Whats the biggest bug you have run into while riding?
 

Went to the foothills today and back. Lots of small swarms of bugs. However one hit my helmet that was quite a bit bigger with a loud hard thump. Was doing 24 mph when that happened. Just a bit later one hit my chest that was large and black. Could not indentify either one. I think the one that hit my chest cound have been a horse fly. On a previous ride was on top of Santa Fe Dam with i rode through a swarm of bees that felt like BBs bouncing off me, did not get stung. Since i keep my eyes on the rode i have very little time to react with flying insects. the hardest hits seem to be at an angle.

Bee went into unzipped jersey once, did not sting but I was trying like mad to get it out fast. I did too after stopping. That alone is a good reason for full zip jerseys, this one was not.

Once I got hit in the face by a Praying Mantis in flight. She hung onto my beard for a few seconds until I could pry her free. Shocked the daylights out of me. I guess she was really an insect, but I considered her a very large bug.

I've been hit by large bugs, but the "biggest" was a small bee the size of my little fingernail. It managed to sting me in the ear on the way by. I'm alergic. My eppi-pen was home in the fridge (stupid oversight) and I had to scramble to get out of the woods to a road where somebody might find the body. I was fortunate that it didn't take me down, but I was one scared puppy for a bit.

The "pen" is never at home any more.

Bee flew into my shorts. Stung me in the inner thigh. Could have been worse. I will never wear loose shorts on my recumbent again.

The biggest bug......a gnat I sucked into my lungs. That sucker was as big as a buick.

On a steep descent at around 35-40 mph I saw the bug just before it hit me in the cheekbone. I tried to duck but wasn't quick enough. It was as big as a grape and it felt like a light punch to the face.
Another time a bee hit the top frame of my glasses and broke apart. A piece of it went into my eye, thankfully not the stinger. This was after being stung twice earlier in the ride.
On a mountain bike ride 3 of us rode through a field that was filled with beehives. Dozens of bees bumped into us but none stung. I read they do this bumping thing to determine if you are a threat.

June bugs... God I hate 'em. They're flying beetles about the size of a thumbnail with a shell like a Sherman tank and the instincts of a Kamikaze. I had one nail me square in the forehead on a pretty fast descent once many years ago. About peeled me off the bike.

-Bert

Not a bug, but I'm not a biologist.

Hit a low flying pheasant with the left cylinder of a BMW motorcycle, touring in the forests of central France. Bike smelled like sunday lunch for the rest of the trip

On a 45mph descent, I heard/felt a "Crack!" against my sunglasses.
I thought it was a stone, but then noticed that the vision in my left eye had gone blurry.
At the bottom of the hill I took off the glasses and found clear bug guts splattered all over the left lens.
I can't say how big it was, (before impact).
I'm just glad I *never* ride w/o eye protection!

In no particular order;
bee(wasp) in shirt, didn't notice until I felt it crawling around, and thought it was an ich, it stung me.
Hit a fire fly, or it hit me in the glasses, at dusk, when it hit me it lit up, which being so close to my eye, blinded me in one eye.
Bees, and other flying bug bounce off my glasses on almost every spring, summer ride.
The one really memorable one, and don't ask how this happened, was the bumble bee that was walking on the INSIDE surface of my glasses.

June bug got me last June, square in the chest. Felt like a piece of good-sized gravel.

Couple years back, a yellow jacket flew through my helmet vent into my hair. I was able to stop, use the visor of my helmet to knock it off, and ride away before it got off the ground. Glad I didn't get a haircut the week before!

Except for one bumblebee that got into my shirt which I managed to remove before she could do me any harm, all my negative insect encounters that involve impacts have been tiny little gnats that squirm around once they get into an eye. They seem to come equipped with portable drills. I also had some biting flies encourage me to climb faster on Oakville grade in Napa one summer day.

A former colleague claimed to have been knocked unconscious by a collision with a bird-sized flying insect in Florida. I don't know if he was telling the truth, but considering the general state of bike-hate in FL, I wouldn't be surprised if the insects got into it too.:)

Pick one..
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/IMG_1339.jpg

OH MY, forgot about June bugs, hope i dont run into one while on the bike. Fortunately we don't have Lightning bugs, but we do have the California Great Flying Cockroach. I have learned to ride with my mouth closed, don't need any extra protein.

Not bug....bird! I had a sparrow fly right into my hair once. Scared the hell outta me and the bird. Left me with feathers in my hair.

Riding along a road near a lake in NJ, a friend said "Watch out for horseflies in this area." Just then, a really big horsefly hit me right between the eyes.

Reminds me of a joke. Some of you may know it. It starts, "What's the last thing that goes through a bug's mind when it hits your windshield?"

I don't know about the biggest, but the worst was when a bee flew into my mouth and stung me way back on the soft palete. It hurt like the dickens and I was afraid that my wind pipe would swell shut. Fortunately it didn't and I continued on my way.

I was flying down a long mountain road at 41 mph on a hot summer day.

I saw a big fat bumble bee (carpenter bee) just kind of hovering in the air down hill a bit. I figured he'd move by the time I got there. I figured wrong.

He hit me square in the chest with a big thump and bounced off to parts unknown. I almost lost control. I'm glad he wasn't hovering at the level of my throat or face.

Before I got my new road bike, I took my hybrid along the new Green Line here. I got hit with every kind of bug. Even a butterfly brushed my nose and left some of it's wing. I had to wipe it off as I could see it out of the corner of my eye.

Last year, while riding through the woods, I was hit in the forehead by a humungous black beetle. It nearly took me off my bike. Honestly, it was big enough to have been required to have a driver's license. I get them on my front door during the summer, and the first time one appears, I will take a picture of it, because no one wouldn't believe it without pix.

How do you tell a happy bicyclist?

By the bugs in his teeth.

Don't ask why I'm posting this. I don't want a subscription to this thread!

I have a bug story, but it's not about bikes...

I had a german shepherd who, one day, was intently watching a tree. At close range. Her nose was almost touching the tree. I looked out the kitchen window at her every 15 minutes or so, but she never moved. I went out to look, and saw she had her nose about an inch from a pair of mating june bugs.

So... I walked back in the house. I looked out the window a few more times during the next hour, and my dog never moved.

Finally, I called her into the house. She trotted over happily, paused, turned around, returned to the tree, ate the junebugs, and then came in the house.

In California, I hit a tarrantula - it didn't hit me. Big, really big spider.
In Nebraska this past fall, I got attacked by swarms of Lady Bugs. They bite like hell!
In Colorado - Swarms of little black gnats that I always manage to breathe into my lungs.