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Here is something you don’t hear every day: a man runs into a bear while riding a bike - at 45 mph. It happened in Boulder, Colorado. The NBC news affiliate posted the story which you can read about or watch via video. Unfortunately the bear declined comment on the issue.
Do you have an encounter with wild life to share? As for me, I have had many close run ins with squirrels, but the only fatal encounter I have had, and this is no joke, was with a rat.
It was a dark night on a bike path in NYC and I came around a corner and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The critter was committed and not scared by me, continued across my path and then I felt the “Thump, thump” of my front and rear tire riding over a decent sized rat. The death was instantaneous as it was apparent that the encounter broke the rat’s back. Life in the big city . . .
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Filed Under: culture
11 comments for this entry ↓
1 Dave // Jun 26, 2008 at 5:53 am
I was being chased by a dog one time. I did a bunny hop and hit him with the rear tire. He went home.
2 ethan // Jun 26, 2008 at 6:03 am
“Bunny hop and hit him with the rear tire?” Oh god, I have to learn how to do that!
I was just going to say one thing: mosquitoes.
3 Jim // Jun 26, 2008 at 8:20 am
Late one night a raccoon chasing another raccoon ended up passing under my rear tire. It was terrifying as they are large, solid mammals. Somehow I managed to stay upright and, though some people might think less of me, did not stick around to see if the raccoon was alright. I’ve heard they can be mean.
4 Donald // Jun 26, 2008 at 8:29 am
Poor rat…
5 Tejvan Pettinger // Jun 26, 2008 at 8:29 am
A while back we had a spate of incidents with a bird of prey attacking cyclists. I think they had a nest near a road. In some cases they broke the helmets of the cyclists. - A novel argument for wearing helmets anyway.
6 MarkR // Jun 26, 2008 at 10:14 am
Here in Central Texas, My biggest concern is coming across a Rattlesnake or copperhead on one stretch of my commute that I have to ride about 300 yards of trail through an undeveloped piece of property. I’ve see copper heads in a near by park. So I’m very aware while I’m riding the trail. I only hope I can bunny hop high enough if I need to.
7 Tim Egan // Jun 27, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Unfortunately, I was the cyclist who hit the bear in Boulder on June 24…trust me you can’t make stuff like this up! It was the biggest bear I have seen, and I am a native Minnesotan. Imagine a brick wall suddenly jumping in front of you at high speed and you can determine the shock and awe that followed…it wasn’t pretty. I am recovering slowly…broken ribs that are the most painful injury I have had in years…the bear, he was fine. He stood on his hind legs and raised his arms like he was coming for me, and at that moment a big mule deer showed up and he turned his attention on the deer and let out some loud noise, the deer deftly retreated and the bear chased for a few steps and then scampered away! All the while I am trying to get air as I had it completely knocked out of me for what seemed like over a minute…the broken ribs. Blood covered from elbow, knees, and back wounds…I felt like I was in Wild Kingdom! The bad news…I had to ride 8 miles back to Boulder to the hospital…it wasn’t a good day!
8 Bren // Jun 29, 2008 at 6:37 pm
@Tim: Holy. Crap. Glad you made it through that adventure alive!
9 Jim, Gerri and Rich // Jul 3, 2008 at 10:56 am
Hi Timmy,
We are glad you have not gotten injured worse than you did. We wish you a fast recovery. We hope you get back on your bike soon and keep riding.
God Bless and Loveya,
Jim, Gerri and Rich
10 Bear Encounter Redux: The Interview | BikeHacks // Jul 18, 2008 at 12:02 am
[...] the RSS feed. You can also subscribe to BikeHacks by email. Thanks for visiting!A few weeks ago I posted a story about a man hitting a bear while riding his bike. I was surprised a few days later when the [...]
11 A2 mi // Aug 21, 2008 at 4:56 pm
After many years of near misses with squirrels, one day while riding across campus a squirrel decided to run into the middle of the sidewalk, then he quickly darted back the other way seeing that i was coming. Well something must have scared him because quicker then i could turn he turned BACK around and ran right in front of me. Bump Bump. I tried breaking too late and my bike ended up around my knees I was still standing as the bike crumpled around me. People who saw it tried to calm me down saying that the squirrel had scampered up a tree. Never did find out what happen, but it sure freaked me out. Ride safe out there!
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