Battered biker has a bear tale to tell
HELMET SAVES LIFE: Pelvis broken, new motorcycle destroyed.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 10th, 2005
Last Modified: August 10th, 2005 at 05:05 AM
WASILLA -- The bear was at a dead run downhill toward the Old Glenn Highway when Garrett Edgmon came around a bend on his new Kawasaki motorcycle.
Edgmon barely caught a glimpse of the reddish-brown fur coming headlong at him out of the corner of his eye as he drove south at about 45 or 50 mph.
Then the bruin's ribs slammed into his front wheel, sending the bike hurtling across the pavement.
"Bears ain't exactly soft," Edgmon said by phone from Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon. "Trust me, they're not. It hit me pretty hard."
The commercial fisherman from Dillingham ended up with a broken pelvis, numerous bumps and bruises -- and a heck of a story to tell.
As man and bear locked eyes, Edgmon didn't think he would see his 41st birthday next month. Then he was thrown onto the bear's head and neck. The two skidded together for a little ways on the highway, about two miles from where the Old Glenn leaves the northbound Glenn Highway.
Edgmon felt his head bounce. He heard his helmet shatter.
Meanwhile, Palmer resident Scott Hanson came up in his red pickup and pulled over. Hanson later told Alaska state troopers the bear did a flip and then disappeared under a guardrail.
Edgmon only remembers getting up, shocked and in a great deal of pain, and trying to drag off the road the 750-pound 1200cc Kawasaki Voyager he bought last month.
Hanson called 911.
Edgmon was treated at Valley Hospital. The full-face helmet he wore saved his life, he said. "If I didn't have a helmet on, I would have been dead."
Edgmon is staying in the city with his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment. He said his bike was insured. But he doesn't plan to get on another motorcycle any time soon.
Doctors told him he'll need a walker to get around for the next two months, effectively through the fall fishing season.
State biologist Gino Del Frate said he knew of no plans to track down the bear, described by Hanson as a young brown.
Trooper Mitch Lewis said he scanned the slopes above the highway with a scope on Monday but saw nothing. It's unlikely the bear wandered off and died, Lewis said.
But Edgmon figures the critter must be badly hurt.
"If not, he is one miracle bear," he said.
Topic: Bear vs. Kaw Voyager. Bear wins.... (?) Alaska (Read 2722 times)