Cyclists exaggerated, says girl

Mosgiel police are still trying to get to the bottom of an incident near Outram on Saturday in which the occupants of a car took a $12,000 road bike from a cyclist and dragged it several hundred metres down the road.

New Zealand cycling representative Logan Edgar (19) and Otago team-mate Shane Melrose (30) say they were riding on Loan Metal Rd towards Outram when they had an altercation with two female motorists who ended up dragging Mr Edgar's $12,000 road bike into their car and drove off dragging the bike.

However, the 17-year-old passenger in the car, who contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday but declined to be named, said the incident outlined in yesterday's newspaper had been taken out of context and the cyclists' story was an exaggeration.

The girl, of Outram, said she and a friend in her late 20s were driving around a bend and came across the cyclists riding on either side of the centre-line.

The girl's mother later contacted the ODT to say she was the driver.

She did not know why her daughter had said a friend was driving.

"We tooted the horn as a mere warning, letting them know that a car was coming and thought that, after a polite toot, they might ride two abreast on their own side of the road," the daughter said.

"But this was not the case.

"Because they refused to ride on their own side of the road and continued arrogantly to ride either side of the white line, we rolled down the window and called out some verbal abuse that was only out of frustration."

She said the cyclists responded by squirting their water bottles in the window.

She and the driver had then decided to swap seats, so the car pulled over.

"I got out and decided that before we swapped seats, I would ask the cyclists if it was legal to squirt their water bottles into a passing car.

"The cyclists were very defensive and obviously thought they were going to be harassed.

"I grabbed the handlebars of the bike to ensure that the cyclist would answer my question and not ignore me.

"But this angered the cyclists even more and he leaned into the car and said to the driver, `If the bike is not released, I will punch this girl in the face'," the daughter said.
Anger and frustration took over.

She pulled the bike into the car and they drove off with the bike dragging alongside, she said.

"I wanted to teach them a lesson. I have never had a problem with cyclists and know that it is legal for them to ride two abreast.

"However, I also know that it is not legal for them to cycle either side of the white line and I think this should be addressed."

They dumped the bike in a ditch about 200m away.

"It was disposed of here because we believed that the cyclists would pass it and would pick it up on their way.

"We do not know what happened to the bike after this, but we had no intention of stealing the bike.

"We just wanted to get away from them."

Mr Melrose last night said the men were riding as far left as possible when the incident happened and the car driver slammed the brakes on intentionally.

There was no attempt to swap drivers, he said.

"They've endangered our safety by trying to force us off the road and now they realise what they've done is wrong and are trying to get out of it."