| Mountain biking is a pursuit that I have enjoyed for | | | | After another hour and what I guessed were about |
| more than two decades. As a former extreme | | | | four more miles, the trail began to grow steeper as I |
| sports enthusiast I loved to go into the mountains of | | | | climbed into what was now thinning forest. The climb |
| the North West with my bike, some tools, food and | | | | had taken its' toll and I began to grow fatigued. I |
| water, and ride narrow trails for many hours in a day. | | | | managed a tricky dismount on a section simply too |
| I seldom considered that my concerns about riding | | | | steep to ascend in the saddle and began to push my |
| over a cliff may actually be the least of my worries. | | | | bike up a widening section coming to what I assumed |
| In 2008 I was on a journey across America with my | | | | was somewhere near the top of the mountain trail. |
| wife and our young daughter, traveling in a large | | | | I was 150 meters from the crest of that section |
| diesel powered motor-home and having the time of | | | | when I looked up from my task just in time to see |
| our lives! We had recently returned from Europe | | | | the wolf step onto the trail from the undergrowth at |
| where we had lived for four years and had decided | | | | the top. Like a street raptor who had just cornered |
| to tour the country of my birth from sea to shining | | | | an innocent victim lost in the wrong neighborhood, |
| sea. I brought with me my well fitted out mountain | | | | the animal appeared to purposefully block my path as |
| bike which I rode at every opportunity along the | | | | it stood across the trail eying me. It appeared to |
| way, and there were many. | | | | have known I was there, as if it had been waiting |
| One ride stays with me though, two years and many | | | | for me to draw closer before springing a trap. |
| trails later: | | | | There I stopped, dead in my tracks. The beast |
| We had come to Redwood National Park near | | | | lowered its' ears and took a step towered me. I |
| Crescent City, California, a place where the trees are | | | | picked up my bike and held it over my head to |
| so big you can drive a car through some. I had | | | | appear larger than I was. I had heard this worked |
| always wanted to ride my bike in that ancient forest | | | | with some wild animals. This one however took it as |
| so I found a trail with the help of a map and a | | | | a sign to charge! It was coming fast. I dropped the |
| friendly forest ranger, and headed off to live my | | | | bike and reached for my knife and at that same |
| dream. | | | | moment knew I would never reach it in time. The |
| I was warned however that the particular trail I was | | | | only thought I had as the animal closed was; 'so this |
| aiming for was not often traveled and the last | | | | is how I'm going to die'. There was no time to get |
| humans to cross it were there for maintenance | | | | religion, and no time to see my life pass before my |
| evaluation and reported that many parts were | | | | eyes. It all happened too fast. |
| inaccessible to motorized vehicles. I assumed they | | | | I watched the powerfully muscled animal close the |
| were attempting to dissuade me from riding alone so | | | | gap between us in what seemed like slow-motion, |
| far up in the mountains by myself, but their | | | | but was far faster than I could move. As it reached |
| description was music to my ears. Off I went... | | | | me it started to skid slightly as I wasn't fleeing, |
| After finding the trail head, which was not easy, I | | | | adjusting its trajectory to intercept me... There was |
| began the long, arduous assent and after a mile or | | | | nothing to do about it, this was going to hurt. |
| two, noticed that the jeep road became single track | | | | It was then that I glimpsed the black collar buried |
| and mostly grown over with low grasses and plants; | | | | under the fur around its neck. It was not a wolf, but |
| a sure sign not much traffic frequented this route. | | | | a kind of German Shepherd, with coloring much like |
| The trail grew steeper as I went and at one point | | | | the wolves I had seen in a wild animal sanctuary in |
| carried me amongst the remains of a vast burned | | | | New Mexico. |
| out forest, the result of a forest fire some years | | | | The dog ran into me knocking me over with my bike |
| before. It was eerily beautiful; the remains of giant | | | | on top and it began sniffing, then licking me. That |
| red woods standing silent witness to an event few | | | | was when I heard the voice of its' master up the trail |
| humans will ever know first hand. I withdrew my | | | | in the distance. They were hiking in the wilderness |
| camera from the pack and took pictures as this was | | | | and it seemed the dog had run off. Lucky me! And I |
| not a scene that could be simply described, it had to | | | | only peed myself a little. |
| be seen, though photographs did not do it justice. | | | | Lesson learned I purchased a can of super hot Bear |
| I began to feel the solitude as I passed ever deeper | | | | Spray and a holster. I never enter the forest now |
| into the mountains. The silence was penetrating and I | | | | without it attached to the shoulder harness of my |
| noticed, possibly that it had grown a little too silent. | | | | pack. Even close to populated areas one can run into |
| That's when I noticed that I heard no birds or other | | | | mountain lions, bears or now increasingly, wild boar. |
| forest sounds, only a slight mountain breeze moving | | | | An encounter with one of these could be disastrous |
| the branches of the trees as it passed through the | | | | and without a viable defense you are in their world, |
| tops of the great red woods. At that I became | | | | to be dispatched as a threat or merely prey. |
| aware that if there were a predator about, the only | | | | When it comes to safety in the wild, it is simply a |
| defense I had was a fast opening pocket knife, | | | | matter of being prepared and carrying an effective |
| probably not the optimum tool for defense if I was | | | | form of defense with you. Remember, it is better to |
| to meet up with a large wild animal. | | | | have it and not need it than to need it and not have |
| I rode on... | | | | it. |