I realize that it may seem that I am a bit obsessed with bears 🐻. When we decided to do this trip, the one bit of trepidation that I had was the thought of cycling alone through Grizzly territory. Not that being with other cyclists increases one’s margin of safety in any meaningful way, but hey, it seems less scary. To top it off, many locals have mentioned that it super important to keep bear spray at hand since this is the time of year that Grizzlies are aggressively eating to fatten up for winter 😕.

But obviously, I decided to pull up my big girl panties ( or bike shorts in this case) and enjoy the ride.

That said, I carry bear spray in reach everyday and scan the roadsides ahead for bears. Somewhat obsessively. Some roadsides are easy to scan, recently mowed with little larger growth that would hide a bear. Others have bushes right up to the road and make me more nervous.

With this introduction, I have set the stage for my ride on the Alaska Highway a few days ago. I was blissfully riding along when two local women did a u-turn and pulled up along side me. “A really big Grizzly just crossed the highway in front of us a few kilometers up the road from here. He’s on your side of the road. A really big Grizzly!” Apparently they had passes me a ways back, saw the Grizz and turned around to come warn me.

We talked a bit. I pointed out my bear spray and said that maybe when I got close to the point that they described, I would wait until a vehicle came along and ask them to drive slowly by me until I passed. I thanked them for being so kind.

” It’s a really big Grizzly” they reiterated. “Thanks for the warning” I said. 😬

You may recall my blog about needing caffeine. “Hah!” I thought. ” Who needs caffeine when there is so much adrenaline in my bloodstream!”

I started cycling again, very obsessively scanning the roadsides ahead after checking my bear spray. Fortunately, a few minutes later Jim came along and I flagged him down. We loaded up my bike and headed down the road so he could take me past the spot that they described. My heart rate began to normalize.

As we approached that spot, we didn’t see the bear but instead the two local women were parked on the highway, waiting to be certain that I got by safely!!😊

What can I say! So kind! We stopped so they could see that I had a ride past and I thanked them again with all my heart ❤!

Jim gave me a ride a few km down the road and I resumed my ride, feeling grateful for the good in humankind!