Bugs by The Thousand

My wife and I planned a weekend bike camping trip to evaluate our new racks and panniers for longer trips. The trip would start on Friday night, and we would return around noon on Saturday. It was early June and the temperatures warm.

Friday evening we left the house and about 40 minutes later we arrived at the parking area in Corwin, Ohio. It took a while to load the bikes. We rode and talked. The trip was 30 miles one way. Not a long ride by our standards having easily completed trips twice that long. Personally, having completed several rides over 50 miles in the spring and the Chili Ride, 80 miles, I was simply relaxed.

I guess we started a little later than expected, or we were riding slower than calculated, or I didn't check the time of sunset. Maybe a combination, or all three! I've ridden in the dark before, and we brought our lights with us, just in case they would be needed for the back road trip to John Bryan State Park. As we rode it became more and more obvious that the lights were a necessity. We stopped and I attached the old tungsten light to my handlebars. The newer LED's don't seem to throw the beam that the old tungsten model throws.

We continued on as it grew darker. The road went from easy flat riding past farmland to hills and forest, as we neared the park. That's when I saw what looked like snow in the headlights of a car in front of us. I could hear my wife starting to become upset and mumbling her disgust ahead of me. I took the lead into the giant swarm of mayflies. Each about an inch or so long, the spindley bodies with huge awkward wings fluttering in mass. The bugs were so frail that the impact of a rider would either stun or kill them, sticking the carcass to the riders jersey.

After a  half mile or so the  swarm  dispersed, and  the  route took us to an  intersection.  I was impressed by the fact that my wife toughed out the  swarm, and that she didn't just stop and cry. We stopped to discuss the route and brush the remaining carcasses of our jerseys and legs. A final  hill  slowed us down even more. The forest seemed to close in on the road. The ride became quite eerie as we rode through the forest. The truely creepy part of the ride though was the swarm of mayflies. We pulled into the campground after 9pm. The rest of the folks in the campground confused by the lack of RV, and all the trappings of homely living.

Cycling can be dangerous, and creepy as well.