A man cycling along the Lochside Regional Trail in Central Saanich was left with serious injuries after an erratic man pushed him off his bike and started hitting him over the head with it.

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It happened about 4:35 p.m. Tuesday as two cyclists were on the trail approaching Mount Newton Cross Road.

The large man accosted the two cyclists and one of them, a 54-year-old Saanich resident, ended up on the ground, according to Central Saanich police Sgt. Mark Haney.

The attacker lifted the bike and started hitting the male cyclist, leaving him bloodied and with broken bones.

The female cyclist suffered minor injuries as she tried to get away from the man, who was making bizarre and sometimes incoherent statements.

Haney said it appears the man was having a mental-health breakdown. Police and B.C. Ambulance paramedics were called to the scene.

Officers arrested the man soon after they arrived and he was apprehended under the Mental Health Act. He remains in hospital under assessment.

No charges have been laid, but he could face criminal charges.

Police determined the man who was arrested had been reported missing from Surrey, Haney said.

Central Saanich police have been in touch with Surrey RCMP to let them know the man has been located.

On Aug. 11, a man pulled a log across the Galloping Goose Regional Trail in Victoria and threatened a female cyclist with a knife. The woman fled on her bike and called police.

The man was arrested a short time later.

There is nothing to suggest the two incidents are linked.