Originally Posted by
surgeonstone
I would not want to get between a bear and her cubs. Couple years back a friend of mine was motorcycling across Canada with 3 friends. He happened to have the misfortune of motorcycling between a Black bear and its cubs. The bear charged the 4 motorcyclist bringing down all four before ambling away apparently unhurt. All 4 motorcyclists suffered injuries and concussions.
Last fall I was riding up in Gatineau. I was about 1/3 of the way into a climb when I saw a cub run across the road and disappear into the woods on the other side, probably 200m up the road. Where is Mama? Where is Mama? I am thinking while freaking out and now pedaling very slowly, to give Mama lots of time to cross the road and go on her merry way with her cub. No Mama. Two cyclists ahead of me seem to not have noticed, they continue up the hill and crest it. So when I was within about 50m of where I saw the cub, I just started hammering, and did not stop until I was going down the hill on the other side. I guess I could have just abandoned the hill ... but there were really fun climbs further up the road.
So bears are the animals that have scared me the most while cycling, including the guy that almost hit me with his 5th wheel trailer earlier today. I guess it is probably more rational to fear the guy, but I am mostly angry rather than scared when dealing with humans. Cougars are pretty scary too, I have heard of them stalking people.