General Cycling Discussion - What's the Biggest Bug You've Swallowed?

Yesterday, going around twenty mph with a nice tailwind, all by myself in the middle of a wildlife refuge, singing aloud, I got a HUGE dragonfly right in the mouth! So big and tough that when I spit it back out, it flew away in front of me as though nothing had happened. I could feel pinchers and claws and wings fluttering around in my mouth. Had to stop and gag and rinse out my mouth with half my water bottle's contents. Anyone else have something similar happen?

A dragonfly? Yuck. I know where Manns Harbor is... on the edge of the Alligator River refuge...
I bet those dragonflies are as big as birds down there... keep yer yap shut, man!

Never forget: "the bug's goal is the pie hole" :D

It wasnt huge but it wasnt pretty either. I was comming down a pretty steep canyon road going around 32mph and swallowed a spider that was dangling from a tree over the road.

As far as the biggest BUY Ive swallowed would be laying down some serious dough for a professionally built wheelset (Joe Young) using Phil Wood MTN disc hubs......that was very hard to swallow! ;)

Last spring I was riding out in the country and all the wildflowers were in bloom. Eleven miles down the road a bee like insect (I'm not sure because it happened so quickly.) found its way up my right nostril. I was so shocked I almost crashed trying to stop. Needless to say I launched him back out and I didn't see where he landed. But if I think about it can still feel him wiggling his way up in there… yuck!

omg! up the nose?? *shivers*

I can't say I have ever swallowed a bug, but I have been hit in the face by June Bugs on several occasions. They hurt at 30+ mph...

I inhaled something... luckily it was small enough that I didn't die. But I couldn't cough it back out either (or at least it didn't feel like it)... I guess I probably coughed it up enough to swallow it. It was right as I was taking a deep breath cause I was pedalling hard. Major yuck.

Mostly I manage to keep my head down enough or something that I don't catch a lot of bugs.

BTW I'm not actually sure that dragonflies HAVE pinchers and claws... I'm sure your imagination was good enough to add any that were absent however :).

Lol. Yeah, I took a basic entomology course once and am aware of the physiology of the dragonfly. :) But I would swear that that sucker had claws, teeth, pinchers, stingers, and breathed fire! The worst part was, I saw it coming, it was like I was paralyzed, I couldn’t get my mouth shut or duck in time!

I had a large insect hit me in the neck around 2200 on july 2nd .I could not see what it was though as it was very dark.I brushed it off and kept riding ,it was scary for a second though.

I once found a monster insect, no idea what kind, but his body was probably 2.5" long and he had these awesome horns that were almost as long as he was (although one was broken off). He had wings, too.... I'd really hate to have one of those hit me in the face at any kind of speed. I've only ever seen that one (he was alive, sitting on a piece of concrete near some gardens).

I also saw at a county fair an entry that was "night insects of our county" (someone had collected them). That was a pretty scary display, made you not want to go out at night.

A dragonfly? Yuck.

No big deal. When I was on a military survival training course in northern Canada, we ate bugs and almost anything else that moved. Some of the members of the course that wouldn't eat bugs had a hard time eating food when the course was over. I remember some of them vomitting. The only bugs I would worry about when riding are the stinging kinds. Ouch!

What's the Biggest Bug You've Swallowed?

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I was doing around 30km/h and had my mouth open because I was tired and needed air. Anyway, a fly flew into my mouth. And then it went down... I stopped, hopped off the bike and pushed my finger so far down my throat I puked out all that I had eaten, along with the fly (pretty average size fly, but still).

Another time, not sure if this counts but I was around 6 and riding around my bike and was going down a downhill. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I saw a bug fly towards my face, closed my eyes and the bee stung my eyelid... I fell, started to cry and my eyelid swelled up real big overnight. :lol:

Caught a bumble bee a few weeks ago while riding and yapping on the East Bay Bike Path in R.I. I managed a glimps of the fat little feller just as he flew into my mouth. I immediately pshawed, pfffitted and spit him out, but not before he impaled my tongue with his stinger. Hurt like hell for 6 or 8 minutes and cleared itself up. I don't think the poor little guy survived though.

Not big but I was stupid and took a local rail trail across a lake around dusk and got a big mouthful of little bugs. Very nasty. I've also ridden through spider webs that had no obvious means of support.

well over vacation I was riding around on the property of the resort and they have a big hill with 2ft+ tall grass. So i went down as fast as i could and a very large mosquito flew into my mouth. i spit it out though

Caught a bumble bee a few weeks ago while riding and yapping on the East Bay Bike Path in R.I. I managed a glimps of the fat little feller just as he flew into my mouth. I immediately pshawed, pfffitted and spit him out, but not before he impaled my tongue with his stinger. Hurt like hell for 6 or 8 minutes and cleared itself up. I don't think the poor little guy survived though.


Poor little guy. Did you stop to administer first aid? ;) I think if I got stung on the tounge, I would stop to make sure the little ba$tard was dead!

I've also ridden through spider webs that had no obvious means of support.

What's up with spiders? I think they have lots of time on their hands and enjoy playing practical jokes.

How often have you ridden or walked through a strand of web that just randomly went across the path? I don't think a single strand of web is going to catch many insects, but it sure is irritating when it sticks to your face.

I saw this thread yesterday and I was thinking, yikes, I'm so glad we really don't have many bugs here.
I'm riding, as soon as I reach the bay, I'm up off my seat and hammering and there it is! Coming my way, no where to duck a pair of dragonflies. I thought they were gonna hit me. Nope! right in my mouth! Gag reflex! I felt the fluttter in my mouth! Spit! Spit!

When I got home, I found a wing stuck to my chest.

Spiders are the worst! I don't mind the web in the face so much, its the thought of the big, hairy spider that could now be crawling up my back! I work in the woods a lot, and these big black and yellow garden spiders will build webs in the spaces between trees, I sometimes walk through several in an hour. Often I will carry a large stick vertically in front of me to deal with it.

Around here we have lots of biting insects; mosquitoes, yellow flies and horse flies. They are not a big deal, but if you stop to rest or have a mechanical problem, you're toast!

This one. I wasn't on the bike, and I had to tear it apart, but it was delicious:

Heh, I had a June bug hit me in the back of the throat and my dad had a front tooth chipped by one on a 40 mph decent. June bugs suck, they are so hard its like getting hit by a rock.

This morning my daughter, a shop employee and I went out for a quick 20 miler before we opened the bike shop. On one of the longer downstrokes, one of the many armored plated flying beetles we have in Maine tagged me hard on my lip. The damn thing gave me a fat lip. I immediately thought of this thread.

Well i did get hit in the side of the head by a bird once which made my ear bleed a bit but if we are only talking swallowed things then i guess it would just be a fly

I guess a firefly, and they just hover in the air and wait for you to scoop them up. I had a thought once that I could modify a surgeons mask into a screen, but gave up the idea when the reaction from others hit my mind though! * alien sighted on bike trail, says local man * I guess if you rode in the middle of the night it wouldn't bee too weird! Riding a rural trail at dusk is the perfect way to ingest some added protien :) Getting them in the eye after I've removed my sunglasses at sunset is worse imho.

spiders suck! I was riding at Percy Warner park in Nashville a few days ago and something dropped into my one of the vents in my helmet....so there it was running around trapped between my helmet and my head so it started to bite. by the third bite I had thrown my helmet off in mid ride...and swept my hand over my head to fling the unknown insect to the ground. I stopped to see what it was....a brown spider about the size of a quarter...but guess it wasn't poisonous because I wouldn't be posting this!

I think I almost swallowed one of those things that look like oversized mosquito today, but it zoomed on by.

I too got struck by a June bug but not in the mouth, but gads that thing hurt and left my face with a green gooey mess! The biggest bug inhaled was probably a bee, but it didn't sting me as it went down the hatch-that I know of! I've had plenty of bugs that got stuck in the mouth and been able to spit most of them out.

...was going down a downhill. l: Isn't it great that you weren't going up the downhill? Tee hee! :p

Yuk Yuk Yuk!


You guys are grossing me out!

Put a net over your trapper for Pete's sake!

pssssh... Amateurs. :D

http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/BR-M.gif

They should add that to their advertising... Filters out smog, pollution, oh and large insects.

Yesterday, going around twenty mph with a nice tailwind, all by myself in the middle of a wildlife refuge, singing aloud, I got a HUGE dragonfly right in the mouth! So big and tough that when I spit it back out, it flew away in front of me as though nothing had happened. I could feel pinchers and claws and wings fluttering around in my mouth. Had to stop and gag and rinse out my mouth with half my water bottle's contents. Anyone else have something similar happen?

And the dragonfly probably took a shower after:D . Dragonflies live only 24 hours. They've got places to go and things to do. Important things! You just got in it's way.

I got a small bug in my mouth (I was talking with another cyclist in the group) on the weekend, I just spat the little guy out and kept up with the conversation.

I was hit in the face yesterday by something that was at least the size of a small bird while I was going about 20. It whacked me in the middle of my forehead and I felt its wing or something hit the outside corner of my eye. Almost knocked my contact out too. I'm pretty sure it was just a huge bug, I saw it flying around beforehand, and then it homed in on my forehead. Thankfully it didn't get near my mouth.

I guess a firefly, and they just hover in the air and wait for you to scoop them up. I had a thought once that I could modify a surgeons mask into a screen, but gave up the idea when the reaction from others hit my mind though! * alien sighted on bike trail, says local man * I guess if you rode in the middle of the night it wouldn't bee too weird! Riding a rural trail at dusk is the perfect way to ingest some added protien :) Getting them in the eye after I've removed my sunglasses at sunset is worse imho.

Bandanna a la Jessie James, used one all the time back in my motorcycle days. I would spray it down with water in the summer to keep cool, Arizona summer 115*F. Also kept bugs out. Works good to if you have to make a quicK "withdrawal" at the bank.

Joe

Back when I was a youngun (I had my license, but wasn't driving for some reason) I sucked in a bee, and caught him between my lower lip and teeth. He stung, I spit him out, and I couldn't open my mouth by the time I got to my destination, a few miles down the road, due to the rapid swelling. Sucked big, it did. Since then I've inhaled a few midges, a mayfly or two, and lots of unrecognizables (I often ride next to a river). Nothing compares to the Bee.