Love Bugs Suck

[Nanci]

http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/lovebugs.htm

Apparently I've never ridden a road bike in Love Bug season before. I HATE Love Bugs!!! They are everywhere, floating through the air, getting stuck in my hair, helmet, under my gloves, in my sandals, sticking to my legs...

The best was the one I inhaled. First, it went down my trachea, and I coughed it up part way, then it squirmed around in my esophagus while I coughed frantically till I actually vomitted and got it out...All this while riding!

At home, when I take the tortoise babies out to graze, Love Bugs are everywhere. I can't leave the door open for a second, or they swarm into the house. My truck is covered with them.

Nanci

[alpinerabbit]

As I keep saying - high value added protein for the athlete.

[Nanci]

I was so afraid my whole lunch that I had just forced down was going to come back up...

[Lise]

That.

Is.

Gross.

I don't care how much protein you get. Last summer there was one weekend when tiny little gnats were everywhere. But I think they were small enough to swallow without having to puke. Ugh.

[Aggie_Ama]

UGH! Where I lived until last May had love bugs so bad. Two years ago it was so bad I had to invest in a squeegee and bucket just so I could see daily. I HATE LOVE BUGS!! The bad news is I am doing a ride in Love Bug country next weekend, I forgot about those punks!

[RoadRaven]

Ah...
So love bugs are real???

I thought they were a Mini (car) or the thing that gets you like Cupid does when you fall for someone!

Thanks for the link - I had no idea - learned my new thing for the day, I guess

[Selkie]

It's gnat season here. I hate riding through swams of them. This morning, I could hear them plinging against my jacket! The worst of all is when one gets in your eye--hurts like you-know-what. I wear glasses, too, but they still manage to make it past my lenses.
Then there are the black fleas who drown in the sweat/sunscreen mixture on your face when it's hot/humid weather. You come home to find all these dead black bugs stuck on your face.

[SnappyPix]

Never had an encounter with a love bug (of the insect variety), but the gross-est encounter I ever had was whilst taking part in a race.
I managed to inhale a fly through my nose! I like to think I have normal sized nostrils, but the canny little bugger managed to fly up my nose at the same time as I was snorting air in through it.
Not only did it catapult up my nose, but it reappeared at the back of my throat, whereupon I promptly hoiked it up and spat it out.
It wasn't gnat-sized either!
Horrible, horrible, horrible!

[withm]

LOL - I totally forgot about love bugs! They were a pain when I was in college in central Fla 30 years ago. Funny I did ride an old 3-speed bike back then, but not nearly the mileage I do now. Love bugs on a bike would be downright awful, not to mention dangerous!

[Melody]

Ah...
So love bugs are real???

Yup, they're real:

http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bu...uc/uc-009.html

Mel

[Aggie_Ama]

An article with photographs: http://www.theeagle.com/region/local...04lovebugs.php

[Nanci]

Oh, and here's the really cool thing about them- they come out twice a year!!

Nanci

[Lise]

Oh, and here's the really cool thing about them- they come out twice a year!!

Nanci

Do the hurricanes or state-wide brush fires get rid of them? Or do they just clear the breeding gounds for the next crop?

(ps, I think I finally spelled "hurricane" correctly. Do you know how hard it is not to spell it like "lidocaine"?!?)

[Nanci]

http://tinyurl.com/r8vr9

If you want to avoid them, all you have to do is go swimming!!

[bentforlife]

can literally eat the paint off your car. When you drive through those huge clouds of them, their little smashed up bodies are so acidic they will eat the paint off the car.

I hated thosse nasty bugs. And I think it could be dangerous biking through a cloud of them.

Glad we don't have them in N. TX.

Donna