@Nate

@Marko

@Nate

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

How many spare blood bags should I bring?

I believe the correct measurement for blood bags is known as a “cipollini” , they come in lots of 25.

Wow, this disintegrated perfectly. Well done all around.

And fuck my tits, that’s a lot of dope. I’d expect nothing less from Super Mario.

Minnesota has its reputation for cold winters, but people forget about the hot, muggy summers. The woods of Pillsbury Forest taught me a thing or two about deer flies, that’s for sure. Beautiful country, though.

Seattle has no bugs; until we had our windows replaced last summer, we didn’t even have screens in the windows. And its not hot. Or cold. But you can ski and ride year round.

Gregario – are you doing The Heck of the North weekend after next?

Or insane skinsuits

@Barracuda

@Nate

@Marko

@Nate

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

How many spare blood bags should I bring?

I believe the correct measurement for blood bags is known as a “cipollini” , they come in lots of 25.

I would have thought they would have named the unit by reference to a GT contender rather than a sprinter.

Nah, the International measurement is definately one in “cipollini’s”

i.e. ” Man, that was one tuff tour this year, glad my team had two spare cipollini’s for us”

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-cipollini-used-25-blood-bags-before-2003-giro-ditalia

@Nate

@Marko

@Nate

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

How many spare blood bags should I bring?

I believe the correct measurement for blood bags is known as a “cipollini” , they come in lots of 25.

I would have thought they would have named the unit by reference to a GT contender rather than a sprinter.

It is very satisfying to catch one, roll it between your fingers and then tear the head off. A tad sinister, but when you’re at your wits end, weird things happen.

Catch one, tie a piece of string (cotton) around it’s body under the wings and you have a pet!! Watch it try and fly away then! Also used to like pushing sheoak needles up their arse and the letting them go. They can fly but due to the weight it’s head straight up.

I think the wasp thing in September is based on three things

a) they know they haven’t got long to go and so they are generally a bit pissed off with things and so will pick a fight with anything.

b) they are mainly chewing on fermented fruit in September and so in the afternoon are generally a bit pissed (US folk that means drunk) and so will pick a fight with anything.

c) in the mornings because of being depressed by a) and as a result of the hangover from b), are generally pissed off and will pick a fight with anything.

Sounds like Glasgow.

@Marko

@Nate

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

How many spare blood bags should I bring?

I believe the correct measurement for blood bags is known as a “cipollini” , they come in lots of 25.

@Nate

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

How many spare blood bags should I bring?

@Marko My parents took me camping on a lake in NorMin when I was 1. On the first night I got bitten by 1000s of mosquitos. On the second night I got bitten on the forehead by a spider. My whole forehead swelled up and I looked like an alien. The next morning we got back in the VW and drove back to Missouri. I haven’t been back to that part of the world but I have a perverse desire to do so.

You’re welcome any time. I’ve got space for any Velominati, whenever, standing invite. I’ll take you graveling and we’ll get chased by swarms of deer, horse, and black flies.

But nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flies of Northern Manitoba. Particularly those on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. The locals refer to horse flies there as bulldogs. I’ve never seen anything like it and I can endure bugs like Eddy can endure lactic acid baths.

@girl I have it on the excellent authority of Google that the March Fly is what we call Horse Flies. They are indeed bastards and I’m willing to bet they are bigger in Australia, partly to compensate for @Marcus’s inferiority complex.

It is very satisfying to catch one, roll it between your fingers and then tear the head off. A tad sinister, but when you’re at your wits end, weird things happen.

Forget ‘Straya mate – Africa is worse. My idiot nephew had a pretty bad insect experience when he and another idiot nephew and two idiot mates thought it would be a good idea to ride their bikes 6800kms from Tangier, Morocco across the Western Sahara to Ghana.

About halfway through idiot nephew #1 got what seemed to be an infected knee – which kept getting worse. After a few days of pain, he had to stop the ride and seek medical assistance. Turns out he had a tumbu fly, ie. a fucking maggot had hatched in his leg. He got back on the bike though.

For anyone with a spare 15 minutes (yes, you all have it), watch this for the ride. Its quite entertaining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuyRXnBuaQs

Or you can go straight to watching them squeeze fly larvae out of his knee (around 4:30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiHkvHRPhaI

@ChrisO

My vote goes to midges too… much worse than any standard fly.

Not as bad individually as a horsefly but those tend to be lone attackers. Midges swarm.

We have the occasional wasp – a bit like the ones you get in France. I had one go down my jersey once and he just kept stinging me until I could get him out.

But my single worst insectal experience on a bike has to be the time that a bee flew into my mouth and stung me on the tongue. Lucky I’m not allergic, but it was extremely painful and swollen and I had to get tweezers and pull the sting out when I got home.

I’ve had both those happen, and also in the helmet. September seems to be bee/wasp stinger.

My worst insect experience was somewhere in the woods when I stopped to answer the call of nature and accidentally peed on a ground bee’s nest.

I think the wasp thing in September is based on three things

a) they know they haven’t got long to go and so they are generally a bit pissed off with things and so will pick a fight with anything.

b) they are mainly chewing on fermented fruit in September and so in the afternoon are generally a bit pissed (US folk that means drunk) and so will pick a fight with anything.

c) in the mornings because of being depressed by a) and as a result of the hangover from b), are generally pissed off and will pick a fight with anything.

@Mike_P

@Frank you Dutch photographic plagiarist. I refer you to my gravatar, shot by me as I topped Luz Ardiden last year ha! For me, the most beautiful view in that part of the Pyrenees.

I’m confused. Shouldn’t a gravatar simply be an avatar of your gravel bike?

Ha that’s smooth!

Insects, what about mammals? A few years back I noticed something barreling towards me from the side. Is that a fucking cat? Cats don’t run at things though?

I was going at a decent pace and somehow a raccoon managed to kamikaze me, yet passed under the DT and right between both wheels, so he either had really bad aim, or really good aim. Maybe the goal was to knock me off and feast on me with his pals. That was bonkers.

What is that? I can’t see a goddamned thing. Oh, it must be the PNW.

Just got back from far SE Oregon, where you can see forever. Mostly sagebrush, but you see a fuck-ton of it.

@frank Horse flies are big but that is their weakness; they are an easy target. Dear flies bite harder, and are smaller and faster.

As for the “horrible” Australian fauna, I am beginning to suspect it’s a myth intended to keep others away from what is actually a really nice place. Kind of like the horror stories about endless rain in the PNW, right?

SSSSSSHHHHH!!!

@scaler911 so should this be a new line of penetration testing for cycle shorts and padding………..?

The next V-Bib will feature a kevlar chamois.

@scaler911

Keeping bees is one thing I’ll never do. I am not afraid of them – the pain from their stings goes away after a bit – but fuck me if they’re not hateful little bastards.

I do like honey, though, so I’m glad someone keeps bees.

As for the “horrible” Australian fauna, I am beginning to suspect it’s a myth intended to keep others away from what is actually a really nice place.  Kind of like the horror stories about endless rain in the PNW, right?

My vote goes to midges too… much worse than any standard fly.

Not as bad individually as a horsefly but those tend to be lone attackers. Midges swarm.

We have the occasional wasp – a bit like the ones you get in France. I had one go down my jersey once and he just kept stinging me until I could get him out.

But my single worst insectal experience on a bike has to be the time that a bee flew into my mouth and stung me on the tongue. Lucky I’m not allergic, but it was extremely painful and swollen and I had to get tweezers and pull the sting out when I got home.

I’ve had both those happen, and also in the helmet. September seems to be bee/wasp stinger.

My worst insect experience was somewhere in the woods when I stopped to answer the call of nature and accidentally peed on a ground bee’s nest.

It is very satisfying to catch one, roll it between your fingers and then tear the head off. A tad sinister, but when you’re at your wits end, weird things happen.

The next days is just that – another day and The Man with the Hammer will be close at hand. I think he might own a Gite near La Mongie because I always seem to meet him in the tunnels around there…

I love that part of the climb, and I love the feeling that you’re almost done with that monster because you’re riding through what is sometimes the finish line. And then you ride past it and realize you have a long bastard of a climb still ahead to reach the col.

The restaurant holds some very happy memories as we refueled and downed a few too many pints to make the descent down the other side come anywhere close to resembling safety.

Im with @Marcus, our flies, and every other fkn animal not chained up down here, are big bastards and they hunt you down and deliberately get a free ride just to piss us off more.

e.g. Saturdays ride of a mere 50kms I was privileged enough to have a veritable zoo along the route, from said flies, 3 marauding magpies spaced evenly along the sojourn so as to lull me into a false sense of security till the next attack, redneck utility drivers and a big stinkin’ slow moving Brown snake that I suspect was just waiting for a slow moving cyclist in Rapha (me) to come along and start the season off nicely.

So @frank, having never been to the beautiful part of the world you are describing, I can only imagine it to smell like roses and be full of butterflies as I hoped it would be.

The photo looks to darn idyllic to be anything but.

I have made a point of disliking anything that can kill me, a dislike which rises proportionally to how stealthily it can do it. Not sure I’m made for Aus.

@Frank you Dutch photographic plagiarist. I refer you to my gravatar, shot by me as I topped Luz Ardiden last year ha! For me, the most beautiful view in that part of the Pyrenees.

I’m confused.  Shouldn’t a gravatar simply be an avatar of your gravel bike?

@frank

@snoov

As I climbed some of the lesser Cols in the summer 12kph seemed just about my average, maybe a little lower. To read here that it’s the universal climbing speed fills me with joy

Sorry to burst your bubble, mate, but I’m really just taking the piss. The universal climbing speed is actually V.

Thought it was way too slow and wouldn’t have been able to explain the dudes who sailed past me, or my riding buddies who I couldn’t keep up with. There was one amazing moment though when later on Col de la Crois Fry one of them shouted from behind me, ” I know I’ll never live this down Nick, but could you ease it off a bit.” I’d shifted right up onto the rivet and got a second wind or was holding it in with the nose of the saddle, while meditating on Rule #20.

My current climbing speed on much of anything these days is only about 6kph. Yeah, I’m slow, but I have gravity on my side for the descents!

@snoov

As I climbed some of the lesser Cols in the summer 12kph seemed just about my average, maybe a little lower. To read here that it’s the universal climbing speed fills me with joy

Sorry to burst your bubble, mate, but I’m really just taking the piss. The universal climbing speed is actually V.

Thought it was way too slow and wouldn’t have been able to explain the dudes who sailed past me, or my riding buddies who I couldn’t keep up with.  There was one amazing moment though when later on Col de la Crois Fry one of them shouted from behind me, ” I know I’ll never live this down Nick, but could you ease it off a bit.”  I’d shifted right up onto the rivet and got a second wind or was holding it in with the nose of the saddle, while meditating on Rule #20.

@scaler911

@teocalli

My personal worst one was a Hornet. Darned thing was so big had a little beast sat on it’s back with a spear and shield when it appeared alongside me. When it stung me on my back it felt like the wee fella went clean through my shoulder blade with his spear. At that point I fell off my bike and became a sitting target for a few more stings for good measure.

Ya. Bees. I’m so allergic that if I get stung and don’t get a epi pen jammed in my leg I’ll die.

But anyway, my good friend and teammate was out on a ride, last summer I think, and a bee landed on his crotch and stung him on “the hood”. Said that he must have been quite a sight to passing motorists slapping at his junk, screaming and almost weaving out into traffic. It’s funny because it didn’t happen to me………..

You should not have put those two together as somehow it doesn’t feel right to be laughing so hard at something that starts “if I get stung I could die”……………..though I have to wonder what he was doing at the time as it doesn’t sound like something that would be attributed to a quick pee stop…….or is this through the shorts and Assos could pick up on “padding so thick a bee sting won’t penetrate”?

He was just riding along and it stung him through the lycra. And I felt bad laughing (so hard I was crying) when he told me the story. But isn’t comedy just other peoples pain/ misfortune?

As for me, we have epi-pens everywhere. I forgot to bring one on a ride one time, a bee flew into my unzipped jersey. I got stung. It’s not a instant reaction, I have around 10-15min before things go bad. I rode toward my parents (I keep one there too) about 2 miles away. I passed a house where some paramedics station at (friends of mine) and they were there thankfully. In that short time (maybe 8-10min) my heart rate was around 160, blood pressure 70/40, hives everywhere and throat swelling. Not good. Epi IV at that point. I don’t forget that pen anymore.

I love bees BTW. I used to keep them, which is how I became allergic. Got stung ~80 times moving a hive with just a hood, not the whole protective suit. Ah well…………

@frank

@napolinige

Here we get a kind of horsefly that loves sucking cyclist sweat. They bite and you definitely don’t want to get one down inside you jersey!

The worst flies I ever experienced were out in Pillsbury Forest in Northern Minnesota – they were so bad, you’d smack your hand on your neck and get about 15 of them right there. We rode in long-sleeve wind-breakers with the zipper down so the jacket would poof up and the flies couldn’t bite you. And baggy shorts for the same effect.

And there too, I think our speeds were in the 12kp/h range altogether too often.

Does this mean we get to see the teenage Frank mtn. cycling photo? It has been awhile…

I wish this was a clearer photo. I loved this bike. It had the Scott AT-4 handlebars and a Rock Shock. BADASS.

On another note regarding flying terrors, something, not sure what, stung me in the right testicle the other week. The pain, together with the sheer unexpectedness of it, took some time to get over.

@teocalli

My personal worst one was a Hornet. Darned thing was so big had a little beast sat on it’s back with a spear and shield when it appeared alongside me. When it stung me on my back it felt like the wee fella went clean through my shoulder blade with his spear. At that point I fell off my bike and became a sitting target for a few more stings for good measure.

Ya. Bees. I’m so allergic that if I get stung and don’t get a epi pen jammed in my leg I’ll die.

But anyway, my good friend and teammate was out on a ride, last summer I think, and a bee landed on his crotch and stung him on “the hood”. Said that he must have been quite a sight to passing motorists slapping at his junk, screaming and almost weaving out into traffic. It’s funny because it didn’t happen to me………..

You should not have put those two together as somehow it doesn’t feel right to be laughing so hard at something that starts “if I get stung I could die”……………..though I have to wonder what he was doing at the time as it doesn’t sound like something that would be attributed to a quick pee stop…….or is this through the shorts and Assos could pick up on “padding so thick a bee sting won’t penetrate”?

As I climbed some of the lesser Cols in the summer 12kph seemed just about my average, maybe a little lower. To read here that it’s the universal climbing speed fills me with joy

Sorry to burst your bubble, mate, but I’m really just taking the piss. The universal climbing speed is actually V.

I can’t believe you can see them in the picture. Yuck.

@snoov

Double yuck. And I’m talking about the hair. FFS.

@DerHoggz

Please don’t quote that fucking image. It’s going to make me puke.

My personal worst one was a Hornet. Darned thing was so big had a little beast sat on it’s back with a spear and shield when it appeared alongside me. When it stung me on my back it felt like the wee fella went clean through my shoulder blade with his spear. At that point I fell off my bike and became a sitting target for a few more stings for good measure.

Ya. Bees. I’m so allergic that if I get stung and don’t get a epi pen jammed in my leg I’ll die.

But anyway, my good friend and teammate was out on a ride, last summer I think, and a bee landed on his crotch and stung him on “the hood”. Said that he must have been quite a sight to passing motorists slapping at his junk, screaming and almost weaving out into traffic. It’s funny because it didn’t happen to me………..

@Gianni if only our mosquitoes carried dengue, then they might not also carry Ross River Virus and Barmah Forest Virus.

And @frank, until I see the winner of San Sebastian getting around with corks hanging off his txapela, I will maintain that Australian flies are worse than Pyrenean

And this is a pocket knife, right?

@Gianni

@Xyverz

@Richy Pea

@Xyverz Oh it is a beauty. I have the privilege of cycle guiding in the Pyrenees and this is right in the area i guide around (Bareges).. I love this climb (and hate it).. That and the ride up to Gavarnie and the Col du Tentes are some of he best in the area. Please go – it will change your life. It did mine.

How would this compare to The Volcano for pain? Haleakala is another mountain I want to climb…

No flies in Hawaii. OK, a few dengue carrying mosquitos, only in one area, but flies are way down on the suffer list. Actually they are not on the list. Climbing is cruel enough without worrying about flies too. The Volcano does not dish out much pain unless you go at Dutch Monkey speed.

The Volcano isn’t as steep as Luz Ardiden? Hmm, I might have to start there. And I can’t catch Dutch Monkey speed, let alone anybody else I ride with. I’m just still Too Fat To Climb. (Working on that, though! I’m finally back below 100kg!)

Haleakala is very mellow for the most part; 6% or so. The top is around 15% or 35% if you believe what your legs tell you when you’re riding it. Its not a hard climb in any respect other than the fact that its 60km long and goes up quite high to 3050m. From sea level.

L’Alpe is much steeper – 8% or so, with some sections in the 10% range, but its only 13km and change. Most Alpine climbs are like that – in the 7-9% range and reasonably consistent in gradient. The Pyreneean climbs are maybe a hair steeper, but the gradients vary much, much more which makes them much harder for a diesel like me to ride.

My vote goes to midges too… much worse than any standard fly.

Not as bad individually as a horsefly but those tend to be lone attackers. Midges swarm.

We have the occasional wasp – a bit like the ones you get in France. I had one go down my jersey once and he just kept stinging me until I could get him out.

But my single worst insectal experience on a bike has to be the time that a bee flew into my mouth and stung me on the tongue. Lucky I’m not allergic, but it was extremely painful and swollen and I had to get tweezers and pull the sting out when I got home.

There are a load of medical folk in here and I’m not – but if a next time (and anyone else) don’t use tweezers on a bee sting.  You just squeeze the poison out of the sack and into you and make it worse.  You need to avoid touching the sting and get either very fine tweezers or the back of a couple of knife blades to pull it out right at skin level without squeezing the poison sack.  That way will result in far less pain and swelling.  Easier said than done but I have managed to stop a few people making things worse that way.  Of course doing that down your own throat would be another challenge!

One  of my very few religious beliefs is that everyone gets a fly.   As soon as you kill your fly, God notices and sends you another one. There is always a fly.   The best thing i learned in Kung-fu is how to move fast enough to swat any fly.   it’s all God does. He does not give a crap about sparrows falling, he just makes sure that everyone has a fly. 

The worst thing is out West, when the buggers will actually follow your fork into your mouth! If eating outside. You have to wave and swat as you open your mouth.

Not as bad individually as a horsefly but those tend to be lone attackers. Midges swarm.

We have the occasional wasp – a bit like the ones you get in France. I had one go down my jersey once and he just kept stinging me until I could get him out.

But my single worst insectal experience on a bike has to be the time that a bee flew into my mouth and stung me on the tongue. Lucky I’m not allergic, but it was extremely painful and swollen and I had to get tweezers and pull the sting out when I got home.

I can go one better. Riding the 4WD tracks up Mt Kosciuszko (Australias highest mountain, but not so high on a world scale) underneath the chairlifts in summer, the gradient is such that riding just faster than walking pace is a big effort. The march flies, with their big green eyes, orange bum and long stinging proboscis circle like vultures waiting for a sick animal to die. The deeper note of their slow wing beats compared to regular bush flies make them easy to identify. And then like a buzz bomb, the humming stops.

That’s because the bastard has landed on your blood enriched left calf, and its proboscis is begining to drill into your skin. At this point, timing is everything. You must pick a few metres of track, engage extra effort from your body, and take a hand off the bars to whack that prick and not fall off.

But you miss, and the humming starts again.

This is true, every word.

They are so big you can see their shadow on the ground beside your own. You can feel them land on you and then you try swipe them off. At our camp in Jindabyne in January you hear calls amongst the group of ‘right calf,’ ‘left butt cheek’ to alert the rider to a mammoth of a march fly on them. I nearly fell off my bike last year as I watched one of the guys pretending to be a windmill as he swiped away the bastards.

My infected deerfly bite (like horsefly) a few years back. Better example of a target pattern than I could find anywhere on the net.

Photo pre-dates buying a bike and Rule #33 compliance.

Nasty.  That bite doesn’t look so great either.

I don’t remember there being many other cyclists in Luz saint Sauveur but it was midday when I got there and any one in their right mind would plan on hitting the slopes earlier on in the day to avoid the heat.

I wish I done Luz Ardiden but with the Hautacam already in my legs and the Tourmalet and 115km ahead it seemed like a mountain too many. Next time.

@Graeme

The worst flies are in the Pyrenees… obviously this rider has never been to the west coast of Scotland In midge season…

+1 and you simply can’t see or hear the midge until it’s too late. Avon Skin So Soft Dry Oil, Woodland Fresh is the only thing that I’ve found that counters them. It has the added bonus effect of putting a sheen on the guns and arms but it’s no Baxter…

The first cousin of the scottish midge has made it’s way to the West coast of Ireland. Little fvckers. We’re having an unseasonably warm end-of-summer, which is great for evening rides as long as you don’t mind riding through clouds of biting bastards. Found some stuff called ‘Smidge’ made by some Scots that works. Never got any results from that Avon stuff even though half the local CC swear by it…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smidge-That-Midge-Insect-Repellent/dp/B00413715E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379401549&sr=8-1&keywords=smidge+insect+repellent

But I wondered if I might regret squandering that little bit of nutrient and protein in 2 hours time…

Photo pre-dates buying a bike and Rule #33 compliance.

@Xyverz

Keep working on that weight loss. I started at 95kg a couple of years ago. I am down to 72 down and still a little Too Fat To Climb well. Still, start your climbing now and make the most use of the Gravity Assisted Resistance Training it provides you.

Thanks, mate. Back in March of 2011, I’d gotten my weight down to 82kg (from my start at 125kg!), but over the past 8 months, being unemployed, depressed, and otherwise sick, I’ve gained a good portion of it back. My goal is to get back to 85kg and see where it goes from there.

e.g. Saturdays ride of a mere 50kms I was privileged enough to have a veritable zoo along the route, from said flies, 3 marauding magpies spaced evenly along the sojourn so as to lull me into a false sense of security till the next attack, redneck utility drivers and a big stinkin’ slow moving Brown snake that I suspect was just waiting for a slow moving cyclist in Rapha (me) to come along and start the season off nicely.

So @frank, having never been to the beautiful part of the world you are describing, I can only imagine it to smell like roses and be full of butterflies as I hoped it would be.

The photo looks to darn idyllic to be anything but.

On the way back down, it felt like riding through a hailstorm.

@Xyverz

Keep working on that weight loss. I started at 95kg a couple of years ago. I am down to 72 down and still a little too fat to climb well. Still, start your climbing now and make the most use of the Gravity Assisted Resistance Training it provides you.

@Xyverz

@Richy Pea

@Xyverz Oh it is a beauty. I have the privilege of cycle guiding in the Pyrenees and this is right in the area i guide around (Bareges).. I love this climb (and hate it).. That and the ride up to Gavarnie and the Col du Tentes are some of he best in the area. Please go – it will change your life. It did mine.

How would this compare to The Volcano for pain? Haleakala is another mountain I want to climb…

No flies in Hawaii. OK, a few dengue carrying mosquitos, only in one area, but flies are way down on the suffer list. Actually they are not on the list. Climbing is cruel enough without worrying about flies too. The Volcano does not dish out much pain unless you go at Dutch Monkey speed.

The Volcano isn’t as steep as Luz Ardiden? Hmm, I might have to start there. And I can’t catch Dutch Monkey speed, let alone anybody else I ride with. I’m just still too fat to climb. (Working on that, though! I’m finally back below 100kg!)

@napolinige

Here we get a kind of horsefly that loves sucking cyclist sweat. They bite and you definitely don’t want to get one down inside you jersey!

The worst flies I ever experienced were out in Pillsbury Forest in Northern Minnesota – they were so bad, you’d smack your hand on your neck and get about 15 of them right there. We rode in long-sleeve wind-breakers with the zipper down so the jacket would poof up and the flies couldn’t bite you. And baggy shorts for the same effect.

And there too, I think our speeds were in the 12kp/h range altogether too often.

Does this mean we get to see the teenage Frank mtn. cycling photo? It has been awhile…

And @frank, until I see the winner of San Sebastian getting around with corks hanging off his txapela, I will maintain that Australian flies are worse than Pyrenean

@Richy Pea

@Xyverz Oh it is a beauty. I have the privilege of cycle guiding in the Pyrenees and this is right in the area i guide around (Bareges).. I love this climb (and hate it).. That and the ride up to Gavarnie and the Col du Tentes are some of he best in the area. Please go – it will change your life. It did mine.

How would this compare to The Volcano for pain? Haleakala is another mountain I want to climb…

No flies in Hawaii. OK, a few dengue carrying mosquitos, only in one area, but flies are way down on the suffer list. Actually they are not on the list. Climbing is cruel enough without worrying about flies too. The Volcano does not dish out much pain unless you go at Dutch Monkey speed.

The worst flies are in the Pyrenees… obviously this rider has never been to the west coast of Scotland In midge season…

+1 and you simply can’t see or hear the midge until it’s too late. Avon Skin So Soft Dry Oil, Woodland Fresh is the only thing that I’ve found that counters them. It has the added bonus effect of putting a sheen on the guns and arms but it’s no Baxter…

That’s because the bastard has landed on your blood enriched left calf, and its proboscis is begining to drill into your skin.  At this point, timing is everything.  You must pick a few metres of track, engage extra effort from your body, and take a hand off the bars to whack that prick and not fall off.

But you miss, and the humming starts again.

On a different note, that climb looks amazing.

@Xyverz Oh it is a beauty. I have the privilege of cycle guiding in the Pyrenees and this is right in the area i guide around (Bareges).. I love this climb (and hate it).. That and the ride up to Gavarnie and the Col du Tentes are some of he best in the area. Please go – it will change your life. It did mine.

How would this compare to The Volcano for pain? Haleakala is another mountain I want to climb…

@Xyverz

I want to ride this sometime in my near-ish future. It just looks like a beautiful, painful, climb.

It’s truly beautiful. When you go, be sure to hang out for a while in the cafe in Luz San Sauveur village square, at the foot of the climb. That place just reeks Rule #80 compliance with riders from around the world chatting and sharing their stories.

Is there a time of year that one can go when these li’l fuckers aren’t obnoxious? I’m guessing that if such a time exists, it’ll be a Rule 9 (snow/ice/etc) day?

Get to top, turn around, fly down, mouth open. Revenge.

Pardon the pun.

Ah, the sweet taste of revonge!

@Frank you Dutch photographic plagiarist. I refer you to my gravatar, shot by me as I topped Luz Ardiden last year ha!

While I don’t dispute your assessment of my character in principle, it is in this case the other way around, mate. Photo was taken in 2003 and has been offered as a VVallpaper since 2011, when taking your avatar shot was hardly a twinkle in your camera-hands index finger.

(I also doubt either of us was the first to take a photo from this particularly glorious location.)

The flies around there are truly fucking horrid. I blame it on all the cows and sheep that tend to wander about at the least opportune moments, when you’re either heaving yourself up a mountain or flying down one. I’ve video footage on my Youtube page from the morning I climbed the Col de Solour where you can actually see the buggers buzzing around the camera.

Ouch, Solour (is that spelled right?) is another bad one. We were actually up there training for the L’Etape in ’03 and we hit that one during the event. I have no memory of the bugs on that climb – only the pain.

The worst flies are in the Pyrenees… obviously this rider has never been to the west coast of Scotland In midge season…

I have and I defy anthing to be worse in Europe

The worst flies are in the Pyrenees… obviously this rider has never been to the west coast of Scotland In midge season…

Fair enough. And now I don’t want to, neither.

@meursault

I honestly don’t know where some of you keep these photos just in case there’s a relevant time to post them.

@American Psycho I don’t think too many of us would consider him a Common Cyclist.

Hey Jamie! How was the maritime voyage??

I leave a week from Friday…  Consequently, no Whidbey Cogal, with or without flies.

Oh I hear you brother, I hear you.

Here we get a kind of horsefly that loves sucking cyclist sweat. They bite and you definitely don’t want to get one down inside you jersey!

The worst flies I ever experienced were out in Pillsbury Forest in Northern Minnesota – they were so bad, you’d smack your hand on your neck and get about 15 of them right there. We rode in long-sleeve wind-breakers with the zipper down so the jacket would poof up and the flies couldn’t bite you. And baggy shorts for the same effect.

And there too, I think our speeds were in the 12kp/h range altogether too often.

I want to ride this sometime in my near-ish future. It just looks like a beautiful, painful, climb.

It’s truly beautiful.  When you go, be sure to hang out for a while in the cafe in Luz San Sauveur village square, at the foot of the climb. That place just reeks Rule #80 compliance with riders from around the world chatting and sharing their stories.

Pardon the pun.

The flies around there are truly fucking horrid.  I blame it on all the cows and sheep that tend to wander about at the least opportune moments, when you’re either heaving yourself up a mountain or flying down one. I’ve video footage on my Youtube page from the morning I climbed the Col de Solour where you can actually see the buggers buzzing around the camera.

Good training for the mind. In not minding.