This teenage girl was fortunate that she had a cellphone and was also wearing a helmet....

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 14-year-old girl riding in a mountain bike race was attacked in the dark of night by a bear Sunday and severely injured, but she was able to make a brief 911 call that eventually resulted in her rescue.
The girl suffered head, neck, torso and leg wounds. She underwent surgery and was in critical condition Sunday afternoon at Providence Alaska Medical Center, police said.

Full news article here.

Wow.

Another rider heard the cell phone ringing, stopped to investigate, stayed and talked to the police on the cell, and another rider showed up and stayed as well, both waiting with the victim in the dark for rescue to arrive.

Very Brave.

I hope the victim pulls through.

Nasty.

Yikes!

WoW, glad she pulled through and that people cared more about her than winning/racing.

Tough kid.

Hope she pulls through ok.

More details. It appears she's very fortunate.

I'm sorry, but I seem to be missing something here.

A fast-moving chunk of prey zipping through a bear/moose wildlife area in low light ... was this sponsored by the Darwin Awards or something? And it's all the bear's fault, right?

But only one person was injured. Let's up the ante a bit: Put a bicycle race on a heavily-used rail line, and insist the cyclists stay between the rails. Burlington Northern or Union Pacific could make it an interesting race. Whoever survives, wins.

Cynical Sue, striking again

The idiocy of where they chose to have this race was not lost on us. I'm pretty sure you didn't miss a thing.

A bear in Alaska. Who wudda thunk it???

Good point Sue.

I now have to question the wisdom of the adults organizing the event.

I guess it's familiarity breeding complacency.

I've warned my student nurses about that and pointed at myself as an example by jumping in and grabbing a bleeding IV site without putting gloves on...,

Or getting within the striking range of an agitated/psychotic patient because I'm used to them and know the individual's behavior.

I know it's stupid and I fuss at the new nurses for doing it and I've gotten so used to body fluids and agitated patients that it doesn't create the same sense of alarm / caution that it did when I was a baby nurse.

I suspect a similar dynamic with the folks living around dangerous wildlife...,

Or LEO's and hunters accidentally shooting themselves while cleaning their weapons...,

Or driving too fast for the conditions in your own neighborhood...

Though I still have to respect the young woman for the will to survive and the individuals staying with her until EMS arrived even though they knew it was dangerous.

We live in a world full of people who would look the other way and pretend they didn't see anything rather than go to another's aid.