COUGAR ATTACK!

The friends thought they were in for a nice, easy bike ride. Until an unexpected predator showed up.

- BY Derek Burnett

Under a flat winter light, five women pedal their bicycles up a gravel road through a Northwestern forest where the trees stand pale and stark and leafless. These are not casual weekend cyclists-they are seasoned, competitive backcountry riders who spend more days in the saddle than out. Most of them ride for a team called Recycled Cycles Racing, based out of Seattle, and their accomplishments include multiday endurance races on steep forest roads and trails all across the state of Washington.

Today, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, began blustery but has now calmed and settled into good riding conditions, with temperatures in the low 40s. The women have set out upon what is for them a relatively easy ride: a 35-mile loop of gravel road and forest trail through the foothills of the Cascade mountains, about 30 minutes east of Seattle. They have dubbed this route the Magic Carpet Ride because part of it undulates through shimmering kudzu and emerald mosses. It's contained entirely within the 90,000-acre Snoqualmie Tree Farm, known to riders as Campbell Global, the farm's corporate owner.

Right now, they're making their way up a gentle grade on a gravel road wide enough for side-by-side riding. In the lead are Erica Wolf, 51, an attorney, and Tisch Schmidt-Williams, 58, a salesperson. In the middle of the pack, 60-year-old Keri Bergere, a provider relations advocate for a health insurance company, rides on her own. Bringing up the rear some 200 yards behind Bergere are Aune Tietz, 59, a real estate agent, and Annie Bilotta, a 64-year-old retired gardener. The land to the right of the road, sparsely wooded, descends to a river far below. To the left lies a narrow ditch and then a steep embankment shouldering up to thicker forest.