Ouch !!.... That HuRtS !!

My entry into full face helmets was caused by a wasp that flew into my helmet and stung me 3 or 4 times before I could get stopped. I couldnt see, and thought I was going to die. I had to sit by the road a couple hours, and then couldnt get my helmet back on. Stingers sure do suck.

Hello; I remember a bird strike in Tennesee, it was a Cardinal it hit me in the middle of my chest like a Larry Holmes uppercut. It knocked my hands off the bars but I squeezed my legs on the tank and didn't fall off. The impact actually knocked the wind out of me. I got stopped and had some anxious moments getting breathing again. Oh yea it knocked my eyeglasses off too. So there I was 3000 miles from home with no eyesight and unable to breathe.

Bee strikes; I ride with a Nolan 100 usually closed, unless I'm going very slow or stopped waiting for a light. About twice a year I've had hornets get into the ear cup and if they survive the trip, sting away. You have to sti there and take it until you can get stopped. Thank goodness I am not allergic and just have the pain of the sting to deal with.

I also remember getting hit on one shoulder by a June bug in Ontario on a late autumn evening. It pulled my arm off the bars, and nearly caused a crash. I had a passenger on the back, and the impact nearly knocked us both off. June bugs are great big, hummingbird size crusty rocks that can just barely fly.

I have hit dogs too, but you usually get enough warning from them to get braced, so even though I actually cut a beagle in half, I didn't fall off.

Once while in Nevada in heavy freeway traffic I came upon a load of four by four strewn across the highway. With traffic at about 75 mph about all i could do is hang on and thump through it all. I couldn't believe that my Yamaha just danced over the mess of diagonal 12 foot 4x4's at 75 mph without even knocking me out of my lane. That happened in 1983.

I've only been riding since last April and so far, in 4200 miles, I've had 2 birds head right for my head, a big fat bumble bee practically repaint my white Shoei, and the Geico squirrels try and take me out by doing that switchback manuever that they're so famous for!!! And that's just close-calls from ANIMALS!!! Bad drivers have tried in vein to do me in on several occasions, too. It's a tough world for us riders to co-exist in out there!!! Unfortunately, a guy died in Hunterdon county NJ this summer from when he was hit in the chest by a turkey buzzard. The bird didn't do him in, but rather the head-on collision he had with an oncoming motorist who had STOPPED when he saw the rider battling with the bird--a very bad and sad turn of events.

Oklahoma june bug

"I also remember getting hit on one shoulder by a June bug in Ontario on a late autumn evening."

This dude (dudette?) was big and a highly accurate flyer. I had on a full face with dark glasses while crossing OK. Had my visor up since that bike had a fairing. This bugger nailed me on the forehead between the top of my glasses and the helmet. My vision tunneled down to black and then slowly opened back up again. It was scary, but fortunately the freeway is arrow straight so I just held the bars straight until vision returned.