Tacks placed on Panhandle Trail leave numerous bicyclists with flat tires
Numerous bicyclists found themselves stranded with flat tires this weekend while riding on a rural section of the Panhandle Trail after someone purposely dropped carpenters tacks on the paved surface near Burgettstown.
Douglas Sikora of Pittsburgh said he noticed a couple walking their bikes near the state line with West Virginia during his Saturday morning ride and wondered what was happening.
Soon after, he counted at least nine people with similar issues and saw pedestrians picking up the tiny, black tacks that had been strewn on one section of the trail in Hanover and Jefferson townships a couple miles west of Burgettstown.
“I stopped counting at nine (people with flat tires). I saw a couple people in groups with multiple flats,” Sikora said. “I was heading toward West Virginia and didn’t have any flats by then. I saw some people with two flats and said, ‘Something’s up.’ Walkers were picking up the tacks.”
Sikora thought he had missed picking up a tack in his own tires since he was able to bike back to his car that was parked at Walkers Mill near Rennerdale following his 52.5-mile roundtrip ride. But he later found a tack in his front tire when he was putting his bike away in the garage, although the slow leak allowed him to continue biking without any issues.
“It’s absolutely an intentional act. … It could’ve been a bunch of things,” he said.
Sikora expects he’ll be able to patch the pin-sized holes in his tire and inner tube, but others weren’t as lucky.
Cortney DiVito of Glenshaw was biking with two other people when she picked up a tack in one of her tires. She went to repair it, but one of her biking companions had multiple tacks in both tires, meaning they didn’t have enough supplies to patch both. The third person in their group was able to ride back to their car to pick them up, but DiVito still had to walk five miles to the nearest parking lot in clip-on bike shoes that aren’t made for walking long distances.
“It could’ve been pretty catastrophic,” she said. “It was just a really malicious act.”
DiVito was heartened by the kindness of strangers who were seen picking up tacks or helping stranded bicyclists get back to their vehicles. But both DiVito and Sikora noted how dangerous it could have been because of the rural setting with no cell service. Sikora added that many people walk their dogs on the trail and children often wear flip-flops while walking with parents, meaning their feet could have been punctured by the tacks.
No one is believed to have been injured from the situation.
“Somebody who threw those tacks down, they were clever,” Sikora said because they blended in with the dark pavement.
The Panhandle Trail has become a popular spot for road bicyclists because the entire 17-mile section in Washington County is paved. But now DiVito and Sikora are concerned about returning because they’re not sure if any tacks remain or if the vandal could return again.
Hanover Township police said they had not received any complaints as of Monday morning, while Smith Township police Chief Bernie LaRue said he was looking into the situation since a large portion of the trail goes through his municipality. He said he was especially concerned because township police cars and sheriff’s cruisers sometimes drive on the trail while on the patrol. He did not know the solution to stopping such an incident from happening again, but suggested video surveillance cameras could be placed in parking lots near trailheads.
“If it’s by the parking area, that can be monitored somewhat, but if it’s on the trail, it’s very difficult,” he said.
Washington County Planning Director Lisa Cessna said she received an email Monday morning making her aware of the problem. Since Washington County owns and maintains the section of the trail that runs through the county, she asked workers to go out Monday to see if any tacks remained on the pathway.
“We’ll go out and check and see if we can find anything, and if we find anything we’ll clean it up, but that’s about all we can do,” she said.
Numerous people posted messages on The Panhandle Trail’s Facebook group, which has 3,500 members in it, warning others about the issue Saturday.
The nearly 30-mile Panhandle Trail runs from Walkers Mill Station in Collier Township in Allegheny County to Colliers, W.Va., near Weirton. Anyone with information on the situation can contact Hanover Township police at 724-947-4813 or Smith Township police at 724-947-5069.