leeanders
Member
Freeways and bumblebees – add a motorcycle to the mix and interesting things can happen. One summer afternoon in 1971, (in my younger days), living near Pasadena, California, I decided to take a solo bike ride from Pasadena to Azusa, then up the San Gabriel Canyon Road (Hwy 39), a Dead Inn road north up into the San Gabriel Mountains. It was a beautiful mountainous area in which to ride a motorcycle. At that time, Interstate10, approaching from the west, stopped just before reaching Pasadena. That freeway now is referred to as the Foothills Freeway and is numbered 210.
I was riding my first ‘four cycle’ engined motorcycle – it was a Honda CB350. They were pretty basic little bikes, no windshield, not much of a seat, and drum brakes. But, for me slowly moving my way up to larger displacement bikes, I thought that 350 was great!
On the way back toward Pasadena, on I-10, riding along about 65mph, I saw ahead what looked like a big butt bug coming directly at me. He and I both tried to miss the other, but at our closing speed – didn’t happen. It was a Bumblebee, I found out later, who collided with my top lip and disintegrated, all except his stinger which was repeatedly using my lip to vent his dying frustration with me for getting in his way.
Pulled off the freeway, and scraped away as much of him as I could manage. By the time I arrived home my top lip resembled a balloon. It was severe enough I had to go to the doctor. End result, because such a high concentration of venom had been injected, I was placed on prescription antihistamines for about five years following, due to a systemic allergic reaction. I was cautioned not to be around bees, as the next time; even a simple bee sting could possibly cause death, due to an anaphylactic reaction, where victims experience wheezing, difficulty breathing, and a drop in blood pressure that leads to shock if not treated promptly. Statistics indicate around 50 people are killed each year in the U.S. due to severe anaphylactic reactions to bee stings.
Still, for many years after that, I continued to ride motorcycles without fairings. In the 1980s, I bought my first bike with a windshield – can’t stand to ride without one now, but it was good back then – just wish that Bumblebee and taken another freeway!
I was riding my first ‘four cycle’ engined motorcycle – it was a Honda CB350. They were pretty basic little bikes, no windshield, not much of a seat, and drum brakes. But, for me slowly moving my way up to larger displacement bikes, I thought that 350 was great!
On the way back toward Pasadena, on I-10, riding along about 65mph, I saw ahead what looked like a big butt bug coming directly at me. He and I both tried to miss the other, but at our closing speed – didn’t happen. It was a Bumblebee, I found out later, who collided with my top lip and disintegrated, all except his stinger which was repeatedly using my lip to vent his dying frustration with me for getting in his way.
Pulled off the freeway, and scraped away as much of him as I could manage. By the time I arrived home my top lip resembled a balloon. It was severe enough I had to go to the doctor. End result, because such a high concentration of venom had been injected, I was placed on prescription antihistamines for about five years following, due to a systemic allergic reaction. I was cautioned not to be around bees, as the next time; even a simple bee sting could possibly cause death, due to an anaphylactic reaction, where victims experience wheezing, difficulty breathing, and a drop in blood pressure that leads to shock if not treated promptly. Statistics indicate around 50 people are killed each year in the U.S. due to severe anaphylactic reactions to bee stings.
Still, for many years after that, I continued to ride motorcycles without fairings. In the 1980s, I bought my first bike with a windshield – can’t stand to ride without one now, but it was good back then – just wish that Bumblebee and taken another freeway!
