Post by kaima on Aug 10, 2007 14:27:47 GMT -7
Bear saw bikers in road but still liked his odds
TUMBLE: Motorcycles go flying, and one rider ends up in the hospital.
By BRANDON LOOMIS
bloomis@adn.com
(Published: July 24, 2007)
A bear waiting for its chance to cut through traffic on the Seward Highway this weekend looked twice but still darted through a group of bikers, and the resulting domino effect sent one biker to a Seward hospital.
The black bear walked onto the shoulder near Cooper Landing at about 11 a.m. Saturday and paused at the roadside while the first few in a group of eight bikers passed going south, Anchorage motorcyclist Randy Hames said. But before Hames could get his own Harley Davidson past, the bear decided to sprint for it.
"I thought it was a dog because it was not very big," Hames recalled. "It paused and then went zipping across the road, and that's when things got exciting."
A biker in front of him veered and stopped, and Hames almost avoided a crash too until he was clipped from behind by Anchorage rider Michael Sweet's bike, he said. Sweet, 48, suffered injuries to his head, neck, arms and legs, according to Alaska State Troopers. Witnesses said he appeared to have broken his collarbone and a wrist, but that he was wearing a helmet.
Hames, Sweet and a third rider, Gilbert Wilson of Anchorage, all went flying from their bikes. One of those bikes ended up under an oncoming Dodge Ram pickup driven by Tim Lebling. Hames said he and Wilson were banged up but OK.
Once the bear jumped onto the road it moved quickly and sped off unscathed, Lebling said.
"Both my wife and I saw it ears-down and flying across the road," he said.
He veered right onto the shoulder to miss a vehicle stopping in front of him, and got hit by an empty motorcycle that crunched itself under him.
The accident damaged the truck's alignment and it had to be towed to Anchorage, he said. He was grateful it wasn't worse.
"The biggest risk we take in Seward is driving the Seward Highway," said Lebling, an animal rehabilitation technician at the Seward SeaLife Center. Worried about the ever-present threat of moose collisions, he bought the Dodge Ram recently.
"We bought that vehicle for driving that highway," he said. "If we'd been in our little Suzuki it would've been a different story."
The bikers were in one sortie of riders making the Muscular Dystrophy Association's fundraising "Live Ride" from Anchorage to Soldotna. They took pledges in advance of the ride, and the number of pledges they gathered determined how many tickets they entered in a raffle for a new bike from the House of Harley.
As he waited for a tow from the House of Harley on Saturday, Hames said, he wished he'd had time to gather more pledges.
"I was sure hoping (to win) when I was laying up there waiting for the tow truck," he said. "But they haven't called yet.
TUMBLE: Motorcycles go flying, and one rider ends up in the hospital.
By BRANDON LOOMIS
bloomis@adn.com
(Published: July 24, 2007)
A bear waiting for its chance to cut through traffic on the Seward Highway this weekend looked twice but still darted through a group of bikers, and the resulting domino effect sent one biker to a Seward hospital.
The black bear walked onto the shoulder near Cooper Landing at about 11 a.m. Saturday and paused at the roadside while the first few in a group of eight bikers passed going south, Anchorage motorcyclist Randy Hames said. But before Hames could get his own Harley Davidson past, the bear decided to sprint for it.
"I thought it was a dog because it was not very big," Hames recalled. "It paused and then went zipping across the road, and that's when things got exciting."
A biker in front of him veered and stopped, and Hames almost avoided a crash too until he was clipped from behind by Anchorage rider Michael Sweet's bike, he said. Sweet, 48, suffered injuries to his head, neck, arms and legs, according to Alaska State Troopers. Witnesses said he appeared to have broken his collarbone and a wrist, but that he was wearing a helmet.
Hames, Sweet and a third rider, Gilbert Wilson of Anchorage, all went flying from their bikes. One of those bikes ended up under an oncoming Dodge Ram pickup driven by Tim Lebling. Hames said he and Wilson were banged up but OK.
Once the bear jumped onto the road it moved quickly and sped off unscathed, Lebling said.
"Both my wife and I saw it ears-down and flying across the road," he said.
He veered right onto the shoulder to miss a vehicle stopping in front of him, and got hit by an empty motorcycle that crunched itself under him.
The accident damaged the truck's alignment and it had to be towed to Anchorage, he said. He was grateful it wasn't worse.
"The biggest risk we take in Seward is driving the Seward Highway," said Lebling, an animal rehabilitation technician at the Seward SeaLife Center. Worried about the ever-present threat of moose collisions, he bought the Dodge Ram recently.
"We bought that vehicle for driving that highway," he said. "If we'd been in our little Suzuki it would've been a different story."
The bikers were in one sortie of riders making the Muscular Dystrophy Association's fundraising "Live Ride" from Anchorage to Soldotna. They took pledges in advance of the ride, and the number of pledges they gathered determined how many tickets they entered in a raffle for a new bike from the House of Harley.
As he waited for a tow from the House of Harley on Saturday, Hames said, he wished he'd had time to gather more pledges.
"I was sure hoping (to win) when I was laying up there waiting for the tow truck," he said. "But they haven't called yet.