Is it at all possible to outrun a grizzly bear?

Can you get away from a bear on a bike'?

runhappy09 wrote:

you can climb up a tree, hide in some bushes, jump in a lake, or even find a big brnach and fight for your life.

Bears can climb trees, have an excellent sense of smell, can swim, and probably would demolish your branch....but you do have a point, there is a chance that you will get away.

Bears typically won't chase you forever, the cost outweighs the benefit. So what it comes down to is you're taking your chance running away. But all that is knowing that the bear COULD run you down, not saying it will, but they definitely have the means to.

the 4:30 bearer wrote:

Trust me, if you are upwind they know you are there before they can hear you they can smell you over a mile away. And they can hear your footsteps about as easily as your voice.

I have startled bears plenty of times. It's pretty easy to do if you are running in the places with poor sight lines because of terrain and vegetation. In these incidents, they often, but not always see me first, but at a close enough distance to really startle them.

One of my closer incidents was when I running alongside a creek. I had just gone past a waterfall section and started along the flatter section, so there was terrain and water noise blocking any senses. In addition the grass along the creek was waist to chest high. The brown bear and two cubs didn't sense me until I was directly across the creek from them, 10 feet away, at which time, the mother bear gave out a startled grunt and took off a bit before looking back. I and my dog (who has at times given me up to 100 m advanced warning of bears) didn't see them until we heard the grunt.

Running is usually considered risky in bear country because of the coming-up-quickly factor...though I know a local bear biologist who runs in the backcountry despite advising that it's not the safest thing to do. I've often come around a corner, decended off a flat section with a sudden terrain change, etc. and run into a surprised bear (or two or three). It's even happened to me in two or three trail races...

To all those who think they can do it: Please video and post it here.

I love all these people who think that running through trees zig zagging or just heading off down hill is the best bet. Do you think the woods are full of mondo lanes between trees, brush and downhill? You're going to twist your ankle in about 3 steps because of your adrenaline rush. It's a bear's territory, you're going to lose.

Now, can you outrun a bear through a terminal gate at a NY subway? Probably so, they don't have tokens. But of course, I should rethink that as well. All of you who think you can outrun a bear in the woods are probably too dumb to buy tokens. So you'd get mauled there too! One more thing I'd like to see in a video.

steroidslugger.com wrote:

All of you who think you can outrun a bear in the woods are probably too dumb to buy tokens. So you'd get mauled there too! One more thing I'd like to see in a video.

woah buddy calm down. i dont think anyone on this forum thinks they can, or intends to go find a bear, startle it, and successfully get away. the point were trying to make the point that upon an encounter with a grizzly bear, there is a small chance (luck is a major factor) that someone could get away without dying.

steroidslugger.com wrote:

Now, can you outrun a bear through a terminal gate at a NY subway? Probably so, they don't have tokens. But of course, I should rethink that as well. All of you who think you can outrun a bear in the woods are probably too dumb to buy tokens. So you'd get mauled there too! One more thing I'd like to see in a video.

Thanks for the interesting image. Now I'm going to have bad dreams about a bear chasing me into a subway station, and I'm going to have to stop to buy a token because I never ride the subway, and I won't have one handy. Plus, I won't have the right change, the attendant will be on a break, etc., etc.

Is It joe or john? wrote:

Can you get away from a bear on a bike'?

Yes. Except in the circus, bears are not very good bike riders. You'll get away easily.

I don't know about a grizzley bear but this is how you fight off a black bear

runhappy09 wrote:

(in reply to steroidslugger.com)

...woah buddy calm down. i dont think anyone on this forum thinks they can, or intends to go find a bear, startle it, and successfully get away. the point were trying to make the point that upon an encounter with a grizzly bear, there is a small chance (luck is a major factor) that someone could get away without dying.

Actually, most people posting here with bear experience think that they will successfully get away most of the time. The reason is that, while bears are able to outrun any of us, they don't choose to do so, in general. This is backed up by the fact that only a few people get killed or mauled by bears every year, but most everyone who hikes or runs in bear country (say, AK or western Canada) have encounters. I've encounted about 10 bears this summer alone (including two separate encounters with two and three bears each in a single day).

In most encounters, they want to get away from you. This usually means they take off running - away from you. Many times THEY climb trees to get away from you. I've two instances where I've unintentionally treed a pair of black bear cubs, while the mom sits below (looking a bit dopy). Another two instances where I treed a black bear yearling or adult. Less often, they are curious. I started getting a bit nervous when I had to yell quite a bit at two approaching large brown bears last summer. One took off into the woods pretty quickly, but the second walked towards me and my dog enough that I started to worry (it was the largest brown bear I had ever seen in town). Another time, two black bears approached me and the two dogs I had with me at the time. They retreated when the big dog started barking.

Drew Eckmann wrote:

Is It joe or john? wrote:

Can you get away from a bear on a bike'?

Yes. Except in the circus, bears are not very good bike riders. You'll get away easily.

Oh not so fast?

"Bear Kills Calgary Cyclist"

Javacotea wrote:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wuMoYosDPM4

I don't know about a grizzley bear but this is how you fight off a black bear

AND HERE IS HOW TO GET AWAY FROM A GRIZZLY this is hardcore

Screw trying to outrun a bear. If you encounter a bear, rub feces in it's face. Where do I get the feces, you ask?No worry, you should have plenty of it in your running shorts....

There is no evidence that that bear was riding a bike. Good try though.

all the proof you need:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3612706.stm

truly the bear is a worthy adversary

Drew Eckmann wrote:

Is It joe or john? wrote:

Can you get away from a bear on a bike'?

Yes. Except in the circus, bears are not very good bike riders. You'll get away easily.

Oh not so fast?

"Bear Kills Calgary Cyclist"

I think this person missed the misplaced modifier. Just like the original poster misplaced "in his prime".

ok, i've had enough.

i'm not buying a bear running a 15 second 300, or having a 4 foot vertical, or running fast downhill, or any other shiite from alcoholic park service employees.

line em up; 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles, steeple, pole vault, triple jump, 5000m, i'm betting on the human.

i'd love to see the flocast post race with the bear-loser and his excuses.

"grrr identify yourself when you address me. . .grrr"

What is the best kind of bear?

Fact: Black Bear

The only time you could outrun a black or grizzly bear is after you've shot it through the shoulder and lung with a large caliber bullet, and you take off at a sprint while it bleeds out. And it still might catch you, those are tough m-fer's.

Nobody can seriously claim that you can't outrun a bear over any terrain in any circumstances. Bears are smart, but they're not that smart, and they're also quite large, so if you have a gigantic treadmill that's very narrow, and it accelerated to a speed of 150 mph, you could run down it quite easily and outdistance the bear, who would likely step off the treadmill at some point and go tumbling into the lava.

Or, if you had a very narrow alley, you could suck in your gut and turn sideways, and the bear would be hard-pressed to follow.

Or, if there were a series of doors requiring that you use your opposable thumbs to turn the doorknob, you could pass through them one by one and elude the bear thusly.

I think if the doors required that you say a secret password, and if you knew the secret password, then you could say the secret password, which the bear would likely struggle to do.

What about a circus bear on a unicycleand you're on a bicycle and have a 100 meter head start going downhill. You'd totally outrun the bear, hands down.