Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Central Coast, CA
Posts: 3,392
Bikes: Surly LHT, Specialized Rockhopper, Nashbar Touring (old), Specialized Stumpjumper (older), Nishiki Tourer (model unknown)
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
I have swallowed bugs several times. Once it was something really big and heavy. It hit the roof of my mouth and started to sting. I was convinced it was a wasp or something poisonous or something, but after I calmed down I decided it was just irritation at being hit so hard by something so large and rough.
Now I try to ride with my lips and teeth mostly closed - still plenty of opening for full breathing, but hopefully enough of a "fence" to screen out bugs.
Judy Blume wrote a series of children's books about a boy named Fudge (SuperFudge, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, etc.) In it there's an unofficial club you join when you swallow a fly on your bicycle. It's the ISAF club (I Swallowed A Fly). I read the series to my kids when they were young. During their childhoods they both joined the club. (I had been in for years.)