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Equipment Troubles Forced Him to Spend Lonely Night on Trail

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Stranded with a broken bike chain on a moonless night 17 miles inside Waterton Canyon, Tory Lowery built a fire and hoped sleep would solve his problems.

"The crickets sounded like A-bombs," Lowery said. "I was awake all night."

Lowery, 33, walked out of the canyon no worse for wear Tuesday morning. But the veteran cyclist learned a lesson the night before: When darkness descends and you don't have a flashlight, fixing your equipment is tough. Lowery's unplanned camping trip, which triggered a 12-hour search and rescue mission in Jefferson County, happened like this:

He went for his usual two-hour ride up Waterton Canyon at 6 p.m. on Monday. When his wife, Renee, noticed he was late for her prepared steak dinner, she called deputies.

"Worried is an understatement," she said.

Lowery was riding up the 12-mile Waterton Canyon Trail, which leads into the Colorado Trail, when he got a flat tire.

He fixed it, but then started having problems with his chain about the time the sun set. As it grew dark, Lowery was unable to fix his bike, so he built a fire in the bike path. He also drank his Gatorade.

"It's stuff I never meant to use," he said. "I was hoping it would be visible to people in the area."

The fire was a good idea, said Bill Barwick of Alpine Search and Rescue, but unfortunately, it didn't catch anyone's attention.

When the sun crept up Tuesday morning, Lowery said he fixed his bike chain and rode back to the base of the trail. "I stayed calm and said, 'I'll walk out tomorrow.' I didn't freak out."

On the way out, he passed a biker who recognized his description and told him rescuers were looking for him.

Lowery walked his bike out of the trail and held back tears as he saw his waiting family. He didn't have time to take off his silver helmet as he hugged and kissed all of them.

Barwick said Lowery was in "fine" shape. Barwick praised Lowery's family for quickly reporting his disappearance. "The folks didn't wait to call," Barwick said. "The sooner a call is made, the sooner the search can start."

Renee Lowery, who is also an avid bicyclist, held her arm around her husband. She said they'll continue to ride the Waterton Canyon Trail despite Monday's incident, under one condition: "We're never riding alone again."

Source: Rocky Mountain News

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