Wait, wait - - a BEAR!!! I, for one, need details on that one!! We got deer and wild hogs and maybe an occasional buzzard or buffalo, but a BEAR???
Yes, it was a Bear. I call it my 3 Bear Thursday. I was riding back from my HD Dealer, Baer Sports in Honesdale Pa (pronounced Bear), my nickname is Standing Bear, and I ran into a Bear. I was riding between 20-30 mph on a back road short cut home. I rounded a curve and a BIG black bear bounded onto the road, no more than 10 feet ahead of me. Since he was going from right to left, I swerved to the right, thinking I could get around his butt as there was no time to stop. At the last second, he stopped, turned towards me and reared up. I don't know who had more of an OH S**T! look on their face, him or me. The next second I grazed him while passing UNDER his front leg. For the record, he was definitely solid, NOT poofy.
At that point, I went off the road, hit gravel, and went down. When I stopped rolling, the 1st thing I did was look for Yogi. He was still where I 1st saw him, back on all 4's. He looked at me, shook his head and snorted, generally NOT a good sign.
ray:He then lumbered towards the woods on his original path and stopped just before entering the woods. He stopped, again looked back, and appeared to wag his butt at me as if to say "Kiss My A$$" :BootieShake:and lumbered into the woods, apparently totally unharmed. At that point I called 911. It took about 10min for them to locate where I was calling from, and all the time I kept an eye out for Yogi.:AGGHH: Fortunately he didn't make a second appearance. :woohoo:This is the second time a motorcycle has confronted a bear in this area. I responded with our local ambulance & F.D. to a call last year in the same general area when a full HD Bagger hit a bear under very similar conditions. Again the only injuries were from the fall, and the bear didn't attack. So the score is Bear 2, Harley 0. Maybe he works for Honda. :<):GL1800:
Other than messing up my back badly, I'm pretty much OK. I always wear full armor - FF helmet, jacket with armor, chaps and high boots. I received only 3 small areas of road rash, which are already healed. While everyone is welcome to ride as they see fit, in my particular case, the armor saved my hide, literally.
Take care,
George