” I am a singletrack-aholic from a prohibition town, currently on a bender.”

Jill, Up in Alaska, gushing about rides in the Yukon prior to the 24 hours of Light race

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as if 24 hour races didn’t represent enough of challenge already…

Terror on the trail: Bear attacks teen bike racer

By BETH BRAGG and WESLEY LOY

link

A teenage girl riding in an all-night mountain bike race was badly injured early Sunday morning when a bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park.

Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl, who underwent surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center. The girl is expected to survive, Anchorage Fire Department spokeswoman Cleo Hill said.

Authorities wouldn’t identify the girl and wouldn’t discuss the nature of her injuries except to say they were extensive.

“One of the EMS supervisors on the scene said that in his 24 years of doing this, these were the most extensively traumatic injuries he’d seen,” Hill said.

The bear is believed to be a grizzly, state biologist Rick Sinnott said. It’s possible it’s the same sow who charged a pair of joggers two weekends ago on a nearby trail, he said.

Peter Basinger, a cyclist competing in the race, encountered the injured girl on a trail called Rover’s Run shortly after the attack happened around 1:30 a.m.

The trail parallels the south fork of Campbell Creek, a stream stocked with salmon by the state and fished frequently by grizzlies.

The girl mumbled the word “bear” but was unable to say more, Basinger said.

Basinger waited with the girl for about 25 minutes until medics arrived.

Emergency responders had to hike about half a mile from the South Bivouac trailhead off Campbell Airstrip Road to reach the girl, Hill said. They carried her on a stretcher across the same route to reach an ambulance waiting on the road.

…

Hendrik Van Hemert and Connor McCoy knew about the attack before they left the Hilltop parking lot for a bike ride up Prospect Heights.

“I thought a lot about the young woman as I was riding,” Van Hemert said. “When I was out there it was easy to see exactly the balance between risk and enjoyment anyone who (goes) outdoors must face. There is an artificial sense of safety when you are doing something you not only love but have done countless times before.

…

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Today started with a short(ish) road ride, followed by a pick-up ultimate game; it only took a year, but I finally found some ultimate players in bakersfield. A few weeks ago, finishing up an extended commute home, cutting across the CSUB campus, I heard the familiar cries of “UP” and saw two sets of sevens on the field chasing the disk around. I’ve joined them a few times on weeknights, but this morning’s Stagnant Air warning in Bakersfield, shortened my road ride enough that I was able to join the Saturday pick-up game. I know, it makes no sense. Unhealthy air cut my road ride short, yet I still went out and exerted myself further. Not very smart. Since then, I’ve hidden from the smoke-filled air by staying inside pouring over piping diagrams.

Working while friends throughout the country (and beyond) are doing events that I’d rather be doing.

Emily, and her teammate Kirsty, are competing in their first endurance mountain bike stage race, the BC Bike Race.. They’ve finished Stage 1, and hopefully they had a good time. I look forward to joining them for Stages 6 and 7 later this week. Going to Whistler without taking a bike (although, a bike rental and lift ticket have not been ruled out).

Matt and Jeff are just up the road in Fresno, competing in the ,Climb to Kaiser, 155 miles, 13,500 feet of climbing. In some of the worst air to hit the region in decades..

Mary has overcome snow, bear tracks, swollen legs, and fatigue and is holding her own in the Tour Divide, where race leader Matt Lee has already crossed the CO/NM border.

Ed and JJ-Yo are undoubtedly out exploring some new ridgelines and singletrack in Colorado somewhere. Your blog is full of new stuff that I’d love to come ride.

Dave is recovering (hopefully) from his bronchitis, and looking forward to conquering Leadville on his fixie, and he has a place to crash in Bakersfield if he ever wants to make it out this way (maybe before or after the SS World Championships)..

Hill and Dave are shuttling Apex :rolleyes:

my friends are out living their dreams, riding their bikes, searching for their physical and mental limits, while I sit here, eating my Cascade Creampuff entry fee, thanks to an injury plagued 2008. I’ve felt good lately, last problems with my knee were over the Memorial Day weekend, so hopefully, I’ll be able to maintain a semblance of training to compete in the Tahoe Sierra 100 ..

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The word was spread, a ride on the Cannell Trail was planned. And then rescheduled. Meeting times were set, shuttle was reserved; the plan was to meet at the Mountain River Adventures at 8 am for the 35 mile shuttle to Sherman Pass. The ride starts near 9200 ft., and ends in Kernville near 2800 feet. For many, the highlight of the Cannell Trail is The Plunge, which begins when Lake Isabella becomes visible; from this point it is eight miles to the end, dropping 5000 feet of elevation. Scattered throughout the first half of the ride are enough tough climbs to make you forget the day started with a shuttle, totaling maybe 2500 feet, of alternately steep, loose, sandy, rooty single track climbs, and some long, grindy double track climbs, including a vicious hike-a-bike out of Big Meadow.

A tough day in the saddle which warrants the obligatory stop at the Kern River Brewing Company mmmm beer mmmm

Simple enough directions, Mountain Rivers at 8. That’s about 75 minutes from the house.. In a rare act of preparedness, Saturday night, I filled the camelback bladder (which I inserted in my new Ergon BD2 Pack), froze a few bottles of cytomax, made some sandwiches, grabbed some honey stingers, a few tubes, a few big airs, flask of Strannies, and loaded the car. Now, I could sleep in and have a leisurely start to my day.

Instead, gonna be another hot one

I was at the Brewery at 5:20 (pffft, they were closed) wheels rolling at 5:45. Everything that I saved from not paying the shuttle could be spent on beer, and as an added bonus, my ride would end at the brewery.. mmmm beer

I had brought a light with the hopes of starting my ride pre-dawn and watching the sunrise as I rode, but it was too late for that. The first 20 miles were a nice gradual climb along the Kern River through the Sequoia National Forest, good temps, light traffic, nice warm-up. This didn’t suck.

Runoff down the rock faces was the necessary ingredient for some colorful algal growths..

At the Sherman Road turn-off, the climbing became real. The first few miles were tackled by alternately standing up for the steep sections, and sitting on the less steep climbs. All while looking around, which allowed me to see some interesting rocks. Well, interesting to me, I’m not sure if a geological engineer/geochemist would find them very interesting, but I took a few pictures anyway.

At some point, maybe five miles up, I realized that I was no longer sitting. Just standing and climbing/rowing and climbing/rowing. Climbing into the sun, allowing the Dark Side to overcome me, and strapping my helmet to my pack. The only opportunities to sit came when I zigged and zagged from one side of the road to the other. That was flat enough to spin. Glancing at my watch, it became obvious to me that the shuttle vehicle should be passing me at any moment. I started looking back to see when that moment would come.. Which, of course gave me an opportunity to stop and take a picture. The real reason all singlespeeders carry a camera. Any excuse for a break..

These switchbacks hurt..

The shuttle passed me with almost five miles to the pass, and at the rate I was climbing,m that pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn’t get there before everyone was offloaded and on the trail. Chasing is always fun after five hours of climbing

Finally, I hit the singletrack and began the chase (after strapping my helmet on, of course, I wasn’t that blown). The singletrack on the Cannell trail is in great shape, a few patches of snow, a few sandy stretches, but it’s tight, flowy, and fast, unless you’re climbing.

With splashes of color every where..

Two hours and two wrong turns later (both occurring at the entrance to the Big Meadow), I was dragging ass, the little bit of energy I had left was taxed heavily by the hike-a-bike out of the south end of the meadow, followed by a tough jeep road climb. It was probably time to stop and eat my sandwiches, but I wanted to push on to a lunch spot a further up the trail, and I still wanted to catch the group. The group that I finally saw, towards the bottom of a long, rocky, fun descent. Catching up to them was the elixir that I needed, as I instantly felt re-energized, faster and more confident while descending, able to stand and power up the climbs again. It was a good mixture of rider strengths and abilities and they were a lot of fun to ride with.

Emily had trouble with her pedals, which would haunt her later

Tail end of the snake passing through one of the many meadows

I took advantage of a mechanical to stop and eat two of these. Yes that is an entire tomato split between two sandwiches, washed down by a little bit of Strannies (Dave the pusher)

Bike repairs over, Ryan flew by on his Surly 1×1.

and the chase was on again..

Entrance to the Cannel Plunge.. eight miles..5000 feet.. a little sandy at the top (a lot of sand at the top), but down lower the trail conditions improved , and speed was the name of the game as I followed Jason and Emily through the turns. Through both of Emily’s crashes (a scary endo into rocks that she escaped almost unscathed, and a fast wash out in a sand turn that she was definitely feeling Sunday night), and Jason’s spectacular mid-crash bail bouncing off of boulders.

Saddle appropriately lowered in anticipation..

Finishing at the brewery was a good call.

Load the bike, change clothes, inside in minutes. “A water, a root beer, and a Class V Stout please.” hydration, sugar, and carbs. just what I needed.

All told, at the end of the day, I rode 64 miles, and climbed almost 11,000 feet. No problems from the knee. Drained my camelback, and both water bottles, partially refilling from filtering at a stream crossing.

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i’m on the phone with Dave Nice, who has been forced to take an early exit from the TDR after contracting a bad case of bronchitis. Those of you that know Dave, you know that he’s the super nice (he he), crazy, fixie-riding, enduro rider. The one that rides to most events in the Rockies, he’ll show up for a group ride in the mountains, having already ridden a day or two to get there. And when he arrives, his huge smile precedes his inevitable presentation of a few bottles of Stranhan’s Colorado Whiskey to all in attendance (yes, those of you that are hooked on Strannies know who to blame)

Dave, I’m sorry. I know how hard you have worked for this ride. Get healthy, then get back to riding, and good luck at Leadville!

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