Bike vs. Bear

Only in Boulder

I was competing in the Boulder Peak Triathlon on Sunday, along with about 1600 of my close friends. Another competitor, Sabrina Oei, had started in an earlier wave and was about 15 minutes in front of me in the bike portion of the race. Screaming down Lefthand Canyon at about 35 MPH, she hit a black bear that was unexpectedly walking across the road and went over her handlebars.

The bear, apparently uninjured, ran off into the woods. Sabrina, however, waited half an hour for the ambulance to arrive, when she was pronounced to have a major case of road rash and fit to continue the race. Remarkably, her bike was also fit to ride after the encounter.

Sabrina was not issued a summons for cruelty to animals, and the bear was not given a citation by race officials for obstruction. There is no evidence that the bear was hired by another competitor to deliberately slow Sabrina down. The race director, Barry Siff did, however, promise to put up a "Bear Crossing" sign at the location for next year's race.