Quick Take
- Running from a bear is the one thing wildlife experts say never to do. But what happens when you're already flying downhill at speed when one appears? See the chase unfold →
- Whether the bear was actually charging or just crossing the trail at the wrong moment changes everything about what this footage really shows. Watch what really happened →
- Brown bears are far faster than most people assume, and the gap between their top speed and a mountain bike's may not be as comfortable as you'd hope. Compare the speeds →
- The encounter happened on a specific day that made it especially unlikely, though also almost inevitable. See the date and location →
Seeing a brown bear in the wild is enough to get anyone’s attention. Seeing one suddenly burst out of the woods while you’re flying downhill on a mountain bike is an entirely different experience.
Normally, running from a bear is exactly what wildlife officials tell people not to do. These riders were already moving quickly downhill when the bear appeared, though, leaving them with a very different situation to deal with.
Watch the Incredible Encounter Below
Brown Bear Sighting in Slovakia
The video was recorded by Dušan Vinžík at the Malino Brdo bike park near Ružomberok, Slovakia, on May 7, 2017. According to footage licensing information, it happened on the first day the bike park opened for the season.
Vinžík was riding behind a friend when a brown bear suddenly appeared from the woods beside the trail. The entire encounter lasted only a few seconds, but that was plenty of time to turn a normal downhill run into something neither rider was likely to forget.
Brown Bear vs. Mountain Bikers
Early in the video, the riders are moving quickly down the wooded trail when the bear suddenly enters the frame from the right. It runs toward the lead rider and appears to follow him briefly as Vinžík shouts from behind.
It certainly looks like a chase, although the footage doesn’t tell us exactly what the bear was thinking. The riders may have surprised it, and some contemporary reports noted that it wasn’t clear whether the animal was deliberately charging the cyclist or simply running through the woods when their paths crossed.
Either way, the lead rider doesn’t waste much time putting distance between himself and the bear. After several tense seconds, the animal veers away from the trail and disappears back into the woods.
Once the bear is gone, the riders slow down and regroup. Nobody was injured, which makes the whole encounter considerably easier to watch from the comfort of a screen years later.
How Fast Can a Brown Bear Run?
Brown bears are powerful omnivores that can move surprisingly fast when they need to.
©David Rasmus/Shutterstock.com
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) are much faster than their size might suggest. Wildlife guidance commonly warns that bears can sprint faster than 30 miles per hour over short distances, which is one reason running from one on foot is such a bad idea.
European brown bears also aren’t usually the 900-pound, 10-foot giants associated with some of the largest North American coastal bears. Adult males in Europe generally weigh somewhere around 300 to 700 pounds, although size varies considerably by region and individual.
That doesn’t mean the cyclists were crawling along, either. The old idea that professional downhill mountain bikers top out around 20 miles per hour isn’t accurate. The Union Cycliste Internationale says elite downhill racers can reach roughly 80 kilometers per hour, or about 50 miles per hour, on fast sections of a course.
We don’t know how fast these particular riders or the bear were moving, so there isn’t much value in trying to declare a winner in a bear-versus-bike speed contest. What the footage does make very clear is that a brown bear can cover ground frighteningly quickly, even on rough terrain.
If you encounter a brown bear while hiking, wildlife officials advise against running. Stay calm, give the bear room, slowly back away when possible, and be prepared to use bear spray where carrying it is recommended and legal. These bikers found themselves in a much more unusual situation because they were already descending at speed when the bear appeared.
