"Kiwi cyclist Joe Nation had been thinking about bears a lot even before he barrelled around a corner and saw a large grizzly standing in the middle of the road.
He immediately jammed on his brakes, and skidded to a stop about 15m from the animal.
Nation had been warned there would be bears during the first week of the world’s toughest enduro-cycling race, the Tour Divide, which runs from Canada, all the way through America, to Mexico’s border.
So he reached for the bear spray he’d packed, put his bike in front of him, shouted “Hey bear” as you’re told to do, and pulled out his whistle to scare it off.
'And I blew this little whistle, and the bear looked at me like, ‘What the hell do you think that’s going to do?’
After about 30 seconds eyeballing each other, the grizzly started walking towards Nation, “which scared the shit out of me”.
“It was right there – close enough, that’s for sure.”
But then it suddenly veered off the road into the forest, leaving Nation alone, swimming in adrenaline, wondering what was around the next bend. "
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other...eet-for-3rd-in-epic-race-through-america
