Moose Encounter (AJ)

It took all of three hours to get off the plane and onto a mountain bike when I arrived in Bozeman.  I began my climb up the Bozeman Creek Trail to negotiate what locals call �The Wall of Death.�  As I cycled up the double track, I had to remind myself to take in the scenery since Iowa doesn�t offer pine cover mountain views.  But before long I was again gazing at the earth as it swept beneath my front wheel.  It�s not enough to enjoy the scenery; I have to put myself through a little misery to make it all worth while. 

 

I was aroused from the hypnosis by the thunderous of hooves coming down the trail toward me.  A bull moose with antlers spanning five feet was charging down the trail straight toward me, 30 yards and closing fast.  I had very little time to plan an escape or defense; at this point both were futile.  I hobbled my bike off the edge of the trail to give him the widest berth possible.  My mouth gapped open and my shouts were merely Porky Piggish mumbles.  �Excuse me but abadiababa...�  The tall muscular shoulders flexed and shook under his black hairy hide with each step.  As the bull strode past me, nostrils flaring, I looked him square in the hairy eyeball.  I read his look to say, �If this dog wasn�t chasing me, I would have at you, tourist!�  The leggy boxer mix, probably bread for moose chasing ability, called off his chase as he approached me.  Satisfied with his handy work, the dog trotted back up the trail.

 

I watched as the moose veered off the trail and crashed down the slope to the stream below.  The experience left me more confused than scared.  I returned to the saddle and the trail ahead. 

 

As I approached the single track or �Wall of Death�, a light rain shower was making traction on the rock and roots a challenge.  I was disappointed that the conditions forced me to walk a few sections, but Mom would be happy I returned home in one piece.  The clouds broke and the sun shown on Mystic Lake when I topped the trail.  What a sight.  I held on to a false optimism that the sun would remain for the rest of my ride.  I decided to take an extra trail up higher on the ridge and climb to 7500 ft before descending and returning to town. 

 

A second and stronger thundershower caused a retreat to lower ground.  I didn�t take time to calculate the odds of surviving both a moose encounter and a lightening storm, I pointed my wheel down hill and pedaled hard.  I wished I had a speedometer as I descended the double track.  The rain stung.  The tires kicked up sloppy grit.  I got soaked from both sides.  And I loved every minute of it. 

 

After a long hot shower, it was time for refreshment.  A quick search of the well stocked cooler in the hotel room yielded an agreeable beverage for this moment.  A Fat Tire Ale.  I reflected on the days ride with a sense of satisfaction and bewilderment at the moose encounter.

And Now A Letter To Our Sponsors (RL)

If you were to put Beadwhore, Fetish, and New Belgium Brewery on an SAT question, I'm guessing, most people would not choose B) God fearing, mid-western, cyclist. But that would be the correct answer.

Warren Buffet encourages people to invest in companies that they use
everyday. These three companies are; or should I say, have became the trinity of our cycling krewe. Over the past year or two we have been fortunate to make acquaintances with these three companies and hope to continue building on these relationships.

We just don't go out and ask companies willie-nillie if they would like to sponsor us. Matter of fact, we have even been asked if we might be interested in picking up minor sponsors here and there, but we had to regretfully tell Mr. Trump we just couldn't make the connection.

That being said, I would like to thank Beadwhore MARDI GRAS Gear for plying us with beads and stickers again this year. As I'm sure you can tell from the website, we are all a shy group of cyclist and find it hard to start conversations with strangers. Nothing draws a crowd of people like some lick on tattoos and beads. Next thing you know, we have all kinds of people that want to be our friends.

Fetish Cycles have given us serious credibility with cyclist that are in the know. Out of the 15,000 cyclist on Ragbrai, we only saw 4 Fetish bikes. We had two of them on our krewe. The awesome part about it was, that a lot of people knew of Fetish Cycles and Ragbrai was their first glimpse of these awesome bikes. We hope that there will be another three or four Fetish bikes on our Krewe next year.

Lastly New Belgium Brewery. I can't even imagine the discussions that must have went on when Brian S. went to his bosses and said, These total strangers in Iowa want us to send them a bunch of free swag that has our names on it, and they want to pass it out to 15,000 riders over a 7 day bike ride. It was either a slam dunk and the easiest pitch he has ever made, or one of the hardest sales he has ever had to make. We passed out over 500 tire patches and lip balms during Ragbrai. Some went to children and non Ragbrai riders, the rest went to cyclist and vendors. Many of the cyclist that did receive patches and lip balm needed them badly so it was very practical swag.

Amy H. thank you so much for all of the great shirts you sent for our overnight host. Many of our host put their shirts on immediately and were very proud to wear them up to the beer tents at night. They were the perfect gift and we encouraged all of our host to go out to website and learn more about this company that is going to be coming to Iowa in the very near future. We were also able to share New Belgium beers with many of our host, so we primed the pump, would you get here already?

Lastly, Mike H. The Missouri beer ranger. Thank you for popping open Kirksville Mo for us. I can't begin to tell you how much happier our lives have been now that we have an extra 8 hours a month that we don't have to spend in the car doing beer runs. You're the only ranger we know and we will gladly welcome you into our Krewe and state anytime you're ready. Your patches, gifts, and other swag were more than generous, and we can't begin to tell you how much they were appreciated as we proudly rode, opened, and reflected as we followed our folly across Iowa.

We hope that we can continue to grow our relationships with you in the up coming years. If you need anything from us, please don't hesitate to ask, because if it's within our means, we try our hardest help you out

.

We are an extremely close group of friends with one thing in common. We still like riding bikes together. Just like we did when we were kids. It's not all that uncommon for use to click off 5 or 10 miles side by side without anyone saying a word. Not because we are laboring so hard we can't talk, but rather we know what each other is thinking "I love riding my bike".

- The Krewe

http://www.beadwhore.com/
http://www.fetishcycles.com/
http://www.newbelgium.com/