RonSonic said:epson said:[email hidden] (g.daniels) wrote in news:41b0dda1.0409020934.41b75d87
@posting.google.com:
I believe a patch is always an emergency procedure, get home, replace the
tube.
I always had that backward. Easier to just stuff in a fresh tube and go futz
with the patches and stuff later. With a beer.
Ron
Dear Ron,
Is that a beer or bear with your flat tire? See article
below.
Carl Fogel
http://www.billingsgazette.com/testdex.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/09/06/build/wyoming/65-bear-fight.inc
Bicyclist fights off grizzly bear
Associated Press
JACKSON, Wyo. - A mountain biker on Togwotee Pass fought off
a grizzly bear that repeatedly charged him until a companion
drove the animal off with pepper spray.
Kirk Speckhals escaped his encounter without a scratch; he
had only four dirt marks from the bear's claws on his
forearm, a punctured bicycle tire and a bent rim.
He said he hopes others learn from the mistakes he made
during his ride around Pinnacle Buttes - including not
making enough noise to warn bears, not riding together and
not carrying pepper spray.
Speckhals, 46, and companion Tom Foley, said the grizzly was
persistent and backed away only when there was about a
second's worth of spray left in the can of deterrent.
Speckhals gave credit to Foley, who carried his can of spray
on his hip, for saving his life.
"I was on the ground with the bear on top of me," Speckhals
said. "I was waiting for a bone-crunching bite. I was ready
to die."
Speckhals and Foley said the day started innocently enough
when they left for the loop ride on Aug. 29 with another
friend, Mark Wolling, near Brooks Lake. The route traverses
a couple of passes on the Shoshone National Forest at the
9,500-foot level.
The area is near the Teton and Washakie wilderness areas and
core grizzly habitat in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Speckhals, a ski patroller and quality controller with a
construction company, said he had ridden the loop several
times before but had never carried bear spray.
Before taking off, Foley offered his extra can of spray.
Wolling took it, figuring if anybody got in trouble, it was
more likely to be him since he was bringing along his dog.
Speckhals said he had been ringing his bicycle bell at
regular intervals to warn bears of his approach. As he
climbed to the second pass of the trip, he pulled away from
his companions and stopped making his regular warning.
Speckhals said he crested a rise and heard a noise he knew
meant trouble.
"In the woods, 300 feet away, he was in full charge, coming
right at me," he said. No question the bear was a grizzly,
Speckhals said.
"I got off my bike and put it in front of me and started
yelling 'Bear! Bear!"' he said. Foley, some distance back,
heard the cries but could not see the confrontation.
Wolling was farther behind.
"All of a sudden I heard 'Bear! BEAAAR!!"' Foley said.
"Whoa, God, I better get up there," he thought.
From the screams and sounds of the struggle, Foley realized
Speckhals was wrestling with a bear.
Said Speckhals: "I lunged my bike out at him and yelled and
he stopped."
The bear moved in again. He charged "six or seven times,"
Speckhals said, each time deterred at the last moment by the
bicycle.
"Finally, he grabbed my bike out of my hands," Speckhals
said. "He started stomping on it."
With the bear distracted, Speckhals started creeping away,
but the bear immediately left the bike and put its front
paws on Speckhals.
In a Greco-Roman wrestling stance, Speckhals sensed he was
going down.
"This time he just took me out - drug me to the ground," he
said. "I knew I was in trouble. I rotated and got on my
chest."
Foley arrived to see the bear sitting atop his friend.
"Immediately, I knew I had to get over there, see what I
could do," he said.
With pepper spray drawn, he advanced to within 15 feet and
fired.
The bear got off his friend but turned and began circling
Foley who was still spraying in the animal's face.
"That's when I got scared," Foley said, adding that the
bear's eyes were very large.
"They were full of bear spray - not a blink."
The bear continued to circle as he backed up, yelling for
Wolling. Foley's can of spray was running low; "I knew I was
almost out," he said.
By now Wolling had made it to the site along with the dog
and fumbled with his pack trying to find the second can of
spray.
The dog rushed up, barked twice, then retreated down the
trail "as fast as his little legs could move him," Wolling
said.
With perhaps a second's worth of spray left, Foley tried a
new tactic. He yelled at the bear at the top of his lungs.
"I could tell his eyes changed," Foley said. "I knew it was
over. All of a sudden he took off."
Speckhals said he didn't see any cubs and doesn't know
whether the bear was male or female.
Both Speckhals and Wolling said they're likely headed to a
store to buy their own cans of bear spray.
They recommend larger cans, like the one Foley had, rather
than small varieties a couple of inches tall that appear
more useful against a human attacker.
"You want the big can," Speckhals said.
