Last week I was staying with relatives in Spring Hill FL, and since they live only 1.5 miles from the Suncoast Trail I was desperate to ride. They graciously lent me a bike so I could check out the trail and get some riding time. The bike was a barely ridden BSO, but I was glad to have anything. After riding about 25 miles upon parking the bike back in the garage I finally got a look at the NDS and came to notice I had a passenger! Or perhaps I should say multiple passengers given the egg sacks around the hub.





While I would have preferred relocation the owners of the bike (and the garage it was parked in) didn't want to risk the Black Widow biting one of their kids so it was subsequently destroyed.

Anybody else have unwelcome passengers along for a ride?

Suncoast Trail:

Hmmm. Spider and bike in matching colors? Cool!


-Kedosto

You might be taking that color matching a bit too far...

A warning of the pictures wouldve been nice...lol

Iv had a few since my bike lives in my basement. Or i usually catch a few hopping on for a ride in the minutes my bike is parked while im out. I even found one in the old brake lever i took off my road bike. Not sure if it was alive...probably safe to say it wasnt after id thrown the lever lol I try not to think of any of it, and try not to look...lol

Glad you werent bit though! My friend was bit by one of those years ago. It was in her shoe.

We had these all over when I was a kid in Phoenix. They never really caused us any trouble but we always did them in, safety first I guess.

A nurse once jumped onto my handlebars. I pegged her as a black widow type immediately and slammed on the brakes. She soon married another fellow. No idea whether he survived.

Glad you got to ride. Once the temperatures cool off in the early fall, I'm thinking of heading over there. Have ridden the Suncoast in a few years. There are some nice climbs (for flat Florida) from the Brooksville trailhead and heading north.

Pfft. I had a woman wearing a Merry Widow jump on my rear rack. I beat a path to the nearest no-tell motel. Yadda Yadda Yadda she was gone when I woke up the next morning.

I had a dragon fly land on my top bar of my bike while I was riding. He stayed for about 5 minutes and then flew off at the next stop light. Damn hitchhiker.

There are plenty of spiders. No need to protect them. Besides, "Heaven" is "relocation"!

(Do spiders go to Heaven?)

Are those grip shifters???

But yeah, I generally agree with you, and keep spiders around and alive. It is not a trait of mine that my fiancee enjoys.

wonder what the spider was thinking while spinning around like that for 25 miles ... lol they are truly amazing creatures

They are! I believe this is the bike I was riding: 22.5" GMC Denali 700c Men's Road Bike, Black/Orange - Walmart.com

It was *way* too small for me, I raised the saddle even higher than in that pic. I couldn't even use the drops and you had to be on top to grip-shift anyway.

When I moved the bike it tucked into the inside of the LH dropout so I'm assuming that's where it stayed when I rode. After discovering it I knocked it off the bike and it immediately climbed back on the tire and into the nest area by the hub. It seemed very protective about the nest. Another one was found in the garage the next day, but not on the bike that time.

relocation?! kill that crap with fire, NOW!!

That's just another one of God's little creatures it has a purpose let it be,,

They're used to spinning.
:rimshot:






sorry I couldn't help myself

Ho hum. Pretty common in the Southwest in garages and around the outside of the house. I killed two this week, one which had made a web on the lower rungs of a ladder in the front of the garage and another that I saw outside of the front door when I went to get the daily paper. They are easy to spot by the irregular web which usually picks up a bunch of junk blowing in the wind. An easy way to dispatch them is to go out at night with a flashlight and a spray bottle filled with diluted detergent. Wet them with a squirt or two and they are dead. Messes up their respiratory system and they suffocate. I only really worry when they are in a place where I might put my hand or bump into them.

Surprised they found it cheaper to use them instead of stem mount friction sifters.

I am so glad I live where things with the capability of killing me don't live in my house.

Texas trike rider rode 30 miles with a dead baby possum trapped in between the layers of the mesh seat.

I grew up in S. FLA and never knew we had those.

Scorpions yes, but not black widows...

Another good reason to stay in New Jersey.

Have never seen a black widow in person and let's keep it that way!

Black and Brown Widow spiders and scorpions after our house was built with the spiders still around 30 years later. SW FL suits them fine.

Had a Yellow Jacket, Yellow Jacket Exterminator - Milwaukee, WI , enter one of my helmet cooling openings on Saturday. Still have swollen area on the side of my head where he said HELLO!!!!

I had a wasp resting under my saddle a couple weeks ago...... it found me with a sting to the crotch. I'm still walking kinda funny

I've not come across and black widow spiders but did meet a fearsome cougar once.