Adventureskope

Impact

You don’t play 25 years of ice hockey without learning to take a hit, but I never thought it would come in handy in a mountain bike race. The guy was huge and when he stepped into me it felt like I got slammed by the biggest guy on the ice. Wait; I have to go back a bit.

The Tour De Wakatipu is an annual mountain bike race here in Queenstown. It starts near Arrowtown and cuts a slash through the basin to connect through Frankton, cross the Kawarau River and travel down river to finish at Chard Farm winery. It’s a great race and a popular one with all levels of riders. This is my third year running doing the race and my second year in a row on my singlespeed.

The race got off to a great start, I was feeling strong and keeping good pace. On my singlespeed I’d lose ground on the flats but once we hit the hills I’d make up time and work through the field.

Two thirds of the way through the race the course crosses the Kawarau Bridge along a shared biking/walking footpath. Turning the corner to head onto the bridge I was just behind a small group of riders. Maybe four of them about 10m ahead of me.

As the bridge came into full view I could see a couple walking their dog on the path. As the guys in front of me went past they stepped to the side to let them pass. I thought to myself, ‘no problem, the one choke point of the race is going to go off without a hitch.’ How wrong I was.

Closer still I got a better view of the couple. The woman was slight and in the forty plus category and the dog roaming wildly on an extendable leash was a Jack Russell or something equally small. The guy on the other hand was massive. Easily 100kg (220lbs) and well over six feet tall. Foo-man-shoe mustache, massive belly – he was the stereotype of unfit white trash.

After the riders in front of me passed the couple – the walkers resumed walking across the bridge straight towards me, right in front of me. I’m not sure if they didn’t see me or just thought it was their turn to walk on the path – regardless they were taking up the whole width right in front of me.

I grabbed a huge handful of break and came to a screeching halt as fast as my bike could. As I slowed down I said in a loud voice, “Watch out!” I came to a stop right in front of them, only an inch or two away from running over the dog. My heart was thumping from the near miss and I never saw the hit coming.

The massive man shoved me as hard as he could, planting both hands on my chest and launching me off my bike. I flew horizontally through the air and slammed hard against the railing of the bridge. As I flew through the air I could hear him yelling at full volume, “Fuck you, you bastard!”

I was in shock, pure disbelief. My body switched to ice hockey mode and just before I impacted the side of the bridge I tensed my muscles and bounced off. Still straddling my bike, which by now the big guy was kicking I said the first thing that came to mind, “What did you do that for?”

This seemed to egg him on and he started yelling an obscenity flavored verbal barrage about cyclist getting in the way of busses and how we should all fuck off and die. I made eye contact and could see the rage boiling – for this guy, the fight was just getting started. It was time to get out of there. I hate fighting, especially against guys that outweigh me by a factor of two. I was straddling my bike and this guy was ready to knock my block off. I didn’t stand a chance.

Regaining my composure I start to pedal forwards, as I did I looked over my shoulder and told the guy to ‘fuck off’ – not very eloquent, but it cut straight to the point. Still fired up I see him cock his right hand ready to punch my lights out. He moves towards me and tries to grab me but I keep peddling. A few more feet and I look back again to see him chasing me down the path, arm still cocked, ready to fire.

By the end of the bridge he is gone, behind me and out of range. (I learned later that he knocked the rider behind me off his bike too.) The race continues and I go on to finish in a time I’m happy with. I was about 2 minutes slower than last year – or about the same amount of time I wasted on the bridge.

So what now, what do I think? Well I’ve got no interest in finding this guy, pressing charges or anything like that. This guy is obviously unhinged and has some serious anger issues. I’m guessing he’s a bus driver or something and a cyclist once slowed him down a little bit. In a wider sense I’m glad he body slammed me yesterday and didn’t run some cyclist off the road when he was driving his bus.

I’m disappointed that this happened in Queenstown. I’m embarrassed that this sort of thugary could happen here. This is a place that I love for its friendly locals, outdoorsy culture and ample adventure opportunities. To encounter someone that swims against this current in every sense is a sad state of affairs and a real shock.

When my experience was related to the 1000 or so people at the finish line during the award ceremony our cycling community took one step closer to each other. We all bonded a little bit more and felt like the biggest gang in town. It’s going to take more than giving me a shove to bring cyclists in QT down.

If the guy who took me out happens to read this – I’d like to say thanks. Every movement needs a catalyst and your idiocy, violence and despicable behavior will act like a warming glow of motivation to keep me fighting the good fight for as long as it takes. I’m not going anywhere and neither are my biking friends.