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Frightening footage of moment cyclists were charged by rampaging bull at California bike race

Videos from the event show riders being knocked from their bikes and thrown in the air by the animal

Shocking footage from California shows the moment a bull charged multiple riders, giving one whiplash, at the Rock Cobbler off-road sportive on Saturday.

The animal was seen ramming at least two riders off their bikes, in both instances then returning to throw the cyclists in the air a second time.

Perhaps fortunately considering the size and aggression of the bull, one case of whiplash was the most serious injury reported, after the animal rampaged through the field at the Bianchi-sponsored 80-mile off-road event in Bakersfield.

In one clip a competitor can be seen trying to ride past the animal, only to be rammed off their bike and thrown into the air in front of horrified onlookers.

Spectators could be heard shouting "oh s***" and "goddamit" before trying to whistle the animal away from the injured cyclist.

Cowboy State Daily reports the man involved, Tony Inderbitzin, is sore but relieved to have escaped relatively unseverely injured.

"I’m sore all over, mostly the neck from the second throw, I got whiplashed," he explained. 

"The list of what doesn’t hurt is my left arm and head. I was worried I would be sorer today, but pretty much the same as yesterday, so that’s a relief."

A nearby competitor stopped to help Mr Inderbitzen and said "he was in shock and not doing so hot. We chose to wait a while until Mr Bull went on his way."

Another video shared on Twitter shows a group of cyclists hurridly scrambling past the animal as it charges after another rider, ramming the competitor off their bike.

The cyclist is then seen running down the hillside away from the bull.

 The Bianchi Rock Cobbler is described by the event's website as a "stupidly hard ride bordering on a race [...] conceived by drunken madmen" and involves riders covering close to 2,000m of off-road elevation over 80 miles of dirt and gravel.

The organisers certainly did not have dodging dangerous animals in mind, but did promise "adventure", short steep climbs, hiking your bike and "shenanigans galore" for the 500 riders on the start line.

Animal attack encounters in the United States are terrifyingly more serious than here in the UK. In October a cyclist in Alaska survived being charged and mauled by a brown bear.

The 500lb animal mauled the cyclist inflicting lacerations and puncture wounds. The rider, who had a gun but opted not to use the weapon, was taken to hospital for treatment.

In July, a grizzly bear that killed bikepacking cyclist in Montana was shot dead.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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41 comments

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OldRidgeback replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like
Rendel Harris wrote:

You are riding in the country and an enormous bloody great bull is blocking your path. Do you:

A) Stop a way off and assess the danger

B) Ride round giving it a wide berth

C) Keep on riding straight at it and see what happens

C - because there are people in the group slower than you...

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
2 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

C - because there are people in the group slower than you...

Yes! Can't remember the book but there were two characters discussing whether they could run away from a lion: "I don't think you could run faster than a lion." "I don't have to, I just have to run faster than you."

Avatar
mdavidford replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:
Rendel Harris wrote:

You are riding in the country and an enormous bloody great bull is blocking your path. Do you:

A) Stop a way off and assess the danger

B) Ride round giving it a wide berth

C) Keep on riding straight at it and see what happens

C - because there are people in the group slower than you...

Wait - doesn't that just mean you'll reach it first?

Or did you mean you're selflessly sacrificing yourself for the greater good?

Avatar
Adam Sutton | 2 years ago
0 likes

I ride a fair bit off road and am always aware there may be animals. From a stoat chasing a ribbit across my path, to fields of curious cows roaming the paths and yesterday a couple of horses wandering up the track.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Adam Sutton | 2 years ago
4 likes

Hopefully none of the above chased and tried to gore you.

Stoat chasing a ribbit? Did you mean "weasel"?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
3 likes
chrisonatrike wrote:

Hopefully none of the above chased and tried to gore you.

Stoat chasing a ribbit? Did you mean "weasel"?

I can never tell the difference

Avatar
Dogless replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
6 likes

It's easy. Weasels are weasily identifiable, whereas stoats are stoatily different. (I, too, can never tell the difference - I think stoats are smaller, perhaps)

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wtjs replied to Dogless | 2 years ago
1 like

I think stoats are smaller
I disagree- stoats are accepted as being the next size up from weasels and one size down from polecats

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to wtjs | 2 years ago
1 like

The stoat is certainly bigger than the Least Weasel, ferret is the smallest.

Avatar
Adam Sutton replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
2 likes
chrisonatrike wrote:

Hopefully none of the above chased and tried to gore you.

Stoat chasing a ribbit? Did you mean "weasel"?

Ha! Took a while but I just noticed the spelling mistake and what was in its mouth in the photo.

Avatar
GMBasix | 2 years ago
3 likes
Quote:

The organisers certainly did not have dodging dangerous animals in mind

Really?  Farm/wild animals are always on a ride/hike risk assessment for me.

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