From: brianc@tekig1.PEN.TEK.COM (Brian T Colony)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: Re: Biking with Bears
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:59:12 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

>Ed Ravin- elr@trintex.uucp --- writes:
>At my local bike club meeting last night, someone walked in wearing a T-shirt
>for a Yellowstone bicycle event.  You guessed it -- the T-shirt depicted

     This brings back memories. As we'd say back home, "This ain't no *#$@!"

     Several years ago when I was going to school at Montana State
     University, I knew a bunch of riders who got together every
     year to make the *Midnight Tour* of Yellowstone's upper loop.
     They'd pick a Saturday in July, when the moon was full, and circle
     from Mammoth to Canyon? to Tower Junction. The total distance
     was around 90 miles.
     
     The start time from Mammoth was about 11:30pm. By 3:00am or
     so we'd all be holed up in the motel lobby in Canyon Junction.
     (I think it was Canyon. It was on the other side if the pass
     from Tower Junction.) After huddling for a couple of hours on
     the cold linoleum we'd set out to climb the pass. ~4 miles
     of uphill climbing. Followed by 18 miles of downhill into 
     Tower Junction. The goal was to top out at the summit just
     as the sun was rising. The down hill scream was a blast.
     The sun would warm the ground and steam clouds would be rising
     out of the valleys around us. A beautiful sight indeed.

     In the earlier years the loop was ridden straight through. Until
     Kelley Marcum (sp?) missed a corner in the dark at some high rate
     of speed. After that folks waited awhile in Canyon, so that
     the downhill could be done in daylight.

     One year an old timer decided to draft a motor home off of the 
     summit. He placed his front wheel a few inches off of the rear bumper
     and was cranking along pretty good. Until a large pot hole 
     materialized in front of him. He was quick enough to jump the
     front wheel over it, but the back wheel hit it full on and 
     potato chipped immediately. A big crash followed.

     The one I remember as being most interesting was the tandem team
     that melted their brake pads about half way down into Tower Junction.
     The stoker unclipped his feet and tried to drag them on the ground
     to slow down. It didn't help. Although the cleats were ground most
     of the way off his shoes. They finally lost it on a curve. Both 
     bailed out and the bike flipped end for end into a tree. Surprisingly
     it survived and they were able to fix their brakes and continue.

     Then there was the year the Billings group showed up with brand
     new racing bikes. Mere hours before they'd been touring bikes.
     (Long wheel bases and stuff.) Their bike rack blew off their car
     at ~80mph on I-90 and the driver watched all four of them go
     end over end on the interstate. Showing more courage than common
     sense, one guy rode with a severely bent front fork on his TREK.
     He said it was okay on the descents as long as he didn't go over
     15 mph. Otherwise it started to shimmy so much he couldn't control it.

     Of all the animals which one might meet, the only ones people saw
     were elk and deer. A couple of guys wound up riding into the ditch
     on one trip and were immediately surrounded by large dark shapes.
     Turned out to be a herd of elk. It was a little scary for a moment.

     My own personal irrational fear, was of riding into a cow moose
     with a calf. Grizzly bear sows are nothing compared to an
     enraged cow moose. Never happened though.

     Yellowstone is known for bumper to bumper tourist traffic. Through
     the entire night we might see about 10 vehicles or so. In the morning,
     after breakfast at Tower, the situation changed quite a bit. From
     Tower back to Mammoth traffic could be pretty heavy.

     It wasn't all crash and burn stuff. One of the neatest memories 
     of the times I participated in this ride was cruising on the 
     plateau above Mammoth. We rode six abreast, taking both lanes,
     down a freshly paved and painted road. The smooth new black top
     with the bright paint stripes pulled us along. The full moon above 
     us, lit up everything like a search light.

     We could turn all of our lights off and ghost along with nothing 
     but the sounds of an occasional shift or the clicking of a 
     freewheel to break the silence. It was a magic moment.

     There were humorous moments too. This was my first up close look
     at the two kinds of bike riders. Racers and tourists. Racers had
     a role of dimes for freewheel cogs. Their gear consisted of a couple
     of water bottles, a pullover windbreaker and a candy bar. Tourists
     carried everything. Rain pants, parka, gloves, sweater, lots of food,
     spare batteries, spare light bulbs... You get the picture. I was 
     a tourist. It was always a gas to get down to Tower and listen to
     the racer dudes whining about how cold they'd gotten on the 18 miles
     of downhill. Us tourist types never seemed to have that problem.


     ---> BTC
     SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply
     brianc@tekig1.PEN.TEK.COM