Women attack rep cyclists and take $12,000 bike

Dunedin cyclists Shane Melrose (left) and Logan Edgar recount the incident. Photo / Otago Daily Times

A New Zealand representative cyclist and his Otago teammate are flabbergasted after being driven off the road and abused by two women while on a training ride near Dunedin.

"It's stranger than fiction," said Logan Edgar, 19, as he nursed a hand broken in the incident.

He and Shane Melrose, 30, were riding two abreast along Loan Metal Rd towards Outram on Saturday when the incident happened.

"I've been riding for 20 years, all over the world, and I've never seen anything like that before," said Mr Melrose, a primary teacher trainee.

About 1pm, they heard a car approaching. It began tooting its horn and someone was leaning out the passenger door shouting abuse at them for riding two abreast, he said.

Mr Edgar, a University of Otago commerce student from Te Anau, said: "It came up pretty quickly and tried to collect us with the front door."

The car passed them and slammed on its brakes, forcing Mr Melrose into gravel on the other side of the road.

Mr Edgar was caught behind the open car door when a woman got out and began slapping and punching him. Then she threw a bottle at him.

"The woman was going nuts," he said. "They dragged my bike into the front passenger seat and took off, dragging the bike."

Mr Edgar, not knowing how to deal with the woman, was so frustrated when the car drove off that he hit its rear window, cracking a knuckle on his hand.

Mr Melrose said he called the police when he realised what was happening to Mr Edgar, thinking it would calm the situation down, but it did not.

Mr Edgar, frantic about his loaned $12,000 bike, flagged down a car to take him to Outram.

Inside were some "farmer types", who reacted to his story by telling him that he needed to give up cycling for "kung fu" if he was getting beaten up by "two sheilas".

His bike was found in a ditch and returned to him undamaged by police yesterday, to his relief.

"These carbon fibre bikes are so fragile. It's why I didn't tug too hard on it. When I saw it going down the road, I thought that was the end of her."

Constable Kate Saxton described the incident as bizarre. "You wouldn't read about it," she said.

Dunedin Senior Sergeant Bruce Ross today told NZPA he knew who the women were and they would be spoken to shortly.

A spokesman for the Spokes Dunedin cycling group, Phaedra Upton, said the incident was very disappointing. Cyclists were "legally entitled to ride two abreast" and she could not think of a situation where the driver's reaction would be acceptable.

"So many of our issues come down to motorist education and them understanding that they don't own the road.

"Every user, as long as they are obeying the law, is entitled to be on the road."

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES