By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Dirt biker escapes serious injury after barbed wire strung across trail

Apr 24, 2017 | 7:03 PM

SOUTHERN ALBERTA – One of the worst fears for a group of dirt bikers nearly became a reality over the weekend, when someone strung-up barbed wire across a trail in the Porcupine Hills, located northwest of Pincher Creek.

The seven friends were legally on public land on Sunday (Apr. 23), at a spot they travel to on most weekends – taking a down-hill trail that comes to a narrow funnel through the trees, which forces riders into a single-file line.

That’s when Todd Campbell says he nearly lost his friend, Jordan Sinnott, who had taken the lead.

“About 20-feet into those trees, there was all of a sudden the wire strung across there,” explained Campbell. “I was about four bikes back from Jordan, who came in contact with the wire, and as I came up, all I saw was the other guys, they had their bikes laid over and they were yelling, ‘Jordan, Jordan, are you alright, are you alright!’”

Fortunately, Campbell says that Sinnott managed to hit the ground just as he saw the wire – which was about chest to neck height off the ground in his estimation – with it just clipping his helmet, leaving scratches on it.

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“[Jordan’s] a mountain biker and downhill skier, he’s just an outdoorsman to the max – he’s a pretty talented guy when it comes to stuff, and afterwards, you could just see in his face that he wasn’t quite the same after seeing that,” said Campbell. “It was pretty disheartening to see, but the rest of us too, everybody, it just slowed us down a lot.

“You go out there thinking it’s going to be a great day, you’re out with friends, you’re riding. To come across something like that, that was intended to hurt or kill your friends, it’s pretty gut wrenching,” he added.

After helping Sinnott up and back onto his bike – which was damaged in the incident – the group proceeded back down the hill, going about another 150-feet before finding a second length of wire crossing the trail.

They contacted police that day, with Pincher Creek RCMP confirming an investigation has been launched.

In the wake of the experience, Campbell has a message for whoever put the wire up.

“There’s a lot of children – I’ve got nieces and nephews, and you see lots of people on Facebook, their kids are out there – the worst part is that these people don’t take into consideration that it’s young lives they could be taking.

“We’re going to stay strong and we’re going to keep riding out there,” he continued. “We’re going to be keeping an eye open for the safety of ourselves and all the other riders out there. If we see any foul play, it will be dealt with by the police. Just please don’t do it again.”