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I just encounterd a black bear while riding my bike. I should've known better to ride on rural roads late at nite. I won't be doing that again.

I was riding up a small hill & I see a shadow in the middle of the road about 100 feet ahead. Since the only lite source around is my headlight I say to myself that's odd. Then the shadow moves. I know right away it's a bear & I nearly pooped myself.
(bears have a distinctive gait)

Luckily, the bear ran off into the woods. I'd say it was at least 200 lbs.
According to this website http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/Wildlife ... s/bear.htm
they can run up to 35mph.

You were lucky, center punching a bear would spell disaster. In rural Ohio where I live, we have to watch out for deer and coyote running accross the road. Once in a while, we see a Pennsylvania bear. On one of our rides, a coyote ran accross the road between my son-in-law who was riding point and myself. The coyote is a nasty ugly creature and somewhat new to this area. If the boys in Pennsylvania would keep their bears at home on the other side of the Ohio boarder, we wouldn't have them to worry about either.

Im suprised that the noise of the bike didnt scare him off the road long before you saw him. He must have been eating something in the middle of the road and was distracted.