Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Curval on June 09, 2003, 12:25:18 PM
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Firday night I'm driving my little scooter home with my son on the bike in front of me. We reach a strech of road that is very curvy, with no-where to pull over...then it happens.
"Thwack"
An acid fly hits me in the eye.
If you haven't had the pleasure of this happen to you you are fortunate. These flies are tiny, but have a sac of acid they use for defensive purposes on their body. When they hit your eye the natural reaction is for a person to rub their eye and try to remove the thing..which causes the sac to rupture.
The acid is agonising. Then the tears start and are so bad the eye in question is completely useless.
I had to ride for about a quarter mile struggling to see the road and dealing with something akin to having a red hot poker jabbed in one's eye.
When I finally pulled over I couldn't see the fly in my eye in the mirror of the bike. It had gone inside the eye socket and was stuck to the underside of my eyeball....spilling its load of acid.
After about fifteen minutes so much water had run out of my eye it effectively "washed" the damn fly to where I could see it and get it out. I looked like some sort of freak with one eye totally swollen and bloodshot and the other fine.
We have quite a few accidents caused by these things here. People on bikes have been known to stop holding their handle-bars and to grab at their eyes after being hit in the eye while riding along.
The moral of the story is obviously "sunglasses", or a visor. But, Murphy's law applied to me on Friday. The shades were left at the office and my visor was up at the time.
Anyone else have these things where they live?
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Here in Texas we have what's called "June Bugs". Nasty buggers they are. About the size of a grape and frucking hard also.
Friend of mine used to have a Harley. He was driving down the road when *BAM*, June bug hits him in the forehead right between the eyes almost. Knocked him almost to the point of senseless that he had to pull over on the side of the road for five minutes to recover.
Not sure why they are called june bugs because they don't just come at during the month of June. Maybe someone else can come up with more information on them.
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I used to ride a lot when I was younger. Don't recall anything like what you described. We do have a lot of "June bugs" here in Texas. They are pretty big and when one of those hits you in the face at 70 miles an hour you feel like you've been shot.
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hehe Drunky, you type faster than me.
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I get hit by all kinds of things including big bumble-bees, flying roaches, rain, etc etc. The speeds are somewhat different though. Here the bug hits you at about 25mph (at the most)...not 70mph. :eek:
If one of our roaches hit you at that speed it would knock you clean off the bike.:)
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Bugs are bad - birds are worse.. Was riding with a friend a dark night a few years ago when i suddenly his bike goes sideways out into the ditch... When i stop beside him, he's picking something that looks gooey from his jacket. Suddenly we both notice feathers sticking out of his handbrake... Turns out a seagull was splattered against the brake cylinder, when i turned on my flashlight we saw bird intestines and feathers all over his jacket. Imagine getting it in the face @ 60 mph. :O
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*Pictures Curval with big ole swollen eye and sunburn*
:D
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When I first got my motorcycle I took it for a ride in the mountains and promptly nailed a grouse at 60mph.
Luckily the thing hit the instrument cluster and not my chest or I would have been on my arse with a dead grouse flapping around on me.
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I think what you guys are calling June Bugs are known as Cicadas.
http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/july/papr/du_cicada.html
-SW
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Ahhh June Bugs, I remember catching them, tying yarn or thread to their legs and "flying" them. Hours of entertainment.:cool:
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No, they're not SW, I'll find a pic and post.
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Here's a link:
http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/fieldguide/bimg139.html
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Ah, I thought Cicadas were June Bugs because thats what they call 'em around the North Eastern US.
The June Bugs you guys have are around here too, but they aren't out in droves like I imagine they are in the South.
Had one of those things fly through my open window one night and kamikazee into my computer's CPU fan, every blade was ripped clean off and the fan motor actually started smoking.
I'd hate to have one hit me in the head at 30+MPH. ;)
-SW
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We had the Japanese Beetle's in Idaho, but we still called them June bugs. They were notorious for flying until they hit something. You'd be out on the flightline and one would just slam into either you or the aircraft. I had one hit my helmet once while riding and it still threw my head back a bit. I can't even imagine hitting one without a helmet.
MiniD
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Bah... In Sweden we have 900 pound Moose lurking along the roadsides...you definitively do NOT want to get one of those in your eye while riding a bike (or a car).
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My dog loves June Bugs, eats em like M+Ms.
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Originally posted by Hortlund
Bah... In Sweden we have 900 pound Moose lurking along the roadsides...you definitively do NOT want to get one of those in your eye while riding a bike (or a car).
We have mosquitos that big in Texas. ;)
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If I see flies when I'm under acid does it count too ?
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I have been hit by all kinds of bugs and yes them june bugs are hard! On the way home from my 2nd Laughlin run we ran into a swarm of butter flys. Lucky me I had my full face simpson on. The rest of the people on the road where not so lucky. You should have seen the unhappy faces at the next gas stop. It was not a pretty sight. I still have bug stains on the jacket I was wearing.
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I used to own a Hondda v45 Magna (750 - shaft drive). I loved to ride it in the country and decided one year to do a little road trip. The weather was great the whole time and one particularly nice day I'm cruising down a tree lined road when...I pass this giant damn hog farm. The smell almost choked out the carbs. This thing was huge and fronted for what seemed like miles along this county road. As the stench bored through my skull it occured to me that "smell" is actually caused by minute particles of whatever you are sensing. The next thought was, "oh...and my body is being bombarded by 80 mph micro pig poop particles...". I closed my visor.
...and that's why I am pursuing a career in banking.
:(
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Originally posted by AKIron
We have mosquitos that big in Texas. ;)
heh...do they have hornes?
(trust me, the moose are vile fearsome creatures)
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Originally posted by Hortlund
(trust me, the moose are vile fearsome creatures)
yes, we know. The credits in Monty Python and The Holy Grail taught us about the moose. ;)
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Including the majestic møøse
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
Nordfink".
We apologise for the fault in the
subtitles. Those responsible have been
sacked.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...
We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those
responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked
have been sacked.
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Originally posted by Hortlund
Bah... In Sweden we have 900 pound Moose lurking along the roadsides...you definitively do NOT want to get one of those in your eye while riding a bike (or a car).
Back on my cross country tour in 1990, I almost ran into a moose and a buffalo on the same DAY !!! The Buaffalo knew who had the right away lol.
Krushed
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Eeek, June bugs....nasty...
I had a small bird implode on my first two knuckles while on the highway. I think it was my Yamaha FZR...but he mashed into the brake lever, then into my hand, thrashed into my should, then up and away onto the pavement. Man, that hurt!
This time of year, the Maine black flies are out in force. Generally, before we take the Cessna's up, we take furniture polish to the leading edge of the wing so when we land, its easier to wipe all those nasty things off.
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Reading all these just reminded me of what happened to a buddy of mine on an enduro years ago. We was running along and he got too close to a salamanderly pair cactus and a big chunk stuck to his hand. OUCH we all stop and try to help him. Another bud gets 2 sticks and prys it off his hand it flys off and hits our 4th on the leg. He prys it off of him and it ends up stuck to my belly. Once the 3 of us finally get all the stickers off us we spent the rest of the race chasing down the fool with the sticks.
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Acid Flies, Sunburn scald!
What next? Swarms of locust and the apocalypse!
I'd consider staying in bed for a year or two if I was you.
j/k :D
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Originally posted by GScholz
LOL Hortlund :D (http://www.vegvesen.no/vegskilt/fareskilt/gif/fs146_01.gif)
ROFL GS!:D
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Originally posted by icemaw
Reading all these just reminded me of what happened to a buddy of mine on an enduro years ago. We was running along and he got too close to a salamanderly pair cactus and a big chunk stuck to his hand. OUCH we all stop and try to help him. Another bud gets 2 sticks and prys it off his hand it flys off and hits our 4th on the leg. He prys it off of him and it ends up stuck to my belly. Once the 3 of us finally get all the stickers off us we spent the rest of the race chasing down the fool with the sticks.
That one kinda reminds me of why I quit racing off road bikes. I was in a National Qualifier Harescramble at a race area not far from here. I was separated about 100 yards from the lead group with less than 5 laps to go on my XR250 and the 2nd carb had just kicked in pushing me well past 75mph down the side of the pasture. When I see the trail judge on his 4 wheeler pull out about 10 feet in front of me.
I hit him on his left side and broke every bone in his left leg; his pelvis; shoulder and 3 bones in his left arm. All I had was a concussion and a nasty cut on my right knee where my handle bars bent together and broke then sliced through my pants and knee protector. The judge nearly died before they could get the helo in from Birmingham to fly him out and my bike was a complete loss.
Moral of that story you can hit people on bikes also and they leave a really big mess.
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Originally posted by Syzygyone
Acid Flies, Sunburn scald!
What next? Swarms of locust and the apocalypse!
I'd consider staying in bed for a year or two if I was you.
j/k :D
They say things come in threes...I'm being cautious.
;)
Well, now that I think about it, the third thing may well be my wife going through the old morning sickness and "boo-hoo..I'm tired" routine at present. But that is sort of on-going thing so I'm not sure it counts.
Caution returns.
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June bugs are cool. When I was a kid we caught a toad once and started feeding him June bugs. Little bastard ate like 24 of them. He was so swollen that he couldnt move, but he just wouldnt stop eating them.
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I learned to keep my visor down early. One day I was hit on the visor by a stone and five seconds later by a bug at about 85 miles an hour. I hate to think what would have happened if I had the visor up. Bugs I found disintegrated above 85 below that they bounced off. That might be a useful yardstick for the cops amongst you out there catching speeders :cool:
Once though a wasp hit my neck and stung me while I was riding my motorcycle at speed. I thought I was shot or something.
We're lucky in this country not to have too many stinging creatures or snakes. We do have horseflies though. One got me while I was on border patrol with my army unit once. Gawd the pain!!!!!
The biggest bug I ever saw was in Tennessee, it crashed into the door of the Federal building I was standing in out of the heat. It flew and was about 2 to 3 inches long by one inch wide. Any of you southerners out have any idea what it was?
Imagine what it would do to any biker who hit it at speed.
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Once hit a what-do-you-call-them in english. Bambi. Small deer ?
Punched out the right lights on my old BMW. I wouldn`t wanna have hit it on a motorcycle !
I found blood on the car, but couldn`t find bambi to put in my trunk and grill the next day. And the lights cost me like 100$ !
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No bugs here hardly to speak of..a couple mosquito's if you go deep enough into the woods and inevitable pesky gnats in the cool evenings.... Some Skeeter Eaters(Crane Flies)...
Needless to say, I don't miss Minnesota at all :) Relatives, when they visit, are always amazed at the lack of bugs.
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When I finally pulled over I couldn't see the fly in my eye in the mirror of the bike. It had gone inside the eye socket and was stuck to the underside of my eyeball....spilling its load of acid.
gawd that's nasty!
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I was barreling down a dark highway on a bike when I was about 16. Came up on what I was sure was a freshly hit cow spread all over the road. Too late and too fast to maneuver around it. I braced for impact and was greatly relieved to find it was just pink fiberglass insulation.
Never wore face protection other than sunglasses during the day 'til years later. Wouldn't have worn a helmet if it hadn't been required by law. Wouldn't be here today if I hadn't.
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have done the bumble bee thing at about 80mph.. felt like a friggin cigarette butt on my neck..
never heard of acid-flies though...thank god
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Including the majestic møøse
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
Nordfink".
We apologise for the fault in the
subtitles. Those responsible have been
sacked.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...
We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those
responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked
have been sacked.
Ahh Python subtitles :P
Ive hit raindrops that were huge.Being the first few to drop they were larger.had to pull over a few times due to it but as far as bugs go,Ive been lucky.Had a chunk of something fly off a car in front of me once that crascked my visor.I wont ride without a windshield on the tourer anymore.Screw that noise.