ASPEN — Aspen Highlands ski patroller and mountaineer Bob Sloezen has stood on the summit of Mount Everest. Now, he can add a new tale to his collection of outdoor adventures.
Sloezen, a.k.a. “Sloman,” was bicycling on the Basalt-Old Snowmass bike trail Monday when he hit a coyote.
The resulting crash sent him to the hospital with a broken leg.
“It’s gotten quite the chuckle here,” Sloezen said Thursday from his room at Aspen Valley Hospital.
“Everybody in the hospital comes in and says, ‘So you’re the guy who hit the coyote.’ “
Sloezen was on a road bike riding a section of the paved trail between Holland Hills and Old Snowmass and paying attention to the oncoming traffic — another biker pulling two children in a trailer, accompanied by a leashed dog.
They passed, and Sloezen refocused on the path in front of him just as a coyote darted onto the trail.
Bicyclist and coyote made eye contact just before impact.
