Iron Throne Saftey

[stephenplumb]

This weekend I went to iron throne for the first time. I rode with my son and another very kindly fellow that seemed to know the trails a little better. On my second run down the flow trail, I came to a very rapid stop with a piece of barbed wire in my mouth that was hanging across the trail. at head height. 

I have spent Sunday and Monday am getting patched up at casualty and then with a plastic surgeon, and am very lucky not to have lost my eye. 

I am frankly staggered that I could be injured this way on a public trail that I paid money to ride. I was very lucky that I was not riding a little taller as my jugular would have been cut for sure if the barbed wire hit me a little lower down than my eye and mouth.

I am not sure what the general impressions of Iron throne are, but when my wife informed the trail what had happened they were aware of this "fence" and said it was something to do with keeping game on one side of it. How you can have a single strand of barbed wire hanging at head height across a downhill trail that you are charing money for the public to use I don't know.

I am still pondering litigation and suspect that this may be the only way to deal with this, but would really prefer not to close a place down that may offer some value to the cycling community, but I don't believe they should be allowed to operate in such an unsafe manner. 

I would strongly caution anyone against riding there unless they can assure you that this situation has been permanently rectified. 

[Chadvdw67]

Yoh, sorry to hear about this happening to you, and I wanted to go there this weekend, I cant because my bike is out of commission for the weekend, but still....

I have ridden there a number of times and I have never seen anything like that there, it is sad it can happen though, makes me wonder how long my "luck" will last

[thebob]

Was the barbed wire there on the first run down?

[stephenplumb]

3 minutes ago, thebob said:

Was the barbed wire there on the first run down?

To be honest it could well have been, but as I am an old fart, and this trail is quite advanced, I was very much focused down on the ground, and not looking for barbed wire at head height, so I can't say for sure. 
ONce I got up, I was pissing blood like a wounded buffalo, so did not spend much time trying to take pictures etc, as I knew that getting to the hospital was going to be a priority. 

[DIPSLICK]

heal up, thats pretty ***. Dont like the answer about the game honestly if I was given that an answer I would not leave it at that ,, saying that I am sure you did sign T$C so likely zero litigation (then again I am a worker)

 

[stephenplumb]

So i have just received a call from Charl who seems to run the trails. He said that after hearing of my incident he went up and saw that a tree had fallen on the wire, bringing it into my height and he can now see how it all happened. He said that he had been through there with his son the day before and all was well.

Normally the wire that cause the damage is much higher and would have no chance of causing this type of damage. I told him that my main concern is that I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, and given that he will be acting on this, I really don't want to take it any further. I am very lucky to be in a position that I can afford the medical bills and so won't bother with a lawyer to take things further.

Charl mentioned that they are trying to fence some other part to keep the animals out and that would allow them to remove the fence i hit.

[The Ouzo]

7 minutes ago, stephenplumb said:

So i have just received a call from Charl who seems to run the trails. He said that after hearing of my incident he went up and saw that a tree had fallen on the wire, bringing it into my height and he can now see how it all happened. He said that he had been through there with his son the day before and all was well.

Normally the wire that cause the damage is much higher and would have no chance of causing this type of damage. I told him that my main concern is that I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, and given that he will be acting on this, I really don't want to take it any further. I am very lucky to be in a position that I can afford the medical bills and so won't bother with a lawyer to take things further.

Charl mentioned that they are trying to fence some other part to keep the animals out and that would allow them to remove the fence i hit.

how does a fence above your head height stop animals ? Only thing I can think of that it would stop would be giraffes 

[stephenplumb]

Just now, ouzo said:

how does a fence above your head height stop animals ? Only thing I can think of that it would stop would be giraffes 

Sorry good point. I don't really recall the structure but apparently it is part of a fence/gate that they erect every night and remove every morning. Perhaps they pull something along the barbed wire? 

[Rolf Hansen]

That is hectic! Get well soon.

I hit my head damn hard on a tree stump overhanging the trail at Northern Farms over the weekend and I do not even want to imagine what would have happened if it was a piece of barbed wire!

[stephenplumb]

Just now, Rolf Hansen said:

That is hectic! Get well soon.

I hit my head damn hard on a tree stump overhanging the trail at Northern Farms over the weekend and I do not even want to imagine what would have happened if it was a piece of barbed wire!

I shall be getting the full face down hill helmet and googles and will probably even do cross country trails in that moving forward. My helmet was in two pieces, but I left it on my noggin until I got to the hospital. 
I actually have no idea how it got damaged as my head felt fine, and I felt my mouth took the brunt of the impact, but I am very glad I had glasses on as they asked my eye for sure.