Laced between two trees on the Wiradjuri Walking Track, a strategically placed industrial cable cut Josef Winkler’s Wednesday afternoon training session abruptly short.
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On the verge of pursuing a national career, the 19-year-old spends much of his time off-road training around Wagga.
While powering through his usual trail, Mr Winkler was suddenly flung from the bike, toppling head over handlebars.
“It looked like a dodge job, if it were an [official] thing it’d have orange tape around it to notify people coming through,” he said.
Mr Winkler believes the wire had been place there to purposefully trip runners and cyclists.
“It was just the perfect height for bikes to hit, it just hit right where it needed to to stop the wheel and send you flying,” he said.
“That’s a really popular place for people to go riding or running, so it seems pretty deliberate.”
Dressed in full protective gear, Mr Winkler considers himself extremely lucky to have sustained on superficial injuries.
“It could have ended up a lot worse. I never ride without gloves because of incidents like this. If I wasn’t wearing my gloves, my hands would have been torn up, no doubt.”
With several other joggers in the area at the time, Mr Winkler admits he is thankful it happened to him and no-one else.
“I’m just glad it was me and not some other poor kid,” he said.
“I’ve never heard of this happening in Wagga. There’s been others I’ve heard from who have seen it in Victoria, but not Wagga. I’ve got no idea why someone would do it, I guess [they’re] out to get someone.”