Another week, another case of trail sabotage. This time it’s not on ghetto trails or even at a trail centre but on a public bridleway. Ridciulous.

Twitter user @mintimperial, Tom, found the offending nailed board submerged in a puddle on a bridleway near Hade Edge above Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.

Found this home-made trap lurking in a puddle on bridleway above Holmfirth on today's ride. Reported to police. pic.twitter.com/tDtQrv5EZa

— Tom (@mintimperial) January 29, 2017

Tom seems to believe that the object was aimed at puncturing the tyres of 4x4s or motocross bikes, but that’s not really the point, what if a child had been splashing in the puddle before Tom found the trap?

Tom wrote on his blog: “I nearly rode straight over the little piece of craftsmanship pictured above, which was floating in an icy rut on a public bridleway, earlier today. It’s clearly contrived as some sort of homebrew stinger device intended to puncture the tyres of any vehicle driving over it. Fortunately I was bimbling along slowly enough to be able to stop in time.

“I really don’t understand the mentality of the person or persons who set this trap. Indeed, I’m baffled as to how they figured out which end of the hammer to use, given that they must have the mental acuity of brain-damaged chickens to consider this a good idea. Idiots.”

Tom has informed the police but he thinks there could be more of the same up there. Be careful if you’re striking out that way in future.