After cycling through clouds of bugs yesterday and swallowing a few, I got to wondering what people do to deal with this. Bandanas? Masks? Develop a taste for them?

Head down and close your mouth.

Yum, I want the extra crunchy please. It's been bad the past couple of days. I make every effort to only breathe through my nose, but every now and then I inadvertantly open my mouth and sure enough, something tries to fly in.

I would keep my mouth closed but my allergies make it difficult to get enough air that way after I've been riding a while. For some reason I get gnats flying into my left eye. I found a wing in there when I got home. They are the worst at sunrise, so I can avoid them by riding after the sun is up. But then I have to deal with the 100F temps with 110F heat indexes on an after work ride. I'd rather eat a bug now and then.

Live protein! Good stuff.

Yes close your mouth if you don't want to partake.

+10000

Cheaper than a Gu...

ride faster

BBQ sauce

Wear shades or safety glasses to shield eyes (good for a lot of stuff besides bugs).

Close Mouth.

I added a full face visor on my old helmet, it was very effective against bugs but it also made it harder to breath. Now I wear safety glasses and breath by the nose.

Swallow...quickly if you don't like the feel of them crawling around.

you suffer, like the rest of us.

mayflies aren't too bad.

Sunglasses keep them out of my eyes. Otherwise, breathe through your nose and keep your head down until you're out of the swarm.

I still have nightmares that one day I'll ride through a swarm of bees.

Be grateful you are not riding a low recumbent through a herd of grasshoppers.

Easy. Buff rags and Mach Snell goggles. Here:

https://www.buffusa.com/wear/how_to_wear_a_buff_video

https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/what-h...chnell-goggles

While not quite the same - I found a medium-sized spider in my coffee cup. All while I was dithering away time on Bike Forums! And I will be going off to ride in a few minutes. I wonder if spiders (when microwaved) release a toxin. I'd better make sure to bring some extra paper.


Oh goodie - it just started to rain and thunder here. I guess the spidergod (Arachnae) is sparing me an embarrassing moment. Have to think of something else to do now. Maybe kayaking?

I had a very large bug that flew straight into my ear and into the ear canal. It was VERY painful. I now always wear a Pearl Izumi headband that covers my ears. I wear sunglasses for every ride. As for inhaling bugs, duck, breathe through your narrowly opened mouth.

You have to share the road with them. The LAB (League of American Bugs) has a very active stance encouraging bugs to take the lane.

OK, this made me laugh.


Spiders/webs across the MUP are more common than flying bugs for me. Although I have had a few gnats/bugs heading for my lights.

As a followup - two hours after drinking coffee with a medium sized spider in there - no runs, no nothing. In fact, I feel better than ever. Spiderman effect. I think there may be a natural market for this. No EPO, just spider venom.

There seems nothing much to do except hope for the best, being on guard all the time gets old, and sometimes its just to hot to have anything over your face.
In big skeeter country I have used a full head net, it sucked but kept me from both inhaling them or getting to many bites.

I had a red wasp fly into my mouth at moderate speed once. Three stings on the tongue and cheek before I could spit it out. Pretty remarkable that I did not crash, but I walked home cause it was hard to breathe with all the swelling of the throat.

The other night as I was riding home a lightning bug went down my gullet. I have read that they are toxic, but feel no real ill effects.

And once, on tour, my face was sunburned, wind burned, and was partially blasted free of the outer skin from a hail storm I was caught in, so I smeared Vaseline all over for protection and in the hopes of healing. Forgot about it until I walked into a Radisson hotel(wanted a nicer rest day than a crappy motel) and the desk clerk was freaking out, not only from the frankenstien like damage to the skin, but the uniform layer of bugs stuck all over.

I've seen this "EPO" a few times in the forum now. As a plastics manufacturer of Expanded PolyOlefin molded foam beads, I have to ask what EPO is to bicyles? Unless it is "Styrofoam" the foam that is in your bicycle helmet is EPO, but I don't think that is what is always mentioned here.

The spider webs for me on the trail is more of a mild annoyance though because it isn't full blown spider webs with spiders, but just a thread stretched across while the spider is long gone (I REALLY hate spiders, so much that my girls kill them in the house more than I do, LOL.) The only problem I have with the spider threads across the trail is that they seem to always be right at eye level.

I'm another allergy sufferer. I would die if I had to breathe through my nose while on the bike.

Thank God I've never ridden through anything like I drove through in the car a week ago. I don't know what they were, but the swarm was like hail hitting my windshield. I could barely see after that barrage of bugs from all the guts on the glass. I still have my old full face helmet from the motorcycle, maybe I should start wearing it when biking, LOL.

Banned performance-enhancing substance used for blood doping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin

Again, a simple google search leads to: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1471562-lance-armstrong-confesses-to-peds-what-is-erythropoietin-epo-blood-doping

And I used to pass by Mr. Roger's home on Nantucket whenever I visited the island. He didn't make polyolefin beads.