June 2 Ride Reports

[Melalvai]

If I hadn't done a century a few weeks ago, the 50 miles yesterday would have been my PR.

[IFjane]

I'm late posting this but wanted to share our wonderful ride with you all. SO and I went out for 70 miles on Saturday. The temperature was about 90F by the time we finished and the humidity was off the charts but the ride was still so much fun. We saw so many baby animals! A one-week-old donkey - I could have taken it home with me, it was SOOOOO cute! Six baby geese, two baby goats and....the highlight of the ride - a mama bear and two tiny cubs! They were right beside the road and we were riding very slowly because we were climbing. We came around a turn and heard a crash in the woods to our left. We looked, and mom was jumping into the thicket. The two cubs dashed up a tree and watched us ride by. OMG were they precious!! I didn't have a camera and probably would not have chanced stopping to take a picture anyway. I was dreading the climb up that mountain but after the bears the climb wasn't so bad.

[Geonz]

Oh, that's so kewl
My brother was playing in the Rapidan River a couple years ago with his kids and he looked over and there was a cub ambling over towards his 7-yo daughter! He went and scooped her up about the same time the bear batted her into the water (seemed to want to play... she was about the right size, eh?) and scooted back to the cabins and the bear followed and climbed on the roof to munch out on the bugs in the shingles... I'm glad these guys decided to be scared of you! (And the kiddo was pretty freaked but got over it - after all, Daddy *did* save the day!)

[IFjane]

Oh, that's so kewl
My brother was playing in the Rapidan River a couple years ago with his kids and he looked over and there was a cub ambling over towards his 7-yo daughter! He went and scooped her up about the same time the bear batted her into the water (seemed to want to play... she was about the right size, eh?) and scooted back to the cabins and the bear followed and climbed on the roof to munch out on the bugs in the shingles... I'm glad these guys decided to be scared of you! (And the kiddo was pretty freaked but got over it - after all, Daddy *did* save the day!)

Yay for Daddy! Wow Sue - we've seen lots of bears through the years but never had quite the close encounter your brother and his daughter had! We are fortunate that the black bears we have are generally pretty docile, even if they are destructive. The river looked awfully tempting on Saturday - if it hadn't been for the prospect of riding the rest of the way home with wet feet, I might have jumped in!