…http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bicyclist_vs_bear
Doug
The guy is a teacher at “Target Range Middle School”? Who is in charge of picking school names???
Wow. Hitting a bear with a bike sounds like the beginning of a REALLY bad day.
Dave -
My guess is that Target Range is the name of a mountain range in the area, not a shooting range as your questions seems to suggest ??
Doug -
If that guy was doing 25 mph on that bike coming up to a rise, he rides a LOT faster than I do. Must have been late for school or something ??
The story does remind me of my first close encounter with a black bear in the State of Washington around '94. I was riding a mountain bike on an old railroad grade converted to a “rail trail” in the mountains about 40 miles east of Seattle, not far from Snoqualmie Pass. I was in an area with fairly dense cover on both sides of the trail, when a big old dark haired dog came out of the brush from the left and only about fifty feet in front of me. My first thought was “What the heck is a dog doing out here by itself?” My second thought was “That’s no dog.”
I hit the brakes before I hit the bear. They made quite a squeal as I almost ran into the little guy ( big for a dog, small for a bear ). He really took off then, but only for about a hundred feet up the trail and to the far side. About the time I stopped the bike, he stopped and turned to look at me. I think we were both wondering what the other was going to do next - I know I was.
He made it easy. Just turned and headed into the cover.
John
The bear, being a pedestrian, clearly had the right of way and should press charges. I hope the teacher had the common decency to exchange licence and insurance information in case there are complications 8T 
Hmmmmm, new twist on the “a dog (or whatever) ran out in front of me” story. Me thinks the guy crashed on his own and made up the bear story so he didn’t look like an idiot to his wife who likely already knows.
What was his wife doing just driving by? Why didn’t she just give him a ride? I’m assuming that there might have been a domestic dispute and he was so fired up about it that he grabbed his kids bike and helmet…Then started pedaling furiously to reach speeds of 25mph and ran into a bear.
Obviously, what we have here is a slow news day, but we can always depend on Doug to find something to get us all thinking. Thanks, Doug, and keep your mountain bike under 25.
Joe
This guy was one of my co-workers brother in laws. His wife told him that she had seen a lot of bears lately and she was driving to the corner and then riding her bike from there. he said “Ok, see you at the corner”. then she found him later lol. But yeah, I guess he was coming off a hill, into a rise, when he hit the bear and the bear made the “Bear noise” (which I can only imagine wouldnt be fun to hear at that moment) as he made tracks back into the woods… All in all, the story made me laugh when I heard it the other day.
Plus, 25 mph isnt all that fast on a bike on some of these montana hills. Heck, I got up to 45 on a go cart with no engine or brakes going downhill… Had my buddy in a pickup follow me so I wouldnt get hit from the rear.
It could be worse. It could be Target Range Post Office…
Ed
Or, following the dispute, his wife actually caught up to him and bumped him off the road. After the crash and the ensuing tumble, the man lifted up his head and said “what…happened?”, and the wife said, “Honey, you must have hit a bear.”
Oh that made me laugh in the library. I work in a library. No laughing in the library,
My only question was how did they get the bear on the bicycle in the first place???
“Teacher OK after crashing into bear on a bicycle”
Yea, I know the editor just didn’t read the title before they posted but that part had me laughing for quite a while.
If i’m not mistaken the school was built on or near the old target range of Fort Missoula.
Iffin I remember my history right the fort was built in the 1850’s or 60’s and is still in use today.
Did the bear look both ways before he crossed the street.
Why did the Bear cross the street?
Quote; “The hikers who ran into a bear”
Two hikers are out hiking. All of a sudden, a bear starts chasing them.
They climb a tree, but the bear starts climbing up the tree after them. The first hiker gets his sneakers out of his knapsack and starts putting them on.
The second hiker says, “What are you doing?”
The first responds, “I figure when the bear gets close to us, we’ll have to jump down and make a run for it.”
The second says, "Are you crazy? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a bear?
The first guy says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear… I only have to outrun you!”
Doug