10:46 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 6, 2006

By TERESA BELL, kgw.com Staff

A daring Portland ritual sent one woman to the hospital earlier this week and brought attention to a fad often referred to as “zoo bombing.”

KGW file photo

Cyclists "bomb" down a hill near the Oregon Zoo.

Zoo bombing is when cyclists barrel down a hill as fast as they can, like the hill below the Oregon Zoo, or -- even more risky -- the highway that runs from the zoo to the edge of downtown Portland.

Late Sunday night, a woman was doing just that when she lost control of her bicycle and crashed along Highway 26. The woman, whose name was not released, suffered head injuries when she crashed near the tunnel and was transported to an area hospital for treatment.

Authorities said the group was not only endangering lives, but breaking the law, too.

Posted signs clearly state that non-motorized vehicles are not allowed on Hwy. 26 and even the city’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance says that stretch of highway is no place for cyclists.

“Until those prohibitions are lifted, we don't support bicycling in those areas. They are off-limits for a reason,” said BTA leader Evan Manvel.

But risk-takers are doing it anyway. They even have a special name for their favorite zoo bombing highway – they call it “hell-way.”

Portland police officers said they haven’t cracked down on the zoo bombers because there have been very few complaints about them.

The cyclists usually gather on Sunday nights, often on child-sized bikes, and zoom down the hill together at speeds up to 50 miles an hour.

“It's just a really organic experience. It’s really fun,” one cyclist told KGW at a past zoo bomber outing.

Most zoom through neighborhoods, but a handful of others add the extra edge of excitement by routing onto the highway.

“It's dangerous if you push it to extremes… there are a lot of accidents,” said zoo bomber David Terry.

Some of the cyclists claim that the stretch of Hwy. 26 below the zoo used to be a bike route. And they said they aren’t out to cause problems, they just want to be able to bike fast and have fun.

(KGW reporter Keely Chalmers also contributed to this article.)