Posted on 06/25/2008 10:47:23 AM PDT by MtnClimber
As Tim Egan flew down Old Stage Road in Boulder County on Tuesday afternoon on his bike, he saw a large, unusual obstacle in the way.
Before he could squeeze the brakes, the 53-year-old former Colorado College hockey player was in the midst of a bike-vs.-bear accident.
A black bear crossing the road from west to east collided with Egan, who estimated he was going 45 mph. Egan, of Boulder, was tossed into the air and skidded across the asphalt, suffering a nasty case of road rash, cracked ribs and lacerations to his head, he said.
“If it wasn’t me that was there, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “But I wanted people to know to watch out for bears, too, not just cars.”
Tim Egan’s nephew, also named Tim Egan, 21, was cycling with his uncle and said the animal looked like a “big black dog” as they approached from a distance. He said he was shocked to find out it was a bear.
As Egan tried to recover in the middle of the street with help from his nephew, the bear stood on its hind legs at the edge of the roadway. The 6-foot-2 Egan said the bear looked taller than he is.
“As I was there on the road and saw it look at me, I thought, ‘Aw, man. It’s going to come over here again,¤” Egan said Tuesday night after returning from Boulder Community Hospital. “But luckily it had other fish to fry.”
It was other deer, actually. While the man and bear collided, a buck wandered into the scene playing out on the road. The bear turned its attention to the animal and roared, scaring the deer off before running off itself.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycamera.com ...
I know someone who was mountain biking and almost collided with a bull moose!
What? The bear roared...”Mind your own business!”
Having been nearly clocked several times by idiot bicyclers I ahve no sympathy for this guy. He’s lucky the bear didn’t swat his sorry butt. I know I would have.
How does something “look like a big black dog from a distance” and then you run into it? I think the key words here are “from a distance”.
It must have been a serous down hill to be going 45 mph. The guy is lucky he is not dead.
Been a while since a black bear bit anyone’s sister around here.
When you get into a car accident, you always say you were going slower than you actually were. When you get into a bike accident, you always say you were going faster than you actually were :)
Just goes to prove you can’t buck mother nature. Even though the rider bearly survived he can be recycled.
He's lucky.
Always yield to a pedestrian in the roadway. Especially when the pedestrian has four feet, fangs, and weighs in at over 300 lbs.
I ride a lot and have gone 45-50 mph down hill, a big hill and it freaks me out every time since my field a vision narrows and I know that if i hit a pot hole, a pebble, a snake or a black bear that I am a dead man.
Only five minutes for the obligatory "death to all cyclists" post to appear.
I plowed into a deer once, at ~50mph, on a motorcycle.
Broke a few things...
and now elligable for joining the COBB society
http://www.cobbsociety.com/
There are about 1,100,000 deer vs vehicle interactions per year
~150 deaths per year, ~85% are motorcyclists.
I can see a bear doing a serious hurt on a bicyclist at 45mph
Bicycles at high speeds are more dangerous than motorcycles
He probably didn’t have a DOT approved motorcycle helmet on...
Another Darwin Award Nominee almost! Thats being as Stupid as a ROCK!
I’ve nearly collided white white tailed deer several times when going downhill on my bike.
Then, pray tell, why do you do such a stupid thing?
My friend hit one while on his Boss Hoss. Nearly cut the deer in half. And he didn’t set the bike down. He was covered in guts.
First of all, after climbing such a hill on a bike you want the reward of the down hill and second, it is fun.
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