[kiva]

last 2 rides out I've had bugs fly in my mouth and get lodged in the back of my throat. I then start gagging and puking involuntarily. It's quite a sight, I'm sure. Both times at the very beginning of a ride. Folks watching me must have been thinking "wow, he's really workin' hard"...no...just a dumb-ass with a bug in the back of his throat..

I hate it when that happens..

matt

 

[Picard]

last 2 rides out I've had bugs fly in my mouth and get lodged in the back of my throat. I then start gagging and puking involuntarily. It's quite a sight, I'm sure. Both times at the very beginning of a ride. Folks watching me must have been thinking "wow, he's really workin' hard"...no...just a dumb-ass with a bug in the back of his throat..

I hate it when that happens..

matt

What? Didn't you swallow it? They are great source of protein aside from your powerbar. I am sad that you didn't take advantage of this food source

 

[Atomik Carbon]

Ever been to Florida????

If that bugs you ( pun intended), then don't come to Florida to ride during the summer. That is almost a daily thing. Sometimes you look up and just see a big clound of them hovering in front of you. Just squint, hold your breath, close your mouth and ride through them. Your jersey will be full of them afterwards too.

Later Mon.

 

[Atomik Carbon]

Ever been to Florida????

If that bugs you ( pun intended), then don't come to Florida to ride during the summer. That is almost a daily thing. Sometimes you look up and just see a big cloud of them hovering in front of you. Just squint, hold your breath, close your mouth and ride through them. Your jersey will be full of them afterwards too.

Later Mon.

 

[jasonwa2]

If that bugs you ( pun intended), then don't come to Florida to ride during the summer. That is almost a daily thing. Sometimes you look up and just see a big cloud of them hovering in front of you. Just squint, hold your breath, close your mouth and ride through them. Your jersey will be full of them afterwards too.

Later Mon.

I hate to say it, but... I know thats right. Last year during the mosquito season was the most unreal situation ever. One time last year while riding within 100 yards of a lake,30 minutes before dark, the mosquitos filled the air. So much that it seemed like an alien bug invasion or something. It felt like your whole body being sandblasted. I dont think i got bit one time though. I literally had to steer my bike with one hand while pinching my nose shut and covering my mouth. Very freaky .Its already starting to happen now again.

 

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

umm ...ever hear of scarfs

 

[noslogan]

Its you or them

You gotta get them between your teeth fast. AND CHEW quickly. Hopefully you would see a bee or fly. Sometimes they get in and you gotta bite them before they bite/sting you.

Oh man, what if that fly was sitting on a stool just before he flew in. Eeww!

last 2 rides out I've had bugs fly in my mouth and get lodged in the back of my throat. I then start gagging and puking involuntarily. It's quite a sight, I'm sure. Both times at the very beginning of a ride. Folks watching me must have been thinking "wow, he's really workin' hard"...no...just a dumb-ass with a bug in the back of his throat..

I hate it when that happens..

matt

 

[billybobzia]

last week i went to put my jersey on and felt a pain in my side only to find out a wasp was in there, stung me twice....about 10 years ago i had a bee or wasp fly in my mouth and stung me on my tongue, swelled up and i could hardly talk, my buddy still likes to imitate me ranting and raving about while talking funny...i try to close my mouth, but still eat the occasional bug..

 

[Stinky Wiz]

Grit teeth when inhaling to filter excess protein source. I always exhale though the nose when plowing through a visible cloud of wings & legs. When one gets by, let stomach acid do its work...admittedly after a cough to move it to the proper passage.

Chalk up another point for So Cal over Wisconsin or Minnesota, I can't imagine riding during mosquito season in the land of cheese & lakes.

I think our skeeter season is about over (it's short), but we are moving into baby fly season...soon to progress to big-bad biting horsefly season...bastages.

Nothing keeps you moving on a climb like the swarming effect of those flies...

 

[Brown_Teeth]

Its no laughing matter, I have inhaled everything from gnats to bees to yes a butterfly just 2 days ago, The butterfly was easy to eject but the bee left its stinger in the back of my throat, ouch luckily the stinger just stuck there and didn't sting me but using the index finger to fish it out was no fun. Currently here in Central Cal we are still getting rains and having epic bug blooms, like whole clouds of them. Going through a cloud of these at >20 mph is nasty so I took an old long sleeve light weight pollypropaline shirt and cut off the sleve about 8 inches worth then cut two slits and I thread it over over my head and use my ears to hold it in place, it covers my whole face below my sunglasses to my neck line and makes a trick filter for the bugs, also keeps the sun off my rather baked skin (CA is known for skin cancer). Now I blast through the bugs with mouth agape while I listen to my friends gag and curse those darn bugs

 

[Ol' DirtDawg]

last 2 rides out I've had bugs fly in my mouth and get lodged in the back of my throat. I then start gagging and puking involuntarily. It's quite a sight, I'm sure. Both times at the very beginning of a ride. Folks watching me must have been thinking "wow, he's really workin' hard"...no...just a dumb-ass with a bug in the back of his throat..

I hate it when that happens..

matt

Awwwwww,....bug swallowin' ain't all dat bad,....juz chase em' with a good gulp of water or sports drink. After all,...it is additional protein.,....hehehe

NOW,....(true story)

I was flying downhill,...(top speed),...watchin' where I was going. Well,...it so happened that a large insect was heading directly towards me,...(big friggin bug),...(also at top speed),....

Well,....to make a long story short,....I got cold cocked on my fore-head by one of those bonzai kama-kazi ballistic .45 cal. june bugs,...nearly knocked me off my bike and left a whelp on my fore-head for days.

The only down side of ingesting insects are the big crunchy ones,.....(their lil' legs git stuck between my teeth),.....(juz kiddin'),....*wink*

Live Long,....Ride Hard

Ol' DirtDawg

 

[RonSonic]

Part of the experience, I figure.

First good bug catch was decades ago when I was like 14. Inhaled a big ol' horsefly up the left nostril. Weird, weird sensation having that thing desperately buzzing up my nose. But when the going gets weird, the weird go pro and with no fuss or hassle just turned my head and launched a six-legged snot rocket into the pavement.

Since then I've collided with or inhaled just about everything out there. I've been real lucky in not inhaling anything with much of a stinger. Now I live in Tampa and've hit everything in this part of the country.

Gnats are kinda bitter tasting, aren't they.

Had a giant grasshopper (locust?) launch into my front spokes on the road bike once, just spattered my shins with bug goo. That was actually worse on the yuck factor than most of the swallows and inhales.

Ron

 

[wooglin]

Had a giant grasshopper (locust?) launch into my front spokes on the road bike once, just spattered my shins with bug goo. That was actually worse on the yuck factor than most of the swallows and inhales.

Those are pretty tasty when fried up with butter and garlic. Its the texture that gets to me....

 

[Pain Freak]

Two years ago

I was doing the Brian Head endurance race in Utah and we went thru a very large meadow area.It was literally covered in little grasshoppers.Millions of them.I managed to spit two out and inhaled another.I was about 3/4 of the way thru when I came upon another racer.It was a lady of about 30 who was sitting there crying.I asked her what was wrong and could I help.She said she just couldn't handle the bugs anymore.There were some other alien monster looking ones with a copper colored covering.She said she thought she might have swallowed one. I told her to ride behind me and to try not to listen to the crunching noises, I'll clear a path and everything would be okay.She did as she was told and after we got out of the meadow she dropped me like a wet blanket.Still I'll always remember our "lunch" together.

 

[Skookum]

Years ago i remember swallowing an unknown bug, and i remember it tasted like what a trout smells like. it was almost as gross as some power bars i've eaten.

 

[Christine]

The thing about NY is that, whenever the winter gets so cold that I can't physically handle it anymore, I remind myself that it's the same weather that keeps the bugs away.

We don't have a whole lot of bugs, but the ones we DO have pack a whallop, like invisible ticks that carry Lyme's Disease, or mosquitoes with West Nile- stuff like that.

Still, bugs manage to fly into my mouth and aim for my ears. You hear them approach: bzzzzzzZZZZTT!! as they bounce off the helmet strap.

 

[abegetchell]

I was riding a local trail last Friday when the group I was with decided to take a path "less travelled". It was a still an official trail, but apparently one that no one had ridden down previously during the day. I kept riding through what felt like spider webs (I was leading the group) - I must have ridden through ten or twelve of them before coming out on the other side of a short technical section. I stopped to talk with the three other guys I was riding with and they all looked down at my shirt and started to laugh. I looked down and saw no less than thirty inch worms working their way up my shirt, shorts, legs, and arms. The damn things were everywhere. It took a good ten minutes (with assistance) to remove them all.

For those who don't know what an inch worm looks like:
http://images.google.com/images?q=inchworm

 

[*rt*]

you inhaled a BUTTERFLY!?! isn't that bad karma or something? how big was it? yikes. i'd have to be mid-yawn to inhale most of the butterflies around here - our butterflies are big suckers. i feel bad if i even hit a butterfly, nevermind inhale one.

rt

 

[Brown_Teeth]

It was one of those larger white ones, didn't make it much past the teeth but was a bit un-nerving at 25 mph to be dealing with a squirming legged thing recoverying from my last grind. Easy to eject but around here its been so wet everything natural is in hyper multiplication mode. Global warming looking to make California tropical I guess, well time for my ride, have fun!

 

[*rt*]

It was one of those larger white ones, didn't make it much past the teeth but was a bit un-nerving at 25 mph to be dealing with a squirming legged thing recoverying from my last grind. Easy to eject but around here its been so wet everything natural is in hyper multiplication mode. Global warming looking to make California tropical I guess, well time for my ride, have fun!

ah, likely a cabbage butterfly. much smaller than the swallowtails we have around here.

anything that hits you in the teeth at 25 mph and has squirming legs is bound to be unnerving!

rt