2.6 oz vs. 250 lbs

The park is next to a large saltwater bay and is stunning in the morning when the sun is first coming up. I found myself contently pedaling away on my mountain bike with the intention of riding at least 10 miles and possibly more.

I'm not the best cyclist in the world so after just a few miles I was already gassing a bit. Seems I may never get into shape but at least today was nice and with no wind it was easy going. I decided to press hard and make a workout of it.

Within minutes after speeding up I was in the middle of a swarm of some type of flying bug. They were large, ugly, and scary while making their buzzing sounds and trying to avoid me as I pedaled through.

Breathing heavily as I was I managed to suck one in on the way by. he was not one to go down easily, so to speak, and the bug lodged at the back of my throat, obviously hanging on for dear life. It was about this time that his buddy came to help and hit me square in the back of the neck. It didn't sting, it just held there with it's boney little feet digging into my skin while I tried to cough up his friend. By now I had stopped the bike and gotten off and was desperately trying to spit up the intruder. Finally, after dry heaving a few times and continuously swatting at the one on my neck, I managed to get them loose. My victory was short lived as the one in my mouth decided my tongue would be a good place to latch on and, to my dismay, clamped down firmly.

The outlook was becoming grim as I tried to dislodge the little bugger but he was actually tearing my tongue. I finally decided to go Fear Factor  on him and started chewing the critter like a chocolate covered peanut... at which time he let go. I spit him out along with a bit of blood all the while swatting at the other one hovering around my face.

Jumping back on my bike I did my level best to out run the attackers and eventually I felt safe enough to slow down and get a drink of water. I have no idea what type of bugs these were or why they decided I could be lunch. All I can say is, they did not taste like chicken.