Fireweed 400 - History

A bear stopped Tom Johnson on the race course in 2005.
Here is his story. By the way, he is entered in 2006.

2005 Fireweed 200-Miler, Solo
“One BEAR of a race!!”

So...Fireweed! Now THAT was an adventure this year! All was going great until Glenallen. The new Scott CR1 carbon was a smoooooth ride, to say the least. But then I got a nasty case of Shermer's neck(an ultracycling condition in which the neck muscles can no longer support the weight of the head). Ohhhh, the pain of it all!!!! Got worse the farther I biked south toward Valdez. Had to stop every few miles and attempt to stretch/massage my neck. Of course, this slowed me way down and I lost sight of my riding companions...and my support gear!

In a nutshell, I labored on...and on...and on... At about the Tiekel River lodge checkpoint, I sent a buddy of mine, who was riding a motorcycle, to ride into Valdez and tell someone to come get me (I had had enough pain for one day!). Unknown to me (for about two hours at least) he ran out of gas! Ugh! There's more to the story...but in short...

I struggled on (I hate quitting!!), riding through rainstorms with thunder and lightning, nasty headwinds and no other riders in sight. Rain cleared to sunshine and then to threatening clouds, once again, as I got nearer to Worthington Glacier. Got handouts from some of the 400-miler teams who were on their return 200-mile stretch and I kept on going. Kept wondering when my ride was coming....but it didn't! Pain was excruciating at times. Just wanted to go lay down on side of road and wait, but had to ride to stay warm after getting my feet and shorts soaked (LUCKILY, I had gotten my light raincoat out of the shared support vehicle just before Glenallen, which was the last time I saw them.)(Note: They thought I was ahead of them.)

Did I mention the VERY CLOSE encounter with a big brown bear! I had just gotten a sandwich from a 400 support team (who by coincidence had given my buddy gas just 15-20 minutes before I got there..it was about 11PM) and headed back into the wind. Suddenly, a cow moose and calf come running up from behind a guardrail and ran helter-skelter down the road behind me. The sound of their hooves tapping on the pavement just to my rear scared the crap out of me! The journey continues...Worthington Glacier was in view and getting close. Head down (it felt better that way)...I plowed into the wind, looking up once in awhile to check for debris, etc.

So...it's about 11:30PM...I'm cruising uphill, into the strong headwind, at about 11 MPH, when I look up and say out loud, "Oh Shit!". There, standing on the left shoulder of the road, is a big old brown bear, staring at me...less than 25' away! Dam!! I don't know if it was the pain (put me out of misery old bear! Please!) or just me being tired, but I was surprisingly cool, calm and collect. I immediately unclipped and hoisted my light-weight Scott above my head and talked to Mr. Brownie in my somewhat deep voice..."Hey, Mr. Bear, how ya doin'. What's up today? You're not interested in this old bike are you?"...and more such nonsense. One can only imagine what this bruin thought of this spandex-clad morsel waving a super-cool bike above his head…hmmm, late-night snack?

So...Mr Brownie, being unable to get my scent, did his best to look bigger and more bad-ass. He slowly sauntered across the road in front of me, muscles rippling, heading for the guardrail on my side, staring at me all the time. Once there, he put his front paws up on the rail. Then, to my amazement, he lifted his back feet up to the guardrail and balanced all fours (like a circus bear on a ball),then he stretches his neck to look even bigger yet. "Oh shit!!" again. (What a photo op! But, my camera is in jersey and I'm pre-occupied, to say the least.) So…I lifted my bike even higher still(good thing it's light carbon!), secretly thanking my ancestors for passing along the genes which make me hover 6’ 3” above the ground. Then, as silently as he had appeared, he just stepped over the guardrail and into the bushes, heading for the river on the other side of the alder patch (or so I hoped!). Whew! What an adrenalin rush!! After briefly considering my limited choices (very limited, I might add, as I was in the middle of nowhere!) Gingerly I walked across the road, half anticipating a wayward cub to crash out of the bushes. I loudly stamped my cleats on the pavement, before clipping in and pedaling on up the hill and into the strong wind towards Valdez. Soon, I had positioned myself for a better view of the river below. There it was, walking the gravel bank...just another day in the life of a bear...looking for fish. (BIG sigh of relief!!) Good thing for me that Mr. Brownie wasn't on a "low-carb" diet that day (as in Scott light-weight carbon)!!

Amazingly, my neck felt a lot better after that! I was on the "eye" for anything moving in the increasingly poor light conditions. Thompson Pass was getting closer, but the clouds were getting more menacing and I just wanted it to be done with. Let's just say...the adventure continued...I wouldn't be in Valdez anytime soon...

Stay tuned!

-Tom Johnson