The Perils of Cicadas

[spyderCodes]

My friend mrfats and I had an absolutely wonderful ryde on Saturday.
We made a small inscribed circuit in Wonderful, Wild West Virginia.

mrfats seemed to have had the foresight and pull to arrange a low humidity and virtually traffic free day for us to explore our cornering limits and the limits of our rydes on the switchback roads of his home state.
Tail of the Dragon would be thought of as curvy road in W.Va, but nothing special.

Every bit of the ryde was amazing and enjoyable.
I even conned him into buying me lunch, and who said there is no such thing as?

mrfat's better half had informed me that my journey up north would have a lot of cicadas in the afternoon.
I listened but apparently had no ears.
It's the 17 or 16 year cycle of these creatures depending on what Cicada authority you listen to

When last they hit I was not in an open road vehicle.
When I made my trip south in the cool of the morning, hardly a mosquito squished against my windshield.

Wanting to get home, I travelled just fast enough to bend the speed laws of the great state of Pennsylvania.
I was beside an 18 wheeler
Suddenly, the truck slowed down and I noticed his windshield wipers were on.
Huh?
Then I started getting stinging, Nun ruler type blows on my hands, then (Thanks, Glo) my full face hemet began to get get pinged with what felt like bee-bee fire.

Lest you are eating, or about to eat I will save you the details.
Suffice to say I am still off my food.
and for me, that's .... uh huge -to coin a phrase.

I was hit with a swarm of cicadas.
Cicadas who had patiently waited for 17 years for their chance to engage in cicada whoppee.
And now, their hopes dashed, they are on my windshield, face shield, Pugsley my F3 and me.

I'll face the clean off sometime, but not today.

 

[Chupaca]

Yikes...!!

The little side trip sounds amazing and I'm glad you made it before the cicadas made thier appearance. Never faced them but have run across many an insect swarm along the roads less traveled. :yikes: and can relate...Well now you will have to deal with the buggy buggy....:banghead:

 

[murphybrown]

Roads of WV

First luved your narrative....yep and laughing at your expense on your 17 year encounter with the armored ones. Referenced the nun ruler and having attended Catholic school for a short period in my life and being of the non compliant behavour group I knew exactly of what your spoke.
More importantly...I 1000% agree that the backroads of WV are far superior to the Dragon...and that mrfats makes an excellent tour guide....
When I was experiencing the incredible countryside in early May...I was blessed with perfect weather, perfect hosts, wonderful addition of heated backrest...and no armored flying missiles...
Thanks for starting my morning with a great laugh (at your expense!!) Have an awesome weekend. :yes:

 

[oldgoat]

I no longer need to suffer the trials & tribulations of getting properly dressed & looking for somewhere new for a ride.

I will just sit under my awning & enjoy reading spyderCodes adventures :thumbup:

 

[Pampurrs]

I despise Cicadas!! I lived in Dallas, Texas during the 80s and 90s and had many occassions in which I ran into swarms of those things on the road. What a mess they make on the windshield and helmet visor, not to mention whacking you in the face.

Your story is funny, but not funny at the same time. :roflblack:

Thanks for making me smile

Pam

 

[lizmcg]

Love/hate relationship

I love the song of the regular cicadas we have here in VA. To me, it's one of THE sounds of summer. But the 17-year monster invasions are something else. We just had ours about 3 years ago, and they were literally everywhere. It's interesting for awhile, but it gets old fast. I don't want to imagine running into one or more of those without a windshield and face mask. Must be like a bullet!:yikes:

 

[spyderCodes]

I no longer need to suffer the trials & tribulations of getting properly dressed & looking for somewhere new for a ride.

I will just sit under my awning & enjoy reading spyderCodes adventures :thumbup:

Looking at your map, I'd say that I have nothing on you.

 

[mrfats]

Always fun with you Roger! Next up, the road that Karyl and I got "car sick" on!! It puts the word "twisty" to shame!

 

[Bob Denman]

"Bugs on The Highway", always brings me back to this:

 

[retread]

Just remember....none of the bugs you caught will ever have the guts to do it again!

j

 

[Bdomini]

What a mess

A very similar phenomenon occurs near lake St. Clair in Michigan. The offending insect there is fish flies. Millions upon millions of these creatures hatch to fulfill their destiny to breed then die. They do not cause pain like the cicada does but upon their death, the roads are coated in a layer of corpses that make stopping your vehicle an experience not soon forgotten. It is very similar to braking on wet leaves in Autumn. The layer of recently departed lovers on windshields and helmet visors also presents an adventure.

 

[bigbadbrucie]

Fish Flies and Cicadas

Fish flies I'm familiar with. They get into your mouth, your nose, and your eyes. You ant do anything but try (unsuccessfully) to keep them out. Cicadas I'm not familiar with. Are they similar in size and body armour to grasshoppers? I do know that those buggers can hurt when your travelling at road speeds.

 

[spyderCodes]

Fish flies I'm familiar with. They get into your mouth, your nose, and your eyes. You ant do anything but try (unsuccessfully) to keep them out. Cicadas I'm not familiar with. Are they similar in size and body armour to grasshoppers? I do know that those buggers can hurt when your travelling at road speeds.

Give me your address and I'll mail you a few.


Seriously, they are about an inch & a quarter long, big wings and seem abnormally heavy.
They have a tough exoskeleton made of something roughly equivalent to the chewy stuff you get in one of the Colonel's chicken dinner.

 

[ARtraveler]

Ouch!~ I know the feeling. Drove through a swarm of bees when doing the back country roads of NW Ohio in 1976.

Learned a couple lessons:

:ani29:: Keep the top button fastened on the jacket

:ani29:: Keep the helmet faceplate down.

Did not do the first and had many bees go down my shirt and received several stings. Lucky for me, I am not allergic--just susceptible to pain.

The whole experience felt like I was being machingunned.

 

[retread]

Two different incidents, years ago; A Junebug (I think) hit the back of my left hand, tore the skin and cut the vein on the back of my hand, I've worn gloves riding ever since.
Another time, a large beetle (Junebug?) hit me in the adam's apple at about 80 mph, got stopped and off the bike and laid flat till I could breathe again. Scarf, windshield, some kind of protection there ever since.

john

 

[loisk]

Sounds similar to a locust swarm... Not fun riding through, splats everywhere and it felt like big stones hitting me - lucky I had proper riding gear.

The worst part was the clean up, gouging body bits out of the radiators was aaargh yucky

 

[Bfromla]

My friend mrfats and I had an absolutely wonderful ryde on Saturday.
We made a small inscribed circuit in Wonderful, Wild West Virginia.

mrfats seemed to have had the foresight and pull to arrange a low humidity and virtually traffic free day for us to explore our cornering limits and the limits of our rydes on the switchback roads of his home state.
Tail of the Dragon would be thought of as curvy road in W.Va, but nothing special.

Every bit of the ryde was amazing and enjoyable.
I even conned him into buying me lunch, and who said there is no such thing as?

mrfat's better half had informed me that my journey up north would have a lot of cicadas in the afternoon.
I listened but apparently had no ears.
It's the 17 or 16 year cycle of these creatures depending on what Cicada authority you listen to

When last they hit I was not in an open road vehicle.
When I made my trip south in the cool of the morning, hardly a mosquito squished against my windshield.

Wanting to get home, I travelled just fast enough to bend the speed laws of the great state of Pennsylvania.
I was beside an 18 wheeler
Suddenly, the truck slowed down and I noticed his windshield wipers were on.
Huh?
Then I started getting stinging, Nun ruler type blows on my hands, then (Thanks, Glo) my full face hemet began to get get pinged with what felt like bee-bee fire.

Lest you are eating, or about to eat I will save you the details.
Suffice to say I am still off my food.
and for me, that's .... uh huge -to coin a phrase.

I was hit with a swarm of cicadas.
Cicadas who had patiently waited for 17 years for their chance to engage in cicada whoppee.
And now, their hopes dashed, they are on my windshield, face shield, Pugsley my F3 and me.

I'll face the clean off sometime, but not today.

Ya Ive always been told they stay in ground for 13yr the cone up to molt & breed leaving these lil creepy shells every where

fyi one didnt quite get done

beware if riding thru a swarm wasnt bad enough there was probably a cicada killer there some where fyi its a wasp (size of your thumb) big enough to hunt & tote a dead one back to nest!

. Can only imagine the pain a sting from that size [emoji51]️️️[emoji107]


I wasn't there but I still care! POW /MIA VETS