I was riding in Black water state forest today, my favorite place to ride around here. The logging roads go everywhere and there's lots of single track too. The problem this time of year is big banana spiders.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/fa86f3d3d...xy6oo1_400.jpg

I know to go slow anywhere the trail narrows, as thats where they usually build their webs, face high. I was riding on a fire road that was at least 12' wide when I saw it, too late. I rode through the web with a 3" spider landing on my chest. I stopped and jumped off the bike,dropping it in my rush to get my helmet and shirt off. These damn things give me the hebbie jebbies. I had already stopped and cleared 4 others off my forks and headlight,prior to that.
I'm thinking about duct taping a branch on my handlebars next time, just to catch them before they land on me.
marc

 

holy **** dude

 

Gulp! And I thought Wolf spiders were big.
I'd make a flame thrower if it were me.

 

I don't know...I don't think that's a banana spider. I think it's called a Golden Silk Orb-Weaver, but it gets generically called a banana spider sometimes, even though they don't look much alike to me. The real banana spider if very toxic and maybe the most poisonous spider around. The Orb Weaver has some venom but not at all deadly or that toxic. They do look scary.

Golden silk orb-weaver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I don't care what kind it is - that's one badass lookin arachnid.

One thing I like about riding in Maine - no poisonous spiders or snakes.

 

Id probably **** myself and pass out. Lol. Might have to skip that part of the riding season...

 

Speaking of spiders...
In my shop a couple of weeks ago.



That utility box cover is 4 1/4" square.


Oh, and:



Ron

 

Pfffft, Ron. Here in Texas we have spiders, scorpions, and rattlers so big, we use .308 rifles to hunt them. Why just the other day I had the front end alignment knocked out of my pickup truck from running over a tarantula, it was so big. Then, there was the rattlesnake that was so big, that we...well...you get the idea.

On a serious note, Ron, I know the real danger from a scorpion in your neck of the woods is from a tiny, almost translucent little bugger than can really put a hurt on you. And as anyone with rattlers in their backyard knows, an 18" rattler can kill you just as dead as a 6-footer. It's funny on those tarantulas. They look hideous, but we have little to fear from them. Those brown recluse and black widows are much more problematic. I never kill a tarantula here at home, but I'll kill every brown recluse and black widow I find. It's funny...I live in the country, and 19 years ago when we moved in, I would see a scorpion occasionally. I haven't seen a scorpion in many years...and haven't seen any horny toads for a long time either. I think fire ants have diminished these species in our area as they have done with others.

 

I want a pet scorpian

 

I used to mountain bike ride at Jack Brooks park south of Houston and those "Banana Spiders" were all over the place in the Fall. One got into my mountain bike helmet, as I accidently rode through it's web. It wasn't, to say the least, a comfortable feeling. I realized their webs were like every twenty feet. It really kind of creeped me out. There is (or was I haven't been there in five years) a long wooden ramp going down a hill with the image of a spider burned into it. For the longest time I had no idea what that meant. Then one September day I found out, the hard way. I'm glad to back in Arizona tarantulas don't bother me at all.