A 55-year-old cyclist is nursing scrapes, injured ribs and a damaged titanium bike after flipping over her handlebars when she hit a strand of barbed wire tied a foot above the ground between two posts along the Mary Carter Greenway Trail in South Platte Park on Sunday evening.

Jacquie Carpenter, an avid road and mountain biker for more than 25 years, was riding on the path just north of Mineral Avenue around 6 p.m. Sunday when a passerby tried to warn her about the hazard.

It was too late. Carpenter came crashing down on her helmet, her feet still partially clipped into her pedals.

Carpenter said she was grateful a man behind her pulling children in a trailer didn’t hit the wire first.

“My helmet took most of the blow,” she said. “It really could have killed somebody.”

She then contacted Littleton Police, and investigators are looking into the case and urging cyclists to use extra caution and good lighting while riding.

“We are obviously very concerned,” said Littleton Police spokeswoman Kim Ferber. “We need to make people aware that this has happened.”

There are currently no known suspects or leads.

Despite the freak accident, Carpenter said she plans to keep riding to work whenever possible rather then taking to Denver’s car-filled streets.

“Commuting by bike has been the best part of my life — the best part of my days,” Carpenter said.

“I love it, but this is going to change the way I ride.”

Jason Pohl: 303-954-1729, jpohl@denverpost.com or twitter.com/pohl_jason