If you are like me and watched a lot of nature shows growing up, you know what is coming next when you see one of these little guys.

In the summer of 2007, I was training for a mountain bike ride from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon.  I wanted to get some riding in at altitude before the event so I planned a few rides in the weeks leading up to the event.  On one of these rides, my friend who was supposed to go with me cancelled so I went alone.  It was no big deal since I knew where I was riding and never had any problems in the past.

Well, early on in the ride I realized I made a big mistake.  I was riding on one of the loops at the Flagstaff Nordic Center, which was on a heavily wooded single-track trail.  Suddenly I noticed something run across the trail in front of me, so I stopped.  Then another one, I looked closely and they were black bear cubs.  Since I know a fair amount about wildlife, I realized that the mama bear would be close by.  I experienced a sinking sensation as I saw her stand up on her hind legs and look at me.

Needless to say, I turned around and pedaled very quickly to extricate myself from this situation!  Luckily the bears did not give chase and I was safe after a few minutes of furious riding.  The rest of the ride was trouble-free but after I got done I swore I was never going to go riding alone in the woods again.  This wildlife encounter made me realize how unprepared and vulnerable I was, so I made some changes on subsequent rides.

The first thing I did was make sure I never went riding alone.  This was an easy fix because every time I let people know I am going up to Flagstaff to ride, I get others to come along.  Riding in groups is much safer than riding alone so that part was fixed.  I also purchased a canister of bear spray that I could put in the CamelBak.  While the canister is fairly large, it is worth the space and weight to carry when you are out in the woods.  I don’t carry a pistol when I ride so this is the best non-lethal means I have of responding to an attack.

If you are out hiking, biking, or camping in the woods, please learn from my wildlife encounter.  I was fortunate in that my lack of preparation did not lead to injury or death, but it could have turned out otherwise.  Plan on handling wildlife encounters BEFORE you go out into the wild, you could save yourself and others from a bad outcome.