I, too, have always been very leery of bears. I keep a very watchful eye for any signs of their presence when I'm in the woods. I also keep my pistol strapped to my hip. I run across one every now and again and it always raises the hair on the back of my neck. But, as all those who are in the know will tell you, DON'T RUN. That, apparently, is the worst thing you can do. Face the bear, get as big as you can, make lots of noise and back slowly away. I like to throw rocks, too. Of course, all this requires you first make eye contact with the bear. They will always run away unless there are cubs nearby or a food cache or the bear is already wounded and sick in the head. Should you be attacked, as the advice goes, play dead and the bear will tire of you fairly quickly and leave. Some mice apparently know this trick, too, or maybe my cat's just a stupid cat. I hope this didn't sound like a lecture, but you sounded like you didn't have much bear knowledge. No need, no reason.

As for the riders, Christina mentioned two distinct possibilities - volunteers or thugs. Either way, you obviously impressed them to the point they didn't want to hang around. Sometimes lucky wins out over smart.