It is truly a story from Absurdistan, as the knife-wielding hiker is 69 and the injured biker is 66. According to a detailed report on the Whatcom County Sheriff's Facebook page, the mountain biker was pedaling uphill and asked a group of hikers coming downhill to give him room, as he was trying to pass a difficult root passage and had clicked. One of the hikers then grabbed his handlebars, whereupon they both fell and the hiker - according to his own statement - defended himself with his switchblade against the biker, who was still lying on the ground, clipped in.

The hikers then called the police while the biker made off. When he later sought treatment for the stab wounds to his arm and leg, the police arrived and established that the injured man was the mountain biker in question. The latter ultimately had to be flown to a hospital in Seattle due to the severity of his injuries. The whole incident took place on March 6. After the hiker had been issued an arrest warrant as a result of the investigation, he turned himself in on March 23. He is charged with assault and possession of a weapon not permitted in the state of Washington - the switchblade knife with which he injured the biker.

The Facebook profile and the county police website appear genuine. Someone must have put a lot of work into a fake profile with various posts and countless comments on it. The local press has been reporting on the incident for days. It really seems that two pensioners got out of control, one lost his balance, the other his judgment. And it is very likely that everything would have turned out differently if the biker had had the foresight to pull out in time to let the hikers pass.