Bugged!

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  Oct 10, 2007 2:11 AM GMT

  It seems like an unlikely time of year, but today's bike ride was totally buggy! It was a cool, overcast, calm (quite unusual, here) day that seemed to be just right for huge bug hatch. Every time I passed an area with green vegetation, I got plastered. Down by the river, I could hardly breathe! When I got home, and stripped off my jersey, I was even covered with bugs inside my clothes.
  
  At least I didn't need to use a protein shake today.
  
  Years ago and far away, I used to cycle past an alfalfa field, where I occasionally ingested bugs that were actually quite sweet-tasting. However, I could never figure out which ones they were, because by the time I tasted them, it was too late to identify them. (I never did the obvious experiment of identifying first and then tasting.)
  
  I guess we're kind of spoiled here in a dry climate where bug density is usually low. Does anybody try to filter out bugs, or do you just consider them bonus protein? In moister climes, how do you avoid choking on them?
  
  It bugs me.

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  Oct 10, 2007 5:32 AM GMT

  Hey! We had the same problem up in Pullman, WA today too! It was significantly warmer than other days, and the aphids were INSANE. I seriously swallowed them just by walking around. It was pretty gross.

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  Oct 10, 2007 6:47 AM GMT

  Well in fact, the place with the sugary bugs was just on the other side of Moscow. Maybe you can still find a few to help the gnats go down easier.
  
  I'm also recalling the one time (when I was young and dumb and full of...) that I tried the "Easy Rider" thing and rode my motorcycle shirtless on a road trip through the desert. The highway dipped into a valley full of irrigated fields, and I flew right into a bunch of grasshoppers at 70 mph. AAAAARGH!
  
  They never showed that stuff in the movie...

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  Oct 10, 2007 8:03 AM GMT

  I went blading on Sunday and inadvertently skated through a swarm of bugs. I was blinded, nearly ended up in the road and literally had to pick them out of my teeth.
  
  Looking back it was hilarious
  
  

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  Oct 10, 2007 2:53 PM GMT

  I had my first night last night where I didn't get a mouthful. It's been ridiculously warm here in CT so far but it's finally cooling off.
  
  As for how to screen them, I wish I knew. I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth but there's that split second where I guess I'm just not blowing out hard enough to keep the little kamikazes at bay.
  
  In the end, I don't mind it too much except for when they seem to slam directly into the back of my throat, inducing a coughing fit.

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• art_smass
  
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  Oct 10, 2007 3:16 PM GMT

  Male aphids sprout wings and begin to fly around just before the weather cools down. They mate with females who lay eggs on host plants, then the adults usually die when winter arrives. Up here that stage occurs in late August/early September. I was once told by an old lady to ignore my garden when the aphids are winged. It's the right time of the year to stop fertilizing and cut down on watering so that plants can successfully enter their dormancy.
  
  I don't recall the taste of winged aphids, but I sure know what it's like to get home from a bike ride to find a few still stuck in the corners of my eyes. Yechh.

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