Day 11 (The Bear Encounter)

Well now that my face felt better I decided to tackle a tough ride. Up and down the
mountains for about 50 miles to try and get back on my schedule. I made it about 55 miles to
Condon MT, but it wasn't without some excitement. About mile 30 when I was on these back
roads I saw my first bear. I was able to sneak a picture and go the other way because the
road split into a Y at that point. I had a little adrenaline flowing from seeing a bear, but
it was all good because there was very little risk involved there. Then literally 10 minutes
later I see two more shapes on the road. So I ride up a little slower until I see that the
shapes are definitly a Mom Bear and her cub, right where I need to go. $!&*. So I started
making a little noise so they would notice me and hopefully go into the woods. Well the mom
bear noticed me and... wow she looked intimidating standing on her hind legs. At least 6 feet
tall. Then she made a woofing noise and she and her cub ran into the woods up some trees.
All this with my heart pretty much beating out of my chest. I was too scared to get a
picture, I was on a bike with nothing more than a one shot thing of bear mace. Plus I was
back in the middle of nowhere. So once they were off the road I started riding slowly and
then when I get to the spot where they ran into the woods, both of them are in the tree
right next to the road. Probably 15 feet away from me. Then I rode like a man possessed for
about a mile and stopped and laughed and hoped that I would soon be out of these dang woods.
Well it took another 20 miles so I was pretty much beat. I hope I don't have to see any more
bears beacuse that was a bit terrifying.