

A popular traffic-free cycle path on the Isle of Wight has been the subject of two apparent anti-cycling sabotage attempts in the space of a month, after piles of logs were left strewn across the trail – and immediately replaced after being moved by cyclists – and hooded, cider-drinking men were spotted allegedly shouting threats and insults at people on bikes.

The latest apparent attempt to injure cyclists using the Cowes to Newport cycle track, a 5km off-road route in the north of the Channel Island which forms part of the family-friendly Red Squirrel Trail, took place on Tuesday evening, a month after a similar sabotage effort along the same route.

Local cyclist Tom Murtagh spotted several large logs and branches placed in a clearly deliberate manner across the path in at least ten different places during his ride, before removing them and informing the police.

Logs placed across Isle of Wight cycle path (credit: Tom Murtagh)

“Just a heads up that someone’s continuing to place logs and large branches across the Red Squirrel trail, seemingly to cause accidents for cyclists,” Murtagh wrote on a community Facebook group on Wednesday morning, noting that the logs are a “lot bigger than they look in the pictures” he took.

“It was done at 10-plus spots last night, when it was starting to get foggy. I moved them all, then when I was cycling back shortly after they had been put back – so I moved them again.”

He continued: “At the end of the path, on the Cowes side, I heard a couple of guys shouting threats and insults at a cyclist.

“I didn’t get a good look at them because it was dark and they were quite a bit ahead of me, but they seemed to be mid-late teen/early 20s. Carrying cider bottles and wearing (I think) green and red hoodies, respectively.

Logs placed across Isle of Wight cycle path (credit: Tom Murtagh)

“Passing info on to police, but thought people should be aware that they’re still trying to cause an accident and will possibly attack someone.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has confirmed that “a male cyclist in their 30s was threatened by two males” at around 9.50pm on Tuesday evening.

“Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 44250098220,” the spokesperson said.

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Tuesday’s act of apparent deliberate sabotage comes just a month after logs were first found to have been carefully placed, seemingly with the aim of causing a crash, on the Newport to Cowes path.

At the start of February, cyclist Steve Horsey posted on Facebook that he came across a series of logs and piles of rotten branches intentionally “placed perpendicular to the path”.

 “Be careful out there, people, some idiot has been busy laying logs across the Newport to Cowes cycle track,” he said at the time. “I very much doubt that nature was involved.”

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Unfortunately, acts of sabotage on cycling routes – with potentially catastrophic consequences – have become depressingly common in recent years.

In December, we reported that a group of mountain bikers, whose decade-long campaign to open up Guernsey cliff paths to people on bikes was recently successful, saw their first trial ride halted when a wooden stake with nails was found laid across the route, believed to be in an act of protest.

Guernsey mountain bikers find stake with nails on cliff path (credit: Guernsey Mountain Biking Association GMBA/ITV News)

At the end of last year, the Guernsey Mountain Biking Association (GMBA) received 70 licences for some of its members to ride the island’s southern cliff paths as part of a four-month trial, the riders only allowed to use the route from east to west at night, between 6pm and 5.30am, and without exceeding 10mph.

And while the trial, approved by the Environment and Infrastructure Committee, was viewed as controversial by some, the GMBA riders were still surprised to find such a dangerous protest during the first night of the trial in early December.

“It’s not really something that you’d expect,” the group's chair said at the time. “People may not agree with riding bikes, some people don’t. But it shouldn’t be something where you go out there meaningfully to obstruct our pathway.

“If you were running along here, that’s a trip hazard. On a bike, we have lighting but people do regularly travel here at different times of the day and may not be fully focusing on where they’re going.”

Dog walker finds latest wire trap targeting cyclists (credit: John Butterworth/Ride Sheffield on Facebook)

In November, cyclists in Sheffield were also warned to “be vigilant” after a dog walker reported finding “a length of wire-filled electric fencing mesh” strung tight and at head height near a popular beauty spot, the homemade trap “clearly intended to do harm”.

Another particularly disturbing case from South Wales in 2021 saw a cyclist left needing 17 stitches for a wound to his neck caused by a barbed wire trap.

Neck Injury (credit: toe_cutter_71 on Instagram)

Tony Roberts was forced to to “unwrap the wire from around his neck” following the crash, the trap having been “hidden in a tree line so it couldn’t have been seen”.

The 39-year-old was treated by specialist doctors who initially wondered if he would need surgery but fortunately managed to treat the injury with stitches instead, his partner commenting that she was just “so glad I’m not planning a funeral right now”.