Co-worker Kris recently arrived here from Australia. Saturday he rode his bicycle from the Mount Rainer park entrance to the Paradise visitor center and then back down the mountain. The elevation of Paradise is 5400 feet and the temperature was 95 F. He estimates he burned 4288 calories and consumed 5.8 liters (1.5 gallons) of fluids. He also got hit by a car on the way up.
And he says eating Vegemite demonstrates Aussies are tough.
Sorry to hear your friend got hit. I grew up at Mt. Rainier and the roads really are not safe for bicycle riders at all. There are no shoulders on most of the roads and there are quite a number of spots where the dropoff is several hundred feet.
He should have reported the hit and run to the rangers with a description of the car. They probably would have tracked them down easily.
The Scots are tougher. They eat haggus (sp?).
Aussies are tough. As are backwoods raised Americans.
@LibertyNews – It was one of those “happened too quick” moments. The best description I could muster was “something like a dark green Subaru Legacy” and no licence plate. I might as well say, “I saw a man and his dog”, it’d be so generic on Mt. Rainier. I saw them come up in the rear view mirror, thought they were coming in a bit close and got clipped by their mirror on the bar end. I actually radioed ahead to my support vehicle to take their plate down, but they were out of range 🙁
@Rob: I eat haggis too :). And snake, and crocodile, and kangaroo…