A Montana teacher suffered some cuts and bruises but was otherwise okay after he struck a bear while riding his bicycle to school.

Jim Litz said he was traveling about 25 mph Monday morning when he came upon a rise and spotted a black bear about 10 feet in front of him. He didn’t have time to stop and T-boned the bruin.

He tumbled over the handlebars, his helmet hit the bear’s back and the two went cartwheeling down the road.

The bear rolled over Litz’s head, cracking his helmet, and scratched his back before scampering up a hill above the road.

A funnier thing would have been if the bear had been riding the bicycle.  I saw that at the circus when I was young.  Mom and Dad cleaned the elephant cage, and I sold tickets.

(Photo: AP/Michael Gallacher, “Ouch my spleen”)