When a wilderness bike park opens for a new season, riders face a stronger possibility of encountering critters – including bears! – that aren’t yet used to their presence.
The accompanying footage, captured at Sun Peaks Bike Park in British Columbia, Canada, shows a close encounter involving expert mountain bikers and a young bear that was not expecting the raucous intrusion.
“Oh, agh! Bear, dude!,” Jesse Melamed, the videographer and the rider closest to the bear, exclaims at the outset of the footage, which he uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq1rFcMrSqE]
The frightened bear charges down the trail briefly before fleeing into the safety of the lush grass.
“I almost ran over a bear!” reads some of the text in Melamed’s video.
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Melamed was with Remi Gauvin, Miranda Miller and Lee Jackson, and their 19-minute exploits are entertaining even without the bear encounter.
But a longer version of the encounter can be viewed at 5:40. Viewers can see the bear rushing onto the trail immediately behind one rider, facing Melamed, who reacts with his “Ooh, ah!” remark as the bear quickly turns and runs from the approaching rider.
“Sorry, buddy!” Melamed says afer safely passing the critter.
The riders stop to review what had just happened. “Dude, I almost hit the thing, man,” Melamed says. “I thought it was like a little marmot or something.”
–Image courtesy of Jesse Melamed