Cycling Forum: Bug Stories

Definately swallowed the odd little bug, cough and spit for a minute or so and it's not too bad.

 Years ago I was riding to work early morning, quite cold, dark. Out of no where i got hit on the nose, just below left eye with what felt like a brick. Still don't know what it was, but made my eyes water for the next few km's. Whatever it was it was big and hard and I wore glasses from then on day and night.

On a worse note, was drafting another rider along a popular cycleway a few months ago about 35km/h and something flicked on to the tip of my nose and stuck. Used my finger to wipe it away and smelt the unmistakeable odour of dog-s@#@. Near threw up on the spot. once i got over the shock was thankful that it wasn't a couple of cm lower and i got to taste as well. Needless to say I went for the disinfectant before kissing the wife hello when I got home!

 

My friday ride to work takes me through the farmlands. I started this ride back in May and was quite suprised at many things. The one that frightened me briefly as a I approached one stretch of fields....the signs that said " warning...bees". They were many pallets of bees being used to pollinate the crops for about a mile or so. Each pallet about 7 hives or so, I had just had a nice gel pak of something, my first thought, uh oh, sweet smell i'm in trouble.

No worries, they didn't attack. However, weekly i have been hit in various places but not stung. Glasses were the scariest, helmet funny, arms no biggie. The harvest has come and the bees are gone. We will meet again next year.

Not exactly a bug story, more of a varmint story:

This past Friday, I was riding home from work and I saw a squirrel on the side of the road. So I did my regular thing that I do to animals:make some kind of noise to scare them back some. For squirrels, I tend to make a loud kind of hissing sound. Usually when I make these noises the animal retreats to the safety of the woods, field, shoulder, etc. This squirrel was a little different.

He ran right in front of me and did that little dance that squirrels do when they don't know which way to go. I was going about 20 mph at the time and I t-boned him right in the middle of his body. I figured this would be my first roadkill, but I was wrong. The little bugger, rolled with the impact so that he ended up on is back as I rolled over him. Then he managed to grab onto the wheel or the tire (not sure which). Because of his grip and the speed of the wheel, he was catapulted up as the wheel passed over him. I watched him coming straight up towards me, thinking he would surely hit me in the shoulder but instead he grabbed onto my lower leg. I looked down and he and I locked eyes. I must have had a look of confusion on my face, but I'm pretty sure that his face was telling me that he was pretty pissed off. (My mastery of rodent facial expressions is a little weak)

At this point, I was certain that he was going to get his revenge by chewing up my leg ( I had shorts on). So I started furiously kicking, still going about 20 mph but now careening around the road (no cars coming luckily). On about the 5th or 6th kick, he flew end over end in the bushes and ran away seemingly no worse for the wear.

I got a couple of small scratches from his claws but otherwise both he and I survived the encounter intact.

One of my regular routes is a 25-mile loop on the edge of San Francisco Bay: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/berkeley/567125437193315227

Lately, I've been doing it in the late afternoon, when the tide is out. At the north end of the route, there's several miles of exposed marshland, and the bugs get very thick. I rode the route this afternoon, and four bees hit me in the earhole. At least, I think they were bees; they were about that size. And two wound up behind the lens of my glasses; I HATE that. They all bounce out; I've never been stung. But they freak me out. Don't even get me started on squirrels. I ride in the Land of Squashed Squirrels.

LOL! joedonovan... Not so funny at the time, but I am sure it is funny to look back now. Nothing extraordinary from me. Just the typical bee in the helmet, jersey story. Most often the bees are attracted to the bright colors of the jersey, they hit me in the chest, land on my leg and sting me.