Comments on: Stuff that Flies

By: Unknown

Unknown — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 07:06:06 +0000

Gah. _So_ been there on the mouth sting. Happened to me a couple of weeks ago, actually (http://www.ian.dees.name/thupid-beeth.html). My cow-orkers had a field day. I still wince when I come down that hill into work, and have to remember to keep my damn fool mouth shut, no matter who’s playing on the iPod.

By: Baby Blue in Texas

Baby Blue in Texas — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:58:26 +0000

Being allergic to bees and having to carry a shot kit around daily, I believe that bees must not be able to differentiate between the sexes because they must mistake me for you. If there is a bee within a one mile radius, it will find and harrass me while I also flail around screaming like a girl (of course this isn’t as funny as you doing the same as I am a girl). But I wonder and can’t remember if Utah gets those "lovebugs" (or telephone bugs, they say hi and hang up) that plague us in September and October and November BAD. Can’t keep a car clean here in Texas during that time and as for the knats, I guess the ones in Texas seem too enjoy tormenting the Texas people themselves, whether you are walking, riding or just standing – they find you.

Here’s to better riding in the future and less bee stings for you and yours,
Rene’

By: bradley

bradley — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:34:51 +0000

I was nearly stung in the ear this year (nice rhyme, eh?) but as I was frantically trying to poke the bugger out of my ear, it stung my finger instead. But you know, there are nice flying things. While I hit many a cloud of gnats yesterday, I was also able to watch some red tail hawks flying above a field that was being plowed, waiting for some "timorous little beasties" to run into the open for lunch/dinner. At least we don’t get eaten by flying things, we eat them instead (how do you know you spit them out when you are spitting? I sure can’t tell.)

http://bleckblog.org

By: Unknown

Unknown — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:54:58 +0000

what do you expect when alot of you live in the beehive state ? I’m just glad I don’t live in wisconsin.

Boz

By: Tim D

Tim D — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 09:04:30 +0000

Talking about riding through stuff. A few years ago, we did a tour down the Danube cycle path. Early in the morning the path would be covered in huge green slugs, 6-8 inches long and about 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter. You couldn’t avoid them. The first hour of each day was accompanied by the squelch and pop of unlucky slugs.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 07:01:17 +0000

I started riding my ten speed again, FC. What do you do when your head itches and you can’t get at it through the helmet? Gnats suck, too btw. Toodles! Jane

By: sans auto

sans auto — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 22:49:12 +0000

I have never been hit by as many flying things as I was outside of Arco ID. The gnats would be stunned at impact, but when I stopped to use the restroom, I learned that they were all still alive.
I once had a robin try to fly through my front wheel on the Interurban trail outside of Kent. He didn’t make it, and he nearly caused me to crash.
I’ve only been stung once on a bike ride, just a couple inches to the left of my man parts, through my shorts. I will count myself lucky
I’ve only been shot once. I was riding with a small group just south of Provo UT and we heard a shot and then three of us were hit in the rear by what we think was bird shot. The guy was far enough away that it didn’t break skin, but the three of us each had a handful of matching welts on our backsides. We called the cops and they come and concluded that based on the foot prints in the snow, the guy was shooting at us and not the birds. That ended the investigation. I ride by that spot twice a day on my commute and think about it every time.
I would say that the gun shot hurt worse than the big bugs, but it was comparable to the bee sting.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 19:45:26 +0000

Flies, gnats, wasp, cicadas!! Pah!! You really know you’ve been attacked by stuff that fly’s when a magpie attacks you. As per Born4Lycras comment, Magpies, a native of Australia, love nothing better during mating season than aggressively swooping on unsuspecting bunches of cyclists and pecking the backs of necks etc. They really give me the sh!ts… and they’re Australian too, to boot.

By: BotchedExperiment

BotchedExperiment — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:46:15 +0000

I’ve been stung probably 5 times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the offenders.
Once while I was riding in Snowshoe West Virginia, I was stung/bit by something on the inside of my thigh. Whatever it was got me through my shorts and it hurt way worse than a regular sting. Over the next week, the skin in the area became necrotic and rotted a dime sized hole in my leg.
When your lip was all swollen up, would you have said "Fat Cyclist" like "Fabbpt Cybblist"?

By: Woody13Fox

Woody13Fox — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 13:41:00 +0000

Man, you haven’t lived until you’ve ridden through cicada season here in the mid-atlantic/northeast region. Cicadas are about two inches long by half-inch and come up out of the ground every seventeen years to mate. They are EVERYWHERE! About three years ago I went for a nice road ride through a heavily infested forested area…To make a long story short, I ran into several cicadas with my face and chest. But the pain of hitting these lovely creatures is only half the story; they are big and JUICY, leaving guts all over my face, shades, and jersey. Also, after the males mate, they die, leaving their big carcasses all over the ground…Soooo, I had to ride through a grave-yard/mine-field of thousands of these things, wheels crunching over them, splatting guts all over my bike, legs, and yes, water bottles. NASTY!