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Bear vs Ninja on Bike

Typically, people watch out for cars if they are riding their bike, but as the following article shows we should also be on the lookout for Black bears? Jim Litz said he was travelling about 25 mph on Monday morning when he came upon a bear about 10 feet in front of him; He didn’t have time to stop. Jim tumbled over the handlebars, and into the bear’s back before the two went cart wheeling down the road.

“I’ve come close to them before,” Litz said, clutching his side and grimacing. “I know bears. The entire creek bottom is just hammered by bears. That’s the beauty of living here. But typically, they are crossing the road and I have plenty of time to avoid them.”

However, this time Litz was clipping along the dirt road when he came upon a rise, spied a massive black bear 10 feet in front of him, and peddled directly into the animal, T-boning its broad side. “I didn’t have time to respond. I never even hit my brakes,” Litz said.

He tumbled over his handlebars; planting his helmeted head on the bruin’s back, before man and beast went cart wheeling down the road. The bear rolled over Litz’s head, and its mass cracked his helmet. As the duo toppled over one another, the bear clawed at Litz’s cycling jacket, scratching his flesh from shoulder to buttocks before scampering up a hill above the road, where it stopped.

Litz’s wife drove by soon after and took her husband to the Community Medical Center. “I don’t think the animal was seriously injured, but was more likely suffering from some bruised ribs” – just like Litz!

“Yep, that’s my bear story,” Litz said Tuesday afternoon, too sore and bruised to go to work. “I am certain that I will be back in the saddle by Friday”

The rib contusions are painful, and the scrapes down his back aren’t pretty, but Litz figures he made out on top given the circumstances. Litz’s wife rides her bike to work, too. But she drives down past the feeding gauntlet on Bear Run Creek Road and parks along Miller Creek Road before pulling her road bike off the roof of her car.

As for Litz’s bike, a cyclo-cross, it survived unscathed. But pointing to his cracked helmet, Litz hopes the story inspires his students to wear helmets also.

“I was lucky. I was truly lucky, because I accosted the bear and he let me live,” Litz said. “I truly respect them. They are beautiful creatures.”

Source: Fox News