| Author | Message | ||
     Fltwistygirl |
Fortunately it seems the weather is warming up and people are out riding. We’ve had some really fun classes lately with willing learners and have had some interesting topics pop up over our breaks. One recurring theme has been insects, the wide variety we encounter in different parts of the country, our experiences with them on motorcycles and how those experiences have shaped what we do to prepare for and deal with them. Have any of you had really strange insect experiences while riding? I’d like to share one that created quite a pucker moment for me. It happened last summer on a commute between the Iron Range and the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The scene: I was traveling on the interstate in a construction zone on my XT. It was a sunny 80-ish warm summer day nearing the end of the work week about 11:00 a.m. and I had my air vent open on the chin area of my full faced helmet Traffic was heavy, a 4 lane highway was whittled down to 2 lanes, one in each direction. The road was mostly clear with spots of sand amid uneven surfaces. At points, traffic was stop and go. Realizing it would take longer to stop than a typical vehicle, I kept a close eye on my mirrors for the location of the fully loaded logging truck that kept creeping up on me. I also increased my space cushion between myself and the car I was following. My mother and step dad were a few cars back with my son. I had every reason to be cautious especially since my sister had made the comment earlier that week that watching me flow with traffic on the interstate made her want to puke. Motorcycling, particularly on the interstate in traffic is not for the faint-hearted. I kept scanning to make sure I had an exit chute if need be. The incident: A few miles into the construction zone, the perfect storm occurred. A big fuzzy bumblebee flew right into my helmet’s airvent and started bouncing against my faceshield. I don’t know who was more freaked, him or me. At first I thought (hoped) it was outside my shield and thwacked my gloved left hand on the outside of the shield. Nope. Inside. Heart proceeds to shoot up into throat, and I kept telling myself, stay cool, stay calm, you can get thru this. Found a place off the side of the road to pull off at the bottom of a hill where there was a bridge over a creek and thank God, it was solid ground not soft sand. Lifted my faceshield, and away he flew. Deep breaths, checked mirrors, did headcheck for traffic, back on the road. As a bonus, my mom did not see any of this. This is good as she worries. The aftermath: 25 minutes later, we had a stop at the unofficial north to south midway stop point of Hinckley. I came clean with them about my experience. My step-dad asked how I kept my cool. I told him it was probably all my training, but also every time I mount my bike I remind myself that my number one job is to stay out of harms way. It may have had a different outcome had it stung me right in the eyeball. For the record, even though I’ve got a better chance of winning the lotto than having this happen again, the bee sized vent helmet has become a winter only helmet for me. Ride safe. BeLinda. | ||
| Itileman |
Bees can get in through your mesh jacket and crawl under your arms and up your back or wherever else they want. It was nice to stop along side the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River last year and strip off my jacket and shirt. I've also ridden through an afternoon hatch of caddis flies which is kind of like one giant Splat! Can't say I miss the Minnesota mosquitos - one of the reasons I moved out of there after 40+ years. | ||
| Paul56 |
Two unpleasant experiences for me. Summer time ride about 60 mph in a rural area- got smacked in the throat by a bee. It didn't kill him. He crawled around to the back of my neck and stung me there. Took about 2 seconds from impact to sting. Ouch. Another time, commuting home on a warm afternoon I had just turned into my housing tract, going about 20 mph, and had raised my shield for cooling. Saw a quick flash of yellow and felt the impact under my left eye. Was home about 60 seconds later and my eye was already swelling. It swelled nearly closed despite spending the rest of the evening on the couch with ice. I'm glad I make it a point to ALWAYS wear glasses when riding, just for the extra protection. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Yikes, Itileman, never thought about them getting in thru the holes in a mesh jacket but I guess that makes sense. Yeah, I wasn't crazy bout the skeeters in MN either. Evil, pure evil. I'm usually there just a few weeks each year, they are no better here in swamp central Florida. Got a blind skeeter (aka midge FL) story for a diff thread.  Paul 56-So, do you mean regular glasses or motorcycle style goggle-y glasses? I have prescription eye and sunglasses, but something tighter fitting may not be a bad idea, even under the helmet. | ||
| Royintulsa |
Black Blister Beetles, in Oklahoma during the summer I always ride with a kerchief around my neck if I am riding in farmland. Those suckers emit toxic juice that will kill a horse if ingested and blister your skin if they splat on your bare skin. Horrible, painful little monsters. I am not sure their range, but are common in alfalfa fields. | ||
| Toona |
Got stung on the chin from a yellow jacket... but the oddest was "catching" a dragon fly in the chin vent of my KBC helmet...."thwaackkk" | ||
| Paul56 |
At night I wear prescription glasses that don't provide complete goggle-y protection, but are better than nothing, and for daytime I have sunglasses that wrap around pretty well and offer good coverage against debris. I am really uncomfortable not using the extra coverage. Just a mental thing, don't need either pair to see well enough to ride. | ||
| Etennuly |
Back in the late 70's I was riding a Honda CB750. On a nice Northern Pa summers day, on my way to a family get together, I came upon a road construction area on a two lane road through a beautiful wooded area. I was the first one to stop for the flag man's traffic cycle on my side of the road. As I got down to about ten mph, I saw and felt a giant black wasp as it hit the right shoulder of my leather jacket. We only wore jeans back then. Being a young buck at the time the jeans were tight. I lost sight of the bee as it fell between my legs, but did not look up to continue my stop for the flag man, however I did stop successfully. The flag man noticed I was focused on looking down and approached me(narrow road, two steps max)as the bee came walking up over my man parts. It was clear the bee was stunned as it was moving so slowly, staggering around in little circles. It finally got up as far as my front pocket where I quickly swatted it away with my gloved hand. The flag man was watching it too, he was even holding traffic a little long for me to clear my problem. When the wasp was gone, he looked at me and said that he thought I was a lucky man to get away with that. I had to agree. Other than that, I have had the bumble bee down the front of the jacket to leave a four inch welt, the honey bee up the sleeve, and a few times an unknown assailant hit my collar and get my neck or down my back. Probably five or six stings in 36 years of riding, not too bad. | ||
| Pontlee77 |
I was riding back home after a log day of work on my scooter (50CC) with a full face helmet with no shield, i was wearing sun glasses but suddenly i saw that black spot heading to me, the bee entered the helmet under the sun glasses and stung me just beside the eye, i was so close home i decided to leave the the thorn there, but stupid idea as the poison still flows from the thorn, when i got home i had a bit of pain next day i was all the joke of who have you been boxing with? | ||
| Rwven |
I've been stung a few times while riding..it sucks... Last summer I got stung on the hand by a hitchhiking Yellowjacket while taking my helmet off after a ride. | ||
| Andymnelson |
last year at Homecoming. We booked late, so stayed off site. Saturday morning I rode over to Alpine Valley to return some borrowed riding gear to another Bueller. As I entered the grounds, I cracked my visor just 1 click for ventilation (maybe 1/4" gap). About 5 seconds later a bee flew in and implanted it's stinger right in the crease next to my nose! fortunately, I'm not allergic to bee stings. But yowzers, is that area ever tender! I rode it out down to the lodge, and used the mirror to squeeze out the stinger. I always ride with my visor shut now  | ||
| Billyo |
Last summer, my wife, my son, and I were out and we stopped for gas. For some reason the boys had a weird itch going on. Then it felt like it was moving around so I started squeezing and pinching through my riding pants and shorts (and looking really stupid) but it only got worse. I took off for the bathroom in a near panic and somehow a little hard-bodied bug had found his way there. I'm sure glad it wasn't a bee!! | ||
| Scooter808484 |
It's kind of weird, my last three motorcycle bee stings occurred 1) crossing the continental divide at Rogers Pass in Montana, 2) Riding across the Pumice Desert at Crater Lake Nat'l Park, and 3) crossing Lake Roosevelt in Washington. All fairly nice spots, but no where near home. Never thought about that until now. | ||
| Road_kill |
On hwy 285 from Fairplay to Denver; beautiful day riding my '85 Super Glide. Bee hit my right rear view mirror and landed in my lap. Both bee and rider were jumping around on the Harley at 60 mph. With its last bit of strength, the bee stung me just south of my manhood. OOOUCHH!!! I pulled over, engine off, kickstand down, very awkward dismount, scrambled a bit from the road, dropped chaps, jeans, briefs and CAREFULLY removed bee stinger from inner thigh. More OOOUCHH. I turned around and started to put on clothes and walk back to bike. At this point an old-school, US-made, land-yacht style station wagon came by full of family and kids - looked to be right out of Family Circus. I'll never forget the look on mom's face - pure terror! I got on the bike and road the most uncomfortable 15 miles of my life; all the while crying and laughing. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Back in the Corps I was riding down inside Camp Lejeune when a small bumblebee stung me in my bottom right eyelid. Those stings burn and keep on burning. Been stung quite a few times while riding. Bumblebees can nail you repeatedly but a honeybee leaves his guts with the stinger so to get stung by them is suicide for them. | ||
| Towpro |
25 years ago,cx650, with girlfriend (now wife) on back, 70mph on a highway north of gettysburg pa, I took a bird in the chest that knocked the wind out of me. It wad scary at the time. | ||
| Smokey3644 |
The bees are always fun, around here in the spring when the riding is just getting good they drop bee hives along side the road to pollinate the alfalfa fields. With no warning you come around a corner and there are thousands of bees hovering around the road. Getting stung is a given but the little buggers are full of wax and honey and it's a bitch to get it off your windshield and visor. Then there are the pheasants and turkeys. | ||
| Ourdee |
Yep, Joined the club. Dessert outside of Vegas. Caught one in the cheek at 45, stinger first. In England, I caught a big bird with a full face helmet. Neck was stiff the next day. Over there I nailed a chicken right between the forks at about 60. | ||
| Hooper |
Also sucky is when you hit a really juicy bug, leaving a splatter of guts on your face and dangerously close to inside your mouth. That's happened a couple of times.  | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
I still remember being stung on the tongue as a teenager on a dirtbike, swallowed that sucker whole as revenge (not really on purpose, just had to in order to breathe). Was common to end up eating a variety of insects until I got the faceshield that attached to the goggles (think it was Scotts back then, it hung from the goggles and made one look sort of Darth Vader-ish) Last year had the windscreen off the XT and 'buzzing' through the Addirondack forest in NY, when I ended up slathered in red and unable to see, even after wiping with the glove (all from some sort of large insect swarm). Actually looked like blood, thick gooey and bright red. I never remove the windsheild any more  | ||
| Chief_sitting_buell |
No insect stories but - while still riding on my permit I came across a momma turkey and 7 little ones crossing a 2 lane. I slowed down but then accelerated back up to speed as momma actually got to the shoulder of the road. Then numbers 5, 6 and 7 decided to go back. They turned and took flight just before I got there. I caught #7 in the left chest area at about 65 mph. My brother-in-law was behind me in a pick-up and said I didn't even appear to flinch but said the amount of feathers in the air was amazing. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
We're in mother nature's territory and are way more up close and personal on 2 wheels. Love that aspect of riding! During yet another class heard a story about a spider in the helmet, creeping across the faceshield, inside. It all ended well (for the m/c operator anyway, he found a place to safely pull over and pull off his helmet and smush the offending critter). The goggle-ly glasses under the helmet was definitely an implementable suggestion. Also, carrying benadryl and/or epi-pen is potentially lifesaving if you are allergic to insect bites/stings as long as you are aware of your side effects. I like carrying a bottle of water that has been in the freezer. Multi-purpose, just like my Uly! Any other tricks of the trade that have helped any of y'all avoid a recurrence of situations that have been mentioned above? | ||
| Ulynut |
Most notable was a ride through Pa. farmland in early spring. The mayflies were out early that year. They were so thick I had to stop every 3-4 miles to clean off the visor. Try riding unfamiliar rural Pa. roads blind. There were so many bugs on my clothes and bike you could actually SMELL them. By the way, they don't smell good. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Ewww, Ulynut, mayflies are gross. Never thought about riding thru them but we'd get 'em plenty thick in Northern MN as well. They used to flutter, die, then float in the lake in MN. If you'd swim, sometimes you'd get their carcasses on you when you were getting out of the water. |
