Sixty Fiver

Worst thing you can run into here is a giant (predaceous) diving beetle... some folks confuse them with June bugs but these things can get bigger than two inches long and pack a nasty bite if you provoke them.



Having one of these smash into your car windshield is quite the experience and it makes quite the SPLAT.

Sixty Fiver

I think I just posted your monster beetle... they are drawn to lights during mating season so your porch and street lights attract them.

Sixty Fiver

Worst bug incident was on a nice summer day when I was riding the other bike... my Honda 750 Supersport.

Had a small windscreen and a full face helmet and flicked my visor open to get some fresh air at what was 80 mph and caught a wasp right below the eye... I nearly wrecked the bike and had to pull over.

When I took off my helmet the dismembered wasp was still wriggling in my helmet and the next day I looked like someone had hit me in the face with a bat and was too swollen up and bruised to put my helmet on.

bikegeek57

A friend of mine had this happen on a motorcycle and nearly died on his way to nearest police station back in my high school days. More recently a close friend and colleague at work got stung and didn't make it. She was at home but apparently could not find her epi-pen and no one was there to help her. Very sad. Be careful out there if you are even slightly sensitive.

miss kenton

Bingo! Can you imagine the welt left after being hit in the forehead with one of those while riding? It was like having an ottoman thrown at me!

nhorton

I see this blog is older, but wanted to share an experience I recently had. I was riding a group ride with a friend and a june bug literally flew into his ear. By the time we got off bike we tried everything to get it out, it was literally digging deeper into his ear. He was trying everything (standing upside down, laying on side and so on) if it didn't look so painful I would have laughed. He literally was on way to hospital in extreme pain when I asked to take a look at it. I grabbed my bike light and began to inspect his ear. By complete accident the bug instantly came crawling out to the light.

Anyway -- Reason for posting; After coming home and doing some research we quickly found that in fact: If a bug digs deep into your ear make it as dark as you can around the ear and shine a light down it and the bug most times will come crawling out.

NukeouT

I hit a fly with my eye coming down Skyline in the Bay Area. The one micro-second I saw it with its wings open, it looked pretty big. I was able to just shut my eye and pull off at a turn-off to wait untull my eye came back to almost normal. Then I continued the ride.

akohekohe

The cockroaches are really big here in the tropics and they fly ... need I say more.

khutch

So far only smallish bugs. My scariest encounter was also a ride through a swarm of bees. I saw the swarm ahead but did not stop because swarms of harmless, if annoying, bugs are common in the summer. I did not realize that it was bees until I was right in the middle of it. People swear that swarming bees are fairly docile but it is hard to keep focused on that thought when you are surrounded by thousands of bees!

Ken

P51

Cicada

xizangstan

I know the guys who do the Orkin TV commercials. You've seen them... The cockroaches, the termites, and most recently the mice. They come to the door, or they take over the house while everyone's away. Then, they're riding in cars down the street in the closing scene. Maybe I should suggest they film some big pests riding their road bikes down the street?

shelbyfv

Here in TN we have just experienced the 13 year cicadas. They are large enough to hurt and often you may be hit by more than one at a time. Since they have a 13 year cycle, I'm not likely to encounter them again on a bike

kenji666

I find that the more I ride, the less I care about how many bugs I swallow. I think the protein is good for recovering after a hard ride.