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I NARROWLY AVOIDED BEING KILLED IN THE COOLEST POSSIBLE WAY

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So I am writing this days later, (we've finished the trip) but for the next few stories/blog posts we are going to pretend like we haven't yet finished. TEMPORAL SHENANIGANS.

If I were to make a list off the top of my head of the coolest ways to shuffle off this mortal coil, it would probably look like this:

  • Spontaneous combustion
  • Spontaneous combustion, while on a motorcycle
  • Boat jumping accident (I am in the boat and the boat is jumping something)
  • Boat jumping accident (I am jumping over a boat)
  • Getting crushed under a 15 foot tall wave of molasses
  • Colliding with bear on bicycle, being decapitated by said bear

There might be a few more, but this is just the result of a few minutes' thought. Anyway, on the Vermont/New Hampshire border I was riding about 20mph to catch up with Pat (I had stopped to take a phone call) and I saw a big furry head push out through the brush on the side of the road. My train of thought went something like this:

"That's a really big dog"
"Wait, that isn't a dog--"
BEAR CRISIS!

By the time the bear got all the way out on the road (and by the time I successfully identified the creature as a bear), I was only about 25 feet from the guy (or gal). I yelled "HEY!" really loud, hoping to scare it. The bear growled/roared at me and took off across the road, giving a disturbing display of the ursine capacity for speed (they can sprint at upwards of 35 mph).

Very luckily for me, the bear got spooked. If the bear had stood its ground or simply not moved fast enough, I would have slammed into the side of a black bear that was about the same height and weight as myself. While defeating a bear in single combat with a pocket knife and bicycle pump and then taking its fur, claws and teeth as trophies would have been both admirable and impressive, very likely I would have squealed like a little girl as the bear mauled me and then ate me.

This was probably the weirdest experience for me on the trip and also the most dangerous bicycle experience I've had, including the three times I got hit by cars. Just thought I would share the experience with you guys.