Road Cycling - Biking, the perfect assistant in the atkins diet!

heh. I played with my friends bike earlier this evening for about an hour (or two, or three...I got carried away, I can tell I'm going to be addicted). BUT HEY, no one ever mentioned the free protein that comes with biking.
*bleckk*
How do you keep the gnats (and other insects) away? We get clouds of them over here, in the summer months they're 10x worse, and there's just no avoiding them. I make lots of new friends during my summer running months with all that shoo'ing away of those pesky little buggers - everyone thinks I'm the friendly waving girl ;p Bring bike-speeds into the occassion and I'm thinking things are gonna get a lot messier. In all seriousness, while its certainly not something that's going to deter me from any training run (or ride, if I start getting into serious biking), it's annoying and I'd like to find ways to make it LESS annoying. So share with me, what little coping techniques/tricks of the trade have you got up your cycling sleeves? Anyone have any good (relatively cheap!) sunglass rec's (preferably ones that'd work while I was running, too)? I did see a little about this in another thread months back, but no real conclusion? Any new updates? Or maybe bugs and biking are just meant to be synonymous...

How many calories is a gnat, anyway? I wonder if they have carbs...

Cheap sunglasses go to your Home depot or Lowe's buy some of the new stylish safety goggles they are under 10 bucks and while hold up very well to all those squishing bugs :D

As for avoiding the suckers If I am riding behind somebody any time I see their head shaking or hands begin to flail I duck my head. Otherwise its free dinner time :D

I think you are going to burn the calories before you finish with the ride ;)

Damn, Jadore, you cracked our secret. We talk about the thrill of the ride, the intoxicating freedom of the open road, the simple sanity of not belching combustion fumes everywhere we go...but we're really just in it for the yummy gnats!

Glad you had a fun ride, though, except for the bugs. To keep 'em out of your eyes (along with glare and wind and gravel and stuff), lots of people here will have good advice about Oakley shades and variant brands...you might want to check the thread titled "I bought some of those fake oakleys" in the "Hot Deals" forum. I've got no useful advise about glasses myself, because I always break or lose them before I can decide if they're any good...

Have fun!
- Paul

Oakley M Frames or equivalent, eyejackets, frogskins or equivalents. The interchangable lense glasses Performance sells for $30 seem to be pretty decent. Basically anything that covers as much of your eye as possible. We ride the river and big gnat populations are the norm in areas. In really gnatty areas like some river country in PNW or back east, I think I'd be wearing motorcycle goggles. As for eatin' the critters...well ya gotta breath, but keep your mouth shut, it's about all you can do, especially at speed.

Bwahahah! nate that made me laugh, good one.

Hmmmm - stylish ...and... safety goggles - I really don't see how those two can go together! lol but you know, that actually sounds like a good idea since they'd probably fair best while running too (no bouncing I'd surmise). Although would it be good when you're sweating a lot? Are those wrap around sports sunglasses any good? I've never tried any of them... And then theres still the having bugs in your teeth issue ... maybe I'll try some sort of screen or something if it gets really bad? (Can you picture me? Goggles with gnat guts, screening over face... wow, thats one damn sexy visual!)

Oh jeez, two more of you posted already, I missed that - I need to learn to be quicker ;)

LOL You guys are cracking me up, I'm getting the funniest visuals :D hehe

Thanks for the specific recs on glasses (Oakleys has been noted!), that's what I was hoping for...

Bolle Rogue's can be found for about $30,
check some of the online catalogues
www.nashbar.com
www.performancebike.com
www.coloradocyclist.com
www.excelsports.com

Marty

Are those wrap around sports sunglasses any good? :eek: I got my first pair of Oakley Eyejackets in 1995 I think, people looked at me like I was ********, I've never owned anything else since (except M Frames) and they actually caught on about Y2K :D. I think I'm on my 5th pair.

I've got a pair of Optic Nerve sunglasses that has lasted through a paddling season-complete with rolls, running-sometimes they ride on top of my head so I can see better, and they stay there, and riding trails and road. They're the best pair of sunglasses I have ever had. They were free for me, but I would easily pay $$$ for them.

Bolles are really good values right now. Bolles have nice lenses, and I almost never see them at full price...they aren't as stylin' as oakleys (IMHO) but they are pretty nice. I have the "asp", MSRP 100, got em for $40 at seirra trading post.

heres the link. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/product.asp?base_no=79030.

How many calories is a gnat, anyway? I wonder if they have carbs...

I posed a similar question a while back... you might want to check out this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=30263).

In Virginia they are only really bad at dusk. I try to avoid riding at that time if possible, else bon appetite.