It's a place where cyclists are supposed to feel safe and comfortable, but the Galloping Goose became bike-unfriendly this week when someone apparently hid thumbtacks on the trail.

Cyclist Susan Hollis said she was riding to work through a tunnel on the Goose Wednesday when she saw gleaming metal.

"As I passed through the sparkly bits, and I was trying to avoid them, I realized I was biking through a sea of tacks," she said. "One went into my tire and I could hear it hitting my fender, so I pulled over, I pulled it out, I went back to have a look and pick some up."

That's when she realized she couldn't pick them up because there were hundreds of the tiny tacks strewn across the entire length of the tunnel.

The hazard forced other cyclists on the busy trail to stop, with many saying it appeared to be a deliberate act of vandalism.

"Looks like someone had sprinkled them all over the ground and even put some leaves over top of them," said cyclist Diana Hickman. "So we were going through all the leaves and picking them up."

Staff at a Vic West bike store said they had an influx of people with punctured tiles seeking help on Wednesday, and that it's not the first time someone has done something like this.

"A gentleman that came in that had multiple staples in his tire and he says there was a good chunk of them on the trail too," said operator Troy Woodburn.

New reports came in on Thursday that even more tacks were hidden on the trail, something CTV's Rob Buffam confirmed when he visited the Galloping Goose.

For cyclists in Greater Victoria, it's far from the first time they've been targeted.

In 2013, a cyclist broke his jaw riding into tape stretched across Kings Road in Victoria. That same year, a mountain biker suffered a neck injury from biking into wire placed at Durrance Lake.

Fortunately for Hollis, Wednesday's act of sabotage only resulted in a damaged tire.

"People that I didn't know, we all kind of came together, cleared the trail, and we're able to roll our eyes at whoever did it," she said.

While it remains unknown who did it or why, many using the trail say they'll be keeping a close eye out in the future.