# MTBer Swallowed by Man-Eating Spiders...



## cornflake_81 (Jun 5, 2007)

Well, not really. Usually I ride fairly early in the morning on weekdays so I'm generally the first person out on the trails. A lot of days, I believe I'm doing the trail-riding community a favor by clearing out all the spider webs with my specialized spider-web-removal-tool: my face. Its a good thing I ride alone a majority of the time because my reaction to a face-full of spider webs is the same reaction I would have if I, say, were attacked by a rabid puma. :yikes: There's lots of flailing and spitting and just general embarrassing behavior. Oh well, I guess that's just part of "being one with nature". If any of you other intrepid cyclists have similar reactions, fess up so I don't feel like such a wuss.


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## brianc (Jan 13, 2004)

when I first started riding in Indiana, I would have this happen all the time. I hate spiders just as much as you. Good thing I found MTBR and some riding partners hwo were faster them me. they helped solve the problem. =)


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## mobey (Jun 4, 2007)

brianc said:


> when I first started riding in Indiana, I would have this happen all the time. I hate spiders just as much as you. Good thing I found MTBR and some riding partners hwo were faster them me. they helped solve the problem. =)


I didn't know there was ANYONE in Indiana slower than you!


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## PaMtnBkr (Feb 28, 2005)

I used to HATE being the 1st rider down the trails when I lived in Fla. Down there we have these Banana Spiders that are as big as a small childs hand. They weave there webs in natural flyways such as trails through thick brush and trees. They eat bugs and birds, yes, birds and lizards. Basically if it can stay in their web they will eat it! Hit one of those at 7:00 AM and my reaction was always the same, spastic swinging of the arms while bailing off of the bike! Not pretty or even effective, just pure reaction! They aren't really poisonous but will give you a pretty good bite at times. They are not aggressive at all unless you are a food source!


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## justconnor (Jun 14, 2007)

it's time to get a stick duct taped onto your bars to grab some of that up. not a chance in hell i'd be doing that, I HATE spiders.


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## isuckatlax (May 8, 2007)

Haha, yes, not so much for biking, but for XC runs I always make a freshman lead when we go in trails for the first time for the day to clear the trail for everyone else lol...


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## CHUM (Aug 30, 2004)

*arachnidiot*
(ərăk'nĭd'ē-ət)

1. (n.) A person, who, having wandered into an "invisible" spider web begins gyrating and flailing about wildly. See also: arachnijig

*arachnijig *
(ə-răk-nĭ'jĭg)

1. (n.) The involuntary dancing motion one makes when one accidentally walks into a spider web, or is told there's a spider on them.

......i'm guilty of this too......


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## MCF (Apr 13, 2004)

*Banana spiders are the worst....*

and they are as big as a normal woman's hand...we stopped on a trail notorious for getting a face full of web and as we were resting, I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye.....a banana spider was hanging from the visor of my helmet by one leg and trying to climb back up. Naturally, I screamed like a little girl and flailed around like I was on fire to the amusement of my riding buddies......


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## brianc (Jan 13, 2004)

mobey said:


> I didn't know there was ANYONE in Indiana slower than you!


very true. but MTBR let me find people willing the sweep the spider webs just before I rode slowly through them. thank's for you efforts. =)


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## cornflake_81 (Jun 5, 2007)

An old reflector bracket, a couple zip ties, and a dowel rod and you have....
THE GOOFIEST BIKE ACCESSORY EVER!!!!!!








Seriously, I don't think I'd really use this. At least not while anyone is watching.


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## Trigger (Mar 14, 2005)

Here in NY we have tent caterpillars that infest the forests for a few weeks in early summer. At the peak of it, you can't ride 50 ft without riding through a web or dodging a dangling caterpillar. Many stops to wipe the webs off your face, hands, legs & bike. Super suxs...glad it only lasts for a couple weeks.


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## presslab (Jan 5, 2007)

Awesome spiderweb-defender!

I was on a night ride a couple weeks ago and I came flying around a corner to see a huge 5' web across the whole trail with a huge yellow spider in the middle. I tucked in and screamed like a grade school girl as I punched through it.


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## yoginasser (Sep 14, 2006)

What else is the size of a banana spider?


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## NJMX835 (Oct 17, 2006)

Banana spider, not something I'd want on me, lol


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## SuperNewb (Mar 6, 2004)

On this one message board theres a video of some guy riding an overgrown trail and has a cam on his helmet and you can hear him swearing as he rides through all the spider webs and even see a few spiders on the camera (which look big but are just small). I'd link to it but you have to be a member to watch it.


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## endohappy (Dec 4, 2006)

I love early early morning rides (when I can do them) but yeah, I'm a bit wimpish about the spiders I'll admit. The only scary spiders were got around here are Black Widows and Tarantulas and neither hang across trails. If I had to face that banana spider, I think I would totally puss out even though I'm sure it's harmless. But we got rattlesnakes everywhere you turn and they don't bother me. Makes no sense.


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## Ken in KC (Jan 12, 2004)

*Duck in....*



cornflake_81 said:


> Well, not really. Usually I ride fairly early in the morning on weekdays so I'm generally the first person out on the trails. A lot of days, I believe I'm doing the trail-riding community a favor by clearing out all the spider webs with my specialized spider-web-removal-tool: my face. Its a good thing I ride alone a majority of the time because my reaction to a face-full of spider webs is the same reaction I would have if I, say, were attacked by a rabid puma. :yikes: There's lots of flailing and spitting and just general embarrassing behavior. Oh well, I guess that's just part of "being one with nature". If any of you other intrepid cyclists have similar reactions, fess up so I don't feel like such a wuss.


Up until this season, I rode nearly every morning with Diamond Dave. Depending on which of us was feeling stronger on a particular day, we would both assume spider web clearing duty.

My advice is to duck in to them and catch the web and spider with your helmet. If the spider can, it'll drop off. If it can't, it will tuck in to your helmet vent and drop off when you stop.

A long since moved away riding buddy had a very zen approach to riding. I try to emulate his approach as much as possible. His response to spiders and their webs: "Yeah man, they're great! It means that I am the first person to ride the trails today. And they eat mosquitoes. That's cool."


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## btadlock (Oct 3, 2005)

PaMtnBkr said:


> I used to HATE being the 1st rider down the trails when I lived in Fla. Down there we have these Banana Spiders that are as big as a small childs hand. They weave there webs in natural flyways such as trails through thick brush and trees. They eat bugs and birds, yes, birds and lizards. Basically if it can stay in their web they will eat it! Hit one of those at 7:00 AM and my reaction was always the same, spastic swinging of the arms while bailing off of the bike! Not pretty or even effective, just pure reaction! They aren't really poisonous but will give you a pretty good bite at times. They are not aggressive at all unless you are a food source!


What little trail riding I did in Fl was permanently tainted by Banana Spiders and their insidious webs, I now and always have despised spiders. I am certain that I could not only match, but probably better anyone's spider/spider web freak out. :eekster:

Good thing about riding at 8000ft plus, not many spiders/spider webs.


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## Sideknob (Jul 14, 2005)

We get lots of different Orb weavers here in summer - including the large, ugly and painful Golden Orb with it's large, very stretchy golden coloured web. Hate 'em.


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## lidarman (Jan 12, 2004)

This is a great thread and my experience when I first rode in Atlanta. I have the same response to spider on orbs as Indiana Jones does with pits of snakes, so you can imagine I wasn't happy when I had a banana spider trapped between his web and my face. I'm sure the spider wasn't happy either.

After that moment, I grabbed a stick and waved it in front of me the rest of the ride, looking probably like some idiot who thinks he is Sir Lancelot on a bike.


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## sandblast (Mar 27, 2006)

You guys are really helping me justify the cost of my So. Cal home right now. Who cares about an extra couple of hunderd thou- if one of those bannana spiders even looked at me I'd become a roadie. F that. (mental note: NEVER ride on the east coast).


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## dirt farmer (Mar 28, 2005)

Just beware the Brown Recluse. It will mess you up!

Here is Day 6 post-bite: 









...and here is day 10!


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## singletrax (Apr 18, 2007)

Holy crap! I hope you're ok, and that is from a long time ago.


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## cornflake_81 (Jun 5, 2007)

dirt farmer said:


> Just beware the Brown Recluse. It will mess you up!
> 
> Here is Day 6 post-bite:
> 
> ...


Now, see, that's the kind of stuff that makes me paranoid. And brown recluses are really common here. Hence, my new riding suit....


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## lidarman (Jan 12, 2004)

singletrax said:


> Holy crap! I hope you're ok, and that is from a long time ago.


Those aren't his pix...They are stolen from the web.


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## 317000 (Mar 2, 2007)

NJMX835 said:


> Banana spider, not something I'd want on me, lol


**** **** **** ****!!!!


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## 317000 (Mar 2, 2007)

cornflake_81 said:


> Now, see, that's the kind of stuff that makes me paranoid. And brown recluses are really common here. Hence, my new riding suit....


i can only imagine getting bitten on the face


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## fixedpigs (May 2, 2006)

*they rebuild fast...*



Ken in KC said:


> His response to spiders and their webs: "Yeah man, they're great! It means that I am the first person to ride the trails today.


not necessarily...

one of my more memorable rides of past lore was when i rode through twenty-two spider webs...

the last two were on a section of trail that i had already cleared at the beginning of my ride...

i too...had a spider dangling down off of the left side of my visor right in front of my eye...it was just swinging back and forth about two inches down...

i'm pretty sure i cussed a lot that day...


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## RiskEverything (Mar 23, 2006)

We have plenty of brown recluse and black widow spiders here (FL). I suppose I'm lucky that I haven't been bitten yet. They are not an uncommon site at all. Of course, they're too small to notice while riding. The Banana and Orb Weaver spiders, of course, are plenty large enough to see.

The SWAMP club is in the process of adding another "rabbit ear" to the Alafia trail system. All the "rabbit ear" trails have a nice climb at the start, then a sharp turn and steep drop and some varied obstacles on the way back out. They are elongated loops and the exits are very near the entrances.

Anyhow- the new "ear" has the decent cut into very thick brush and there is a very large Orb Weaver with a very large web strung out right over the begining of the decent. Not low enough to actually hit it, but placed just right so you can be looking at it as you make the turn and start going down.

I'm glad I don't ride the ears yet.


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## schnee (Oct 15, 2005)

I thought you only risked being bit by a recluse when digging through wood piles and the like because, they're... you know... reclusive.


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## Genom (Mar 20, 2007)

,


Trigger said:


> Here in NY we have tent caterpillars that infest the forests for a few weeks in early summer. At the peak of it, you can't ride 50 ft without riding through a web or dodging a dangling caterpillar. Many stops to wipe the webs off your face, hands, legs & bike. Super suxs...glad it only lasts for a couple weeks.


Bleah, I can't stand those damn things. You can't believe how much time I spend in the parking lot after a ride brushing myself off.

Last year was just about the worst I had seen here on Long Island...I actually stayed away from the trails for a week.


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## Hewi (Jul 5, 2007)

dirt farmer said:


> Just beware the Brown Recluse. It will mess you up!
> 
> Here is Day 6 post-bite:
> 
> ...


Thats one of the most horrible things ive ever seen in my life... and ive seen some messed up ****...
The bannana spider was definatly up there with things i hate more than anything.

Im the biggest arachna-pansy you will ever met... i honestly cant even look at the picture of that spider with out getting the heebe-jeebies...


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## norm (Feb 20, 2005)

lidarman said:


> Those aren't his pix...They are stolen from the web.


Do you know if that was still from a spider bite. Wow, thats brutal either way.


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## Clutchman83 (Apr 16, 2006)

Spiders give me the creeps but I get along with them because at least they eat the mosquitos. Thats a critter I cannot stand! I've been chased by hoards that were so thick you couldn't breathe without sucking some of them into your throat... blech! Especially now that we have reported cases of West Nile Virus in my area I am extremely wary of the skeeters and more forgiving of the spiders.


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## joebiker207 (Aug 20, 2006)

That is F-ing NASTY


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## wheelie man (Jul 10, 2007)

Haha, after reading this thread I've been feeling things crawling up my arms! 
I never should have clicked on this link....


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## yoginasser (Sep 14, 2006)

This thread is full of pussies.


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## steeltoe (Aug 8, 2005)

See my FL thread. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=307890

If I had known when I got into this the amount of arachnid adversity I would have gotten those dang roller blades instead. Now I have to battle the 8-legged critters to justify my investment. I'm thinking of riding in a bee keepers outfit.


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## Frozenspokes (May 26, 2004)

Back when I lived in Fayetteville, NC, we called the guy who rode up front "Spiderman". No banana's thank god, but plenty of little ones.

We also called the mosquitos "trainers" because the only time they didn't bite was when you were moving.

Good time,......good times.


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