Archive for the ‘Mt. Bike’ Category
Garbage cans, parking lots, fences, soccer fields, delivery trucks… To most people, there is only one purpose to these ordinary objects: to do what their names intend. But Brett Rheeder is not most people. With the help of a few ramps and a delivery truck to transport them all, Rheeder transformed the streets of the city–and the ordinary objects within it–into his own personal playground.
While mountain biking in Jasper, Alberta on August 4, 2013, my cousin Dan and I were charged by a grizzly sow three times.
We were riding single track just outside of Jasper town-site (9c) when the encounter occurred. I rode to the top of a hill and applied the brakes to wait for Dan and plan my descent. My brakes squealed a bit, then I heard a growl and looked to my right to see a grizzly bear charging at me.
After careening down the hill a bit on my bike, I was able to distance myself from the bear. According to Dan, who was subsequently charged, the sow stopped on the trail where I had been standing.
When Dan arrived on the scene, he created a distraction, which drew the bear to him. He managed to grab the bear spray from his bag in time to brace himself, but the bear stopped approximately 10 meters from him – just outside the spray’s effective range. Frankly, I’m glad we didn’t have to injure the mother in any way.
Meanwhile, I worked my way along the bottom of the gully toward Dan so that I wasn’t alone in the rough bush. As I reached him, the sow and her cub charged toward us slightly once more before heading away in the direction that we had come from.
We waited a few minutes, then walked away from the scene along the trail with bear spray in hand.