Bumblebee Buzz-kill

[BabyHawk250]

Anybody ever had it happen?

Just the other day I was returning home from another fun and sweaty ride in the humid weather we've been having lately.  My shirt underneath my jacket was soaked, and I'd just finished another mid afternoon mini-tour of the back roads in Northern Va.  It was late afternoon now and as I routinely entered my neighborhood, I flipped open my FFH visor to scratch my nose and catch some fresh air...

No sooner had I flipped open the visor, I felt what seemed to be a rather large insect bounce off my helmet.  No problem, I thought.  Not wanting to risk getting any more crap in my eyes, I quickly slammed my visor shut.  Immediately, the little 250's usual buzzing motor was replaced by the buzz of a different kind -- I was now face to face with a pretty pissed off bumblebee!  But a sudden, strange feeling took hold...

In my short time riding my bike, I have noticed that dealing with panic situations become much more systematically controlled than ever before as a "cager".  A while back, I remember reading in Proficient Motorcycling that on a motorcycle, one's senses are constantly on high alert; looking for the left hand turner, checking mirrors constantly and generally trying to be ever-conspicuous.  A general sense of ultra-defensiveness sets in when behind the handlebars, and I also believe it's made me a better car driver, too. 

...But back to the bee situation in my helmet!  To my own surprise, instead of frantically thumbing my visor back up so he could escape, I checked traffic, slowed safely, flipped the kill switch and finally let the bee out!  Maybe not such a big deal to most, but I think it highlights the general responsibility and overall maturity level motorcycling demands over driving a car!  That bee brought me back to the realities of riding: $h!t can happen extremely fast on a bike, and even mundane, routine little things can lead to real danger, real fast.  As riders, we do in emergencies what our muscle memory has been trained to do in the past.  I'm a real advocate of riding safely, so practicing emergency stops, evasive swerving maneuvers and low speed control techniques whenever (safely) possible is something that I'm constantly doing on my rides. 

I'm glad to have picked up a bike and decided to ride; it's quickly becoming my preferred mode of traveling just about anywhere.  I'm already planning on suiting up for the colder months ahead!

Ride safe, everyone!

[Zeheeba]

Nice job man!  I've personally never had that happen to me, but have opened my visor only to have something fly into my eye and give that same "Oh S***" sensation.  Thankfully I did the same kind of thing getting to safety before trying to clean it out.

As to performing slow speed manuvering and emergency stops, thats something I haven't done in a while and now will do again soon.  I've almost been tempted to go back and take the Basic MSF course now that I've been riding for a couple years, or perhaps the Intermediate course.  Can't hurt right?

Glad you didn't get stung.  :)

[bajakirch]

Whoa, at first I thought someone had had enough of forum member Bumblebee's pontificating.

It's funny you bring this up. I had a similar situation happen last year and I did much the same thing -- brake quickly (but safely) and pull to the side of the road, open the visor and let the bee out (all while trying not to breathe it into my mouth or nose).

Contrast this with my lawn-mowing escapade tonight. I was about halfway done when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked behind me and there were at least 2 wasps buzzing around behind me. I did what any self-respecting man would do -- I did the Hornet Dance. That's where you immediately stop what you're doing, duck your head, start waving your arms around like an octopus and run away as fast as you can.

Not the sort of thing you can/should do while riding your bike. At least, not if you want to live.

[coffee_brake]

You are the kind I like to see on the road with me.

Ride well, BabyHawk.






Can I  just tiny bit?
While having heard horror stories of insect bites while riding and saw a couple of bad episodes, I had my own last month. Thing was, I was overheating and let down the zipper of my jacket. Within two minutes I felt two hits, assuming they were flying insects. Well, one of them made its way to my...um...well one of the "girls," and like an idiot I smacked at it. Then it stung me. Right there. On the, um, you know. My husband riding ahead finally noticed my headlight swinging all over my lane and we stopped, poor Coffee_brake screeching at full volume in the helmet while I tried not to lose control of the Honda. I couldn't very well get at it right there on the side of a busy highway! So I ran behind a parked vehicle and pulled a small wasp of some kind out of my....gear.


Ran back to the bike, laughing by now, only to have some idiot cager pull a u-turn and bear down on us at high speeds as we were parked on the roadside, with the horn blaring. Can you say "fight or flight?" The guy nearly got shot, before he stuck his head out of the window and it was my own brother, who lives a couple hours from me!
He was dropping off his kid at camp and happened to recognize my long braid sticking out my helmet. He, along with HOKS, thought my insect problem was quite hilarious.    Quite the little road-side reunion we had there....Bro rode a '81 CB900 before I was old enough to drive, I'm trying to talk him into letting me get it back on the road for him.


Back you your regularly scheduled BabyHawk thread....

[drdubb]

I got a chest sting one time. I probably was not very symmetrical for a few days. But a bee in the bonnet, I might of jumped off the bike at full throttle.

[chromy]

Now that's discipline BabyHawk.  Great job managing a very bad situation.

Coffee, all I can say is....  That is hilarious, and I'm glad that you were able to manage the situation.  and how that bee managed to find it's way to (well you know where) is beyond me.

[ariwhiteboy]

Way to keep your cool...I've had a few "visor visitors" myself this summer. I've been stung twice so far, but haven't ID'ed the culprits yet. The swelling when I got home made me wonder though, can you imagine being allergic? That would add an extra danger to an already risky pastime.

[WingNut]

Contrast this with my lawn-mowing escapade tonight. I was about halfway done when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked behind me and there were at least 2 wasps buzzing around behind me. I did what any self-respecting man would do -- I did the Hornet Dance. That's where you immediately stop what you're doing, duck your head, start waving your arms around like an octopus and run away as fast as you can.

  Priceless visual there baja 

[BabyHawk250]

can you imagine being allergic? That would add an extra danger to an already risky pastime.

Hehe, that kinda reminds me of that episode of Man Vs. Wild when host Bear Grylls went looking for honey...

http://greenbeetlegear.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/10qyssk.gif

[Bumblebee]

Your first and foremost responsibility over absolutely everything else is to the safe operation of the vehicle you're piloting. Everything else is number last.

I think my yellow helmet attracts bees when I stop at traffic signals. I've had them buzzing all around me before. Fun stuff.

The entertaining one was years ago when several bee's in the airplane with me decided to make themselves known while in very close proximity to terrain in the mountains while landing on a substantially obstructed runway. Just fly the plane...

[drdubb]

all this talk and something flew in my helmet today. I have a flip helmet, so up went the jaw piece, out went the bug. No damage to me...thank goodness.

[Epy]

I got hit on the leg while riding once. Took me about 3 seconds to register the pain and then I yelled.

[martian]

A buddy and I managed to ride through a swarm on a back rode last July (it was about 90 degrees).  I took three stings (one got me twice up the left sleeve and another got me through the left chest vent).  My buddy took five (two were on the neck) - he was NOT a happy camper.

Haven't had one in the visor yet though.  Glad you kept a cool head!

We decided to comfort ourselves with large amount of ice cream.  Hope you did the same 

[SirSeanSean]

Never been stung by a bee while riding, but falling acorns while I'm going 45+ might as well have the same effect.

[Bumblebee]

If you ever need motivation to keep your visor down and wear crash gear including crash pants, take a small bird on the windscreen just above the headlight at 55mph sometime. It makes a kind of big red V. eewww.

[ROJ]

I can understand the concern, I was on a ride and had to watch 2 wasps crawling along the inside of my visor (no idea how they got in there alive), its a little unnerving, plus makes you cross-eyed. But I did as you did.. make your checks and pull over to let them free.
 Good job on keeping your cool.

[martian]

If you ever need motivation to keep your visor down and wear crash gear including crash pants, take a small bird on the windscreen just above the headlight at 55mph sometime. It makes a kind of big red V. eewww.

I've seen the end result of a bird strike on a good friend.  He was only wearing a t-shirt.  Looked like he had been drilled in the ribs by a baseball!  The bruise lasted about two months.

At some point later he found religion and started wearing the gear which saved his life last year.

[happycommuter]

In my short time riding my bike, I have noticed that dealing with panic situations become much more systematically controlled than ever before as a "cager".  A while back, I remember reading in Proficient Motorcycling that on a motorcycle, one's senses are constantly on high alert; looking for the left hand turner, checking mirrors constantly and generally trying to be ever-conspicuous.  A general sense of ultra-defensiveness sets in when behind the handlebars, and I also believe it's made me a better car driver, too.

If you're implying that the average American car driver's response would be to close both eyes and wildly flail both arms in while hollering gibberish, then I'd have to agree.
  on safe, sound methodical reaction to the unexpected

[coffee_brake]

Got another wasp today and thought immediately of BabyHawk. This wasp was no joke, it left a huge welt on my jugular area and I don't know the last time I almost vomited from pain.
But I had to pull over safely before I could do anything. I couldn't even speak, it hurt so bad, my poor friends had no idea what was wrong with me.

Then, I couldn't turn my head because the skin hurt so bad. I had to ride in the middle of the pack and trust my riding buddies for every lane change. I couldn't do a head-check because I simply couldn't twist my head around, the neck skin felt like fire when I moved it. I could only wait for them to show up in the mirrors and move on over. They would only move if it was safe for me to move, that's how we got home.
I was thinking of this thread all the way home, even though the swelling and most of the pain are long gone.

Just a real bad place to get stung, is all...and in the middle of a tight turn, too...

[BabyHawk250]

Got another wasp today and thought immediately of BabyHawk. This wasp was no joke, it left a huge welt on my jugular area and I don't know the last time I almost vomited from pain.
But I had to pull over safely before I could do anything. I couldn't even speak, it hurt so bad, my poor friends had no idea what was wrong with me.

Then, I couldn't turn my head because the skin hurt so bad. I had to ride in the middle of the pack and trust my riding buddies for every lane change. I couldn't do a head-check because I simply couldn't twist my head around, the neck skin felt like fire when I moved it. I could only wait for them to show up in the mirrors and move on over. They would only move if it was safe for me to move, that's how we got home.
I was thinking of this thread all the way home, even though the swelling and most of the pain are long gone.

Just a real bad place to get stung, is all...and in the middle of a tight turn, too...

Coffee Brake,

That stinks!!  I'm glad you made it home in one piece

In retrospect, I'm glad I decided to take the "gear" route, and suite up.  I cannot immagine what some of these so called "squid" go through with so much exposed skin on their rides. 

Even with the gear sometimes things like these just happen...

You're very fortunate to have riding buddies as considerate as the ones with you today!!

[coffee_brake]

Thanks, and I was in full gear. The little cusser nailed me in the place between the (zipped up) jacket and the helmet.
A couple hours later, a stink bug did a kamikaze run right into one of the intakes on my helmet, so I had an hour of very, very unpleasant riding then too until the vile-smelling guts dried out. 

Ha, it's funny now, but that was truly a miserable ride home.....

[WingNut]

Thanks, and I was in full gear. The little cusser nailed me in the place between the (zipped up) jacket and the helmet.
A couple hours later, a stink bug did a kamikaze run right into one of the intakes on my helmet, so I had an hour of very, very unpleasant riding then too until the vile-smelling guts dried out. 

Ha, it's funny now, but that was truly a miserable ride home.....

Good lord, what did you do Coffee? Step on too many ants as a kid? 

In all seriousness, glad you made it home in one piece... most probably would have thrown in the towel long before that 

[gammer]

A couple hours later, a stink bug did a kamikaze run right into one of the intakes on my helmet, so I had an hour of very, very unpleasant riding then too until the vile-smelling guts dried out. 

Ha, it's funny now, but that was truly a miserable ride home.....

Imagine what that would have been like had you been wearing an open faced helmet.

[talespin]

A couple hours later, a stink bug did a kamikaze run right into one of the intakes on my helmet, so I had an hour of very, very unpleasant riding then too until the vile-smelling guts dried out. 

Ha, it's funny now, but that was truly a miserable ride home.....

Imagine what that would have been like had you been wearing an open faced helmet.

Or no helmet at all...

[coffee_brake]