https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_bicyclist_vs_bear

MISSOULA, Mont. - A middle school teacher suffered some bruising and a big scratch on his back after he struck a bear while riding his bicycle to school.
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Jim Litz said he was traveling about 25 mph Monday morning when he came upon a rise and spotted a black bear about 10 feet in front of him. He didn't have time to stop and T-boned the bruin.

He tumbled over the handlebars, his helmet hit the bear's back and the two went cartwheeling down the road.

The bear rolled over Litz's head, cracking his helmet, and scratched his back before scampering up a hill above the road.

Litz's wife drove by shortly after the crash and took her husand to the hospital. He hoped to be able to return to teaching science at Target Range Middle School on Friday.

Next time I fall off my bike I'm gonna tell everyone I "hit a bear". On a related note: What kind of wacky school is named "Target Range"?

No, don't tell them you hit a bear. Tell them you hit a bruin.

The comedic factor is offset by the amount of people who know what a bruin is.

I mean, we WERE warned....

What does he ride? Any of the components on there now have full bragging rights to durability.

"Bear proof" instead of "bomber proof"...

I love the North sometimes.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

It looks like a cross rig.

If a cross rig is unable to survive a bear, then what do we have to live for?

Cross bike is just a road bike with fat tires. You should compare it with a real MTB or a DH rig.

Why do cross frames weigh more?

So they can get beat on and not fall to bits.

Funny. That is EXACTLY what went through my mind.

that's a Pulitzer Prize winning line right there.

glad bear and human are both more or less ok.

While on a lunch ride from the Missoula recruiting office, the Marine recruiter and I almost hit a bear when we were bombing down a trail on Mtn bikes. I don't know who was more startled, us or the bear.

Target Range MISSILE School perhaps?? :-)

Weird story!

Although I have heard of people XC-skiing hitting moose.

I was almost hit by a wild turkey on an army land navigation course...

At the N. Morgenstern CRCA TT in Harriman State Park, NY today, one of the competitors told me he sighted a bear on the side of the course. There were no racer/bruin altercations reported. There's a lotta bears around here. Hell, we get them in our back yard once a year or so. My Golden Retriever thinks he should chase them. He is...

Incorrect.

Fortunately the bears here in NY eat berries, not people.

The guy this all happened to is actually a close friend of my girlfriend's dad. This is the slightly more detailed story that I got:
1) Middle-aged guy rides bike hell-for-leather every day down dirt road in
mountains where he lives to paved road.
2) He sees bears several mornings a week (!!!) on this same section of dirt
road during September (the name of the road is Bear Canyon). September is
bear month in Montana...they are often near or in town.
3) He was going estimated 25 mph downhill, but using no horn or bell.
4) Came over blind hill and hit 300-lb. bear (surprise!).
5) Almost severely injured, but fall cushioned by bear.
6) Wife drove down road and picked him up minutes later.
7) His wife also bikes to work (I thought so); it turns out during September
she drives her car to the paved road at bottom of the hill to avoid bears,
parks, then gets on her bike and rides on paved road to job.
8) Results: injuries keep 57-yr old home for three days....bear not severely
injured, bike front wheel out of true, no other damage.

So apparently, not even a terribly surprising event to all involved parties, except for the bear of course.

We sighted a mother bear with two cubs off the side of the road in the Delaware Water Gap NRA. It was shortly after a 50+ mph downhill stretch. The mind boggles...

I have a friend in Germany who collided with a wild boar one night while taking a shortcut through the wooded trail while riding home drunk from the local bar.