It all started innocently enough... Dan, our unsuspecting Polar Bear Club rider came down to Long Island expecting a nice casual Polar Bear CUB ride. One where roadies and MTB'ers would peacefully co-exist in non-hammer down harmony. He had visions of gently spinning at the tail end of a group of cyclists of mixed level and ability, being lead by Gary and Lee on the burley tandem pulling Olivia in the Burley trailer...

Alas, that is not what occurred. The polar bears brought in the cold for yet another weekend. The less daring riders were scared off by the Sub-40 degree weather, leaving Gary and Dan as the remaining members of the Polar Bear Bike Club. Instead of casually cruising the sleepy morning hours in the Baldwin area, the lone riders darted off slicing through the frigid morning air, off toward Bethpage.

Gary and Dan, dodged playful bear cubs throughout the route. The cubs hungrily yapped at their heels and took nibbles out of the two rider's tires as they pushed through headwinds to escape.

They raced on through Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh and Massapequa. It became obvious that both riders need not escape the bears. One rider just needed to out run the other.... Both took turns pulling the line working in unison but each knew that soon it would be time to sprint to the finish line. And then, all bets would be off.

Tearing through the backroads heading back to Baldwin, each adversary suffered from the cold. Neither could feel their toes, breath came out as steamy trails, snot ran in rivulets from their nostrils. Dan's training had been lacking and his achilles heel exposed itself... Gary knew it wouldn't take much more to defeat his opponent. Approaching Harvard avenue Gary burst into a flat out sprint. Dan jumped milliseconds later. The two wrestled for the lead but finally Dan succumbed to fatigue and fell off to face certain death at the jaws of the polar bears... Gary could be heard laughing a sinister laugh off in the distance.... until next time...