Ever do a swarm of bees at 80 mph?

[tobyzusa]

Well. I did on Saturday, and it was rather spectacular. I was zipping down the freeway on the way home after a delightful ride with John (SilverEagle) when all of a sudden the sky darkened in front of me. I was trying to decide what the darkness was when it sounded and felt as though I’d been transported into paintball hell. Yes, the bees sounded like paintballs hitting my screen, fairing, face shield, upper arms, helmet and shoulders. We’re talking about literally hundreds of bee strikes here. The bike was coated in a yellow gooey gel.

 

I think it was a good thing that the speed was up, as even the ones that stuck my arms and shoulders were torn to pieces. No lives critters to deal with.

 

I hope it will bee a while before that happens again !

 

[russell_bynum]

Well. I did on Saturday, and it was rather spectacular. I was zipping down the freeway on the way home after a delightful ride with John (SilverEagle) when all of a sudden the sky darkened in front of me. I was trying to decide what the darkness was when it sounded and felt as though I’d been transported into paintball hell. Yes, the bees sounded like paintballs hitting my screen, fairing, face shield, upper arms, helmet and shoulders. We’re talking about literally hundreds of bee strikes here. The bike was coated in a yellow gooey gel.

 

I think it was a good thing that the speed was up, as even the ones that stuck my arms and shoulders were torn to pieces. No lives critters to deal with.

 

I hope it will bee a while before that happens again !

 

Yup.

 

I started wearing a full-face helmet after that.

[MotorinLA]

Well. I did on Saturday, and it was rather spectacular. I was zipping down the freeway on the way home after a delightful ride with John (SilverEagle) when all of a sudden the sky darkened in front of me. I was trying to decide what the darkness was when it sounded and felt as though I’d been transported into paintball hell. Yes, the bees sounded like paintballs hitting my screen, fairing, face shield, upper arms, helmet and shoulders. We’re talking about literally hundreds of bee strikes here. The bike was coated in a yellow gooey gel.

 

I think it was a good thing that the speed was up, as even the ones that stuck my arms and shoulders were torn to pieces. No lives critters to deal with.

 

I hope it will bee a while before that happens again !

 

That reminds me of a joke.

 

What's the last thing to go through a bee's mind when it hits your windscreen?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its @$$!

 

I know, pretty juvenile, but did it at least make you smile? :smile:

[Matts_12GS]

I went through a basketball sized cloud of yellow jackets once. I found about 20 of them stuck in the oil cooler of the GS. Made me glad for my gear!

[OoPEZoO]

My worst was an incredible amount of Monarch butterflies while traveling across Northern Nebraska.......not quite the same, I know

[tallman]

Not a swarm, but a flyby group.

Three hit me in the chest right where I had the

jacket open to on a very warm summer afternoon.

Ouch.

All three stung me right over my heart.

I was in upstate NY and in a very rural area, I pulled over and every vehicle that came by in the next 15 minutes stopped and asked if I needed help.

That was nice.

Eventually my chest stopped feeling like I had been shot

and I rode on.

Bee careful out there.

[RPG]

One yellow jacket caught behind the glasses of an open faced helmet will make you appreciate an RT and a full face Shoei.

 

RPG

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

In high school, my driver's ed instructor spoke of riding once with an open-face helmet. A bee hit him in the face and got wedged between the helmet and his cheek. He could see in the rear-view mirror that the bee's back end was out in the open, and the bee was trying to wiggle it around to where it could sting him. He moved over to the shoulder of the road and stopped the bike right quick, and managed to free the bee before it could sting him. Whew.

 

Another friend was riding - no gloves - when a wasp shot up his sleeve. It stung his arm several times before he could smash it with his other arm. He started wearing gloves after that.

[AZKomet]

Same thing happened to me in Costa Rica while riding. I saw it fly in and pulled over to try and get my helmet off. Too late.......ouch, right below the eye. I had my epi pen but didn't need it. My eye swelled up and that sucked.

 

On a diff note, the Mrs. called me last week and told me that a swarm of bees had taken ovet a light post outside of the Public Defender's Office. She said the swarm was enormous. And the bees were attacking people on the street. Fac Man was called and got there oh....about 2 hrs after they left!!!!!!!! LOL

[Marty Hill]

Got stung once while landing an open cockpit biplane on a grass strip west of miami. Arm looked like a balloon by the time I got home an hour later.

[Paul Mihalka]

We all have our stories. Mine: Old times, shorty helmets, goggles. Bee/wasp stung me on the upper lip. Barely made it home before my eyes got swollen shut.

[Haynes]

A bee hit me in the forehead when I was doing about 130km/hr. It was like being hit with a piece of steel.

I've hit a swarm of locusts during a plague in 2005. The whole frontal surface area of the bike and the helmet visor was a mass of yellow and brown.

[Skywagon]

Similar to Marty. I was flying from Travis AFB to El Centro NAS. We just cleared the mountains near Palmdale and as we started decending and temps increased, I opened the vents. Two yellow-jackets came out and started buzzing. I declared an emergency and landed at Palmdale. Stop the airplane on the runway and got out.

 

I am a complete coward relative to flying stinging things...

[cali_beemer]

Not quite as disturbing as bees, but one year riding down to the Laughlin River Run in Nevada the area had an outbreak of locusts. THere was one gas station that we pulled into and the whole parking lot was coated in them. You could hear and feel them as you ran over them and putting your feet down your foot would slip on their guts. There was one guy that dropped his bike from his foot slipping on them. It was pretty nasty. The front of the bike was coated in their bodies and needless to say I had the visor down on my full face.

[sgendler]

My worst was an incredible amount of Monarch butterflies while traveling across Northern Nebraska.......not quite the same, I know

 

I've hit the monarch migration in California, too. Rolling from Yosemite to Santa Barbara, I must have hit at least two butterflies per second for all but the last hour of the ride. Cleanup was absolutely disgusting. The entire front of my RT was wallpapered with monarch butterfly wings. The guts had acted as glue.

[RPG]

Or even more fun. You're riding your /5 on a hot summer morning with your Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket. The collar is open about an inch to let in the humid, early air and you feel something hit you in the neck.

 

Panic starts to settle in as you realize whatever it was just went down your shirt. A second later you're stopped at a light on a slight uphill and you can't free your hands because you have the clutch disengaged and the front brake 'engaged'. On a /5 you need all the brakes you can muster on any hill.

 

Seconds tick away like minutes and then you feel the first punch. Then a 2nd and then a 3rd. You pull away from the light pounding your chest with your free hand, looking like you're fighting an invisible opponent.

 

I finally get the opponent wrestled to the mat and deliver the knock-out punch. I get to work and look it up on the Net because this thing is huge, black and white with a short, stocky body. I find that it's a bald faced hornet and the welts on my chest are about the size of tennis balls, proving this is nobody to mess with.

 

Lesson learned, even on the hottest days, face shield is down, collar zipped up, gloves on.

 

RPG

[bayoubengal]

Skywagon

Marty

 

Once read where a C172 owner went airborne and then opened his little slider can vent and immediately had a 172 full of ticked-off wasps. Ouch. Bet it's on his pre-flight checklist now...

 

Skywagon you a Hawg driver?

[11101110]

Or even more fun. You're riding your /5 on a hot summer morning with your Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket. The collar is open about an inch to let in the humid, early air and you feel something hit you in the neck.

 

Panic starts to settle in as you realize whatever it was just went down your shirt. A second later you're stopped at a light on a slight uphill and you can't free your hands because you have the clutch disengaged and the front brake 'engaged'. On a /5 you need all the brakes you can muster on any hill.

 

Seconds tick away like minutes and then you feel the first punch. Then a 2nd and then a 3rd. You pull away from the light pounding your chest with your free hand, looking like you're fighting an invisible opponent.

 

I finally get the opponent wrestled to the mat and deliver the knock-out punch. I get to work and look it up on the Net because this thing is huge, black and white with a short, stocky body. I find that it's a bald faced hornet and the welts on my chest are about the size of tennis balls, proving this is nobody to mess with.

 

Lesson learned, even on the hottest days, face shield is down, collar zipped up, gloves on.

 

RPG

 

Very similar experience, I actually had one come right up my line of sight therefore I knew exactly what it was. It smacked into my visor and proceeded to fall into my open jacket and behind my shirt. I pulled into the nearest drive way off of a back country two lane road. Killed the engine with the kickstand and flew off the bike shedding my gear. The big yeller and black bug fell out of the bottom of my shirt when I pulled it out of my pants. luckily the impact with my visor killed the bugger saving me from a nasty bite/sting. I stepped on him just to make sure . I turned around to see a few volunteer firemen looking quite strangely at me as the drive way I had pulled into was a VFD on a Saturday afternoon. Not a bad place to pull into give the situation. Once I explained the reason for my mad dance they chuckled and no longer though me insane. They helped me right my bike as the slope of the drive and maybe my lack of stopping prior to dismount sent the bike over on its side.

[algover]

Bee careful out there! It seems to be a good year for the Africanized bees. I can't find the linky right now, but the authorities in Phoenix actually put out a warning about their swarms and attacks. They seem to be adapting to more varied climates than expected.

[ragtoplvr]

I am allergic to bees, thanks to the OP to remind me time to replace the Benadryal with fresh on the bike and in my jacket. No exposed skin!

 

Got stung once, between the fingers of throttle hand, by the time I got home, it was like trying to run the throttle with a tennis ball between your hand and the grip!

 

Had a friend that used to ride helmet and shirtless. He caught on on the chest, right below his nipple. By the time he was home he was a B cup on that side. Yes, the teasing was merciless.

 

His new leather jacket and FF helmet got regular use. Better lesson than road rash.

 

Ran into a swarm of cattle flies in Kansas, fly spatters on the visor with a good load of cow blood is nasty and hard to see thru.

 

Rod

 

[Nice n Easy Rider]

I am allergic to bees, thanks to the OP to remind me time to replace the Benadryal with fresh on the bike and in my jacket. No exposed skin!

 

Got stung once, between the fingers of throttle hand, by the time I got home, it was like trying to run the throttle with a tennis ball between your hand and the grip!

 

Had a friend that used to ride helmet and shirtless. He caught on on the chest, right below his nipple. By the time he was home he was a B cup on that side. Yes, the teasing was merciless.

 

His new leather jacket and FF helmet got regular use. Better lesson than road rash.

 

Ran into a swarm of cattle flies in Kansas, fly spatters on the visor with a good load of cow blood is nasty and hard to see thru.

 

Rod

Rod,

If you're allergic to bee stings I hope that you're carrying an Epi-Pen as well as Benadryl with you on the bike. Even if Benadryl has been sufficient for you in the past, allergic/anaphylactic reactions can dramatically increase in intensity from one exposure to the next.

[tallman]

Damn, I knew I shoulda left this thread alone.

Riding home today I got nailed in the left thigh.

Pain was very high as the booger got stuck in my leg when I swatted it.

Had to kill it and then flick it while riding 55 ish.

First time since the above incident where 3 got me 4 years ago.

 

Maybe someone should start a thread about winning the lottery.

I do know 2 folks who have won...

[Tim Wilson]

I learned from the pain of others many years ago.

A guy I rode with decided to go for a ride in the country sans helmet and caught a bee in the center of his forehead doing 80. It broke the skin and left bits of itself that had to be picked out of the wound. I always wore a full-face but his mishap just reinforced my reasoning for it.

[tallman]

Yeah, my leg still hurts.

Large 4" diameter circle w/a hole in the middle.

Still don't know if I caught hium from behind, ran into him coming the opposite direction, or he crossed from the side.

 

I'm looking for bee whistles.