Ellen is very near the Russian border being attacked by horse flies the size of her pinky toe and being stun by bees. Don’t worry though, she’s a trooper even though she has 20 bee stings. Even while going 25 kmh, there were 10 bees hanging onto the panniers. She says that she’s persevering right now, but hates everything with wings at this moment.
You have my sympathy, Ellen. What is it with the horseflies at those latitudes? They have teeth like rapiers. My advice: come back in winter-time, when their wings shatter in the -40 degree cold.
(If any readers doubt Ellen’s description of the size of these biting monsters, she is if anything understating their hugeness. Or maybe she just has a really big pinky toe. Here’s a photo I took of one of them, posing next to a standard-sized housefly: http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/picasafiles/2/target21.asp)
You have my sympathy, Ellen. What is it with the horseflies at those latitudes? They have teeth like rapiers. My advice: come back in winter-time, when their wings shatter in the -40 degree cold.
(If any readers doubt Ellen’s description of the size of these biting monsters, she is if anything understating their hugeness. Or maybe she just has a really big pinky toe. Here’s a photo I took of one of them, posing next to a standard-sized housefly: http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/picasafiles/2/target21.asp)
Sorry, that link didn’t work, here it is again:
http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/picasafiles/2/target21.asp
Sorry, that link didn’t work, here it is again:
http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/picasafiles/2/target21.asp
10 bees on your panniers? Enjoy the luxury while it lasts…!
I counted at least 18 on just one of my panniers here http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/edward.genochio/2Russia#5486262890830820082
Actually I was never quite sure if they were bees or horseflies. They seemed to be some kind of chimeric combination of the worst aspects of both. They bite like a horsefly, sting like a bee, and don’t know how to make honey.
After a couple of weeks riding with the little bastards, I got quite good at killing them “on the fly”. I’d stick their little bodies to the crossbar and see how many corpses I could collect in a day. (Yeah, you can get quite sick riding alone day after day…)
Happy travels!
Ed
10 bees on your panniers? Enjoy the luxury while it lasts…!
I counted at least 18 on just one of my panniers here http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/edward.genochio/2Russia#5486262890830820082
Actually I was never quite sure if they were bees or horseflies. They seemed to be some kind of chimeric combination of the worst aspects of both. They bite like a horsefly, sting like a bee, and don’t know how to make honey.
After a couple of weeks riding with the little bastards, I got quite good at killing them “on the fly”. I’d stick their little bodies to the crossbar and see how many corpses I could collect in a day. (Yeah, you can get quite sick riding alone day after day…)
Happy travels!
Ed
That’s it! That’s the one!!!!!!!!!!
And I’m glad I’m not the only one that was trying to figure what those little bastards were. Flies? Bees? What are you???
I got bit/stung at least 100 times. 10 on one pannier. When I would slap my bike or panniers they would fly out from the crevices. When I was taking a break – I could hear them hitting the steel on my bike.
My only excitement was when I would have trucks in oncoming traffic or pass me and they would be sucked into the windstream. I would shout things like, “die you bastards”, “YEAH!!!”, etc.
I had to walk the bike up a mountain because they were sticking to my glasses and hands and I was swerving too much. One even goes into my right nostril. My speed was too slow so they were adhering to me. At the top, I just drop my bike and run away screaming and crying. After some big tears and a few choice words, I suck it up and ride down noticing they are still sticking with me.
Road overpasses/storm drains are where I like to hang out in the sun/heat. So I pull over and start swatting them but then see more coming towards me. Are these little guys sending out signals that I’m a murderer. I can see them swarming over the grasslands.
I stop, I sit down…and I begin to gently wipe them off of me. It helps.
That’s it! That’s the one!!!!!!!!!!
And I’m glad I’m not the only one that was trying to figure what those little bastards were. Flies? Bees? What are you???
I got bit/stung at least 100 times. 10 on one pannier. When I would slap my bike or panniers they would fly out from the crevices. When I was taking a break – I could hear them hitting the steel on my bike.
My only excitement was when I would have trucks in oncoming traffic or pass me and they would be sucked into the windstream. I would shout things like, “die you bastards”, “YEAH!!!”, etc.
I had to walk the bike up a mountain because they were sticking to my glasses and hands and I was swerving too much. One even goes into my right nostril. My speed was too slow so they were adhering to me. At the top, I just drop my bike and run away screaming and crying. After some big tears and a few choice words, I suck it up and ride down noticing they are still sticking with me.
Road overpasses/storm drains are where I like to hang out in the sun/heat. So I pull over and start swatting them but then see more coming towards me. Are these little guys sending out signals that I’m a murderer. I can see them swarming over the grasslands.
I stop, I sit down…and I begin to gently wipe them off of me. It helps.