THE BUGS

[gs46]

I just returned from a morning ride (7:30am) across the street at Bald Mt. (my first mt bike ride this summer as I ride urban also) and the flies and bugs were rediculous.....I mean, What The , when I stopped for just a second there were millions, no..billions, no..trillions of flies (the kind that bite) swarming me. Made my fastest lap ever on the blue trail. I was going to take a nice paced ride and do all three trails (white, orange and blue) on this beautiful morning but, couldn't get out of there fast enough. Then when I got home I found a tick (of some kind) eating my knee for breakfast and had to pick him off and STOMP on him.
Is this the way it is on all the trails? Stony? Addison? LO High? Does "OFF" or anything help?
Maybe I'm a spring, fall and winter trail rider, and stick to the urban areas in the heat of summer.....or just a puss....

[b_b]

Brighton was real bad Thursday. I hear the main offenders are deer flies. Go find some deer! ILRA was better probably since faster speed. Good luck If you flat or break down! I'm with you much prefer cool weather and don't even mind freezing temps.

[plaindave]

Read this site to see what to do about deer flies. http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/MizellRF/deerfly_trap.htm

I'll be watching to see someone with a cup on their helmet.

[spencerg]

If wearing a plastic cup on my head stops me getting bitten to death, like yesterday at Poto, sign me up. Lighter colored top (they only bit me on the black parts of the top) and a bucket of bug spray for the next ride!

[hala514]

I have millions of deer flies by my house (in the woods). Even walking to my mailbox is a daunting proposition for fear of being carried away. I have tried this blue cup method, and yes, have even made a hat that I wear when I mow what little grass I have.
bottom line: It catches some of the deer flies, but catching 30 deer flies is nothing when there are millions out there.

I have an old helmet, and a spare sticky blue cup... maybe I will try to put this on and go ride around. The faster you go, the more deer flies seem to get attracted. What is needed is a brigade of riders with blue cups on their helmets to do a lap every day at the local trails. If anyone is interested in the Maybury area, I can make you a spare blue cup, as I have a lot of the sticky stuff left.

[Sortaslow]

Bald Mountain can be one of the worst. I'm sitting at Addison oaks, just finished my ride and had no bugs bother me. Stony is usually just fine too. I use no bug spray either.
If you break down at bald mountain, just end your life right then and there. If not, the bugs will.

[mtb_frk]

I am hoping that it is due to the warm winter we had. We just moved out to the "country" last fall and the deer flies are really bad.

[PK]

It appears the 2012 is the year of the deer fly.
I've never seen it this bad.
Stony had some yesterday, but not bad.
RiverBends / CRT / Dodge park were fine today. Just the normal 'skeeters.
I've got them at home. That's a first in the 19 years we've been here.

Pete.

[gs46]

Thanks so much for your replies....I thought maybe it was just me being a puss, but Bald Mt. was BRUTAL! I will not be going back there until fall...if I would have had a flat I would have ran and left my bike for dead.....May try Addison Oaks or Stony but not real tempted...

[mtb_frk]

Addison seemed fine today but I didn't stop except to move some branches off the trail a few times.

[c0nsumer]

Neither Addison nor Stony is anywhere near as bad as Bald Mountain. I personally carry bug spray in case I need to stop for emergency reasons, but otherwise I try to just keep going.

[vette-ss]

I rode Brighton Sat morning and didn't notice anything out of the normal with flies. Did a trail run with my son Sun evening and was worried about waking this morning with creepies hatching out of my ears. Time of day difference? Or just the slower running speed? I don't normally freak out over a few bugs but the flies bouncing off my head during the evening run was rediculous.

[G.Cook]

Deer flies are normally very active early am and early evening May to Sept. They do seem worse this year but on the good side the skeeters aren't bad at all.

[mtbfree]

I rode Highland yesterday, and the bugs were not nearly as bad as I was expecting. I just put on a little bit of spray before the ride and wasn't bothered at all, even when I took a fiver before riding C-loop. Seems to be a location thing, but then again, I was riding during the heat of the day.

[ArcticRobot]

PLRA was fine as well.
Spencer: wanna do some highland riding next weekend? I never rode it with a good company.