scroca

These little things are a giant nuisance. I ride along a creek on the way home and lately, with the temperature around 80f, there are places where the gnats swarm so bad all I can do is look down so the brim of my hat shields my eyes and make sure my mouth is closed. I literally get covered in them.

Of course I don't always remember to keep my mouth shut and the last 2 days I've caught one of those little @%$#% in the back of my throat.

I don't remember them ever being this bad.

dcrowell

I don't mind the gnats unless I'm going somewhere and gross other people out by being covered in bugs. It's the big bugs that bother me.

Either way, the cooler weather is coming which will cut down on the bugs.

hyegeek

Worse than the swarms of gnats around here is the time I got a wasp IN my mouth. Getting stung on the tongue really hurts.

Chris_in_Miami

They seem to hatch a few days after it rains, then they swarm for a few days. I got one in my ear once and the buzzing nearly drove me insane. I was tempted to pedal in front of a truck to make it stop.

I despise gnats more than any other bugs I encounter: as a dog owner, I know where they've been.

trevor_ash

This thread makes me chuckle. I came home this last weekend after a 60 mile ride and had black speckles (gnats) all over me. For some reason I had no real urge to eat any energy snacks on the latter half of the trip. I wonder why?

enigmaT120

I like them better than hornets.

Trevor makes me think we need to figure up a type of filter feeding system like baleen that will allow us to eat gnats and breath without choking.

BridgeNotTunnel

Around here we call them tourists.

Kidding aside, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that, sounds gross and annoying to say the least.

Bud Bent

When I lived in southeast Arlington and rode the Joe Pool dam road often, gnats were a big problem. On a recumbent, where you can't hold your head down, they bug you (pun intended) even more than on an upright bike.

But they are never a problem on my commuting bike, a Stratus XP. It has the ultimate anti-gnat device: a fairing.

matimeo

That's one of the reasons why I wear glasses when I ride. During the months when the gnats are active it keeps them out of my eyes and I'm ok as long as I keep my mouth closed.

bhop

I can relate. I went for a pleasure ride around the silverlake reservoir (tiny 'lake', with a bike path around it) a couple months ago just after dusk and the gnats were so bad I had to look down at my front tire, while squinting my eyes and they still got in my eyes. When I got home I had at least 10-20+ gnat carcasses on my shirt/helmet/face, etc..it was not fun

204stroke

Agreed, being able to see is a definite plus.

rex_kramer

ah!

K'Tesh

I'm just relieved that I had a car back when I lived in Klamath Falls. There's a green midge that swarms in afternoons of summer.



I've heard that they are slightly acidic, and can severely mess up your paint job if you drive through them and don't clean them off quickly. When they swarm, you can't have enough washer fluid to keep your windshield clear. You quickly learn to keep your windows up, and slow down as seeing through the green smear that is your windshield is nearly impossible.

This photo isn't from me, but it shows the front of a car that probably drove around the lake.


And another from a fellow cyclist on flickr...


Klamath Lake Midges by ex_magician, on Flickr

drummergeek

+1 on the glasses.
I Wear clear safety glasses in the morning, and tinted safety glasses in the afternoon. Only $5 or so each from Home Depot.

That is a side benefit though. I started wearing them at first a few years ago when I was worried that a car or truck might throw up a rock and hit me in the face...never happened.

Helps keep my eyes from drying out too.

I'm a geek.

Bud Bent

I'm the old f*rt version of a geek, then. I wear clear safety glasses with bifocal reading glass lenses on my ride to work in the dark, then the tinted version of the same thing on the ride home.

bubbajoe72

My commute in the morning is on a trail along a creek as well and in the warmer months, I have to wear a buff to cover my mouth. I breath a lot through my mouth when cycling so there's no avoiding swallowing a few if I don't wear one.

scroca

I've got to get glasses. My sun glasses broke recently (lenses keep popping out) and I haven't replaced them.

scroca

What's with these things dying on ya? They hit something soft, like a fold in your shirt and they die? I've noticed the same thing running, and I can assure you I don't run fast enough to kill anything on impact.

Or are they floating around on the wind, already dead?

Decatur_Tide

I'm in Alabama, and I've been eating more than my share for the past 2 weeks.

jr59

Same here in Louisiana.

Decatur_Tide

Gonna be a huge football game November 5th.

enigmaT120

The ones I hit when I'm running probably drown in my sweat. But I like to think I go fast enough for the impact to do them in.