My sister-in-law is visiting from Michigan and we took her took Mt Rainier. I saw many cyclists. Pretty hardcore too. The area we saw them was at the NE entrance to Sunrise which is all uphill and the end is at 6600 ft. Not sure of the starting elevation there, but itnis a minimum of ten miles all steep uphill. We saw a black bear on the side of the road on the way up until a motorcycle scared it which was annoying, yet cool at the same time because he jumped into a nearby tree. Great trip!