Yesterday was ride your bike to work day. I took my bike to work, but I didn't ride it. It was in the back of my truck. That probably doesn't count.
After work I jumped on my bike and rode a 200k permanent from San Bernardino to Huntington Beach and back (route #840). The ride went very well considering I'd only had five hours sleep the night before. I stayed alert and strong for the whole ride and the drive home after. But something interesting captured my imagination.
After about 20 miles I noticed a strand of spider silk across my aerobars. At the turn around point I noticed quite a few more strands. Around mile 100 I noticed I now had a full spider's web across my aerobars. We (the spider and I) had passed through several dense clouds of gnats as we rode alongside the Santa Ana river and that web must have caught more gnats than even the greediest of spiders could possibly have eaten. My mouth caught quite a few and I wasn't even trying.
There's no doubt the spider caught far more gnats by building its web on my aerobars than it could have otherwise. This must have given it an evolutionary advantage. Can we expect to see the emergence of a new species of spider 'Aerobar web builder spider' that prefers to build its webs on bicycle handlebars and aerobars? Perhaps there will be a sub-species that specializes on Randonneurs' bicycles. Perhaps they'll become hardwired to recognize Rivendell frames.
So next time you see a spider web on someone's bicycle, don't assume it's because they don't ride. Spiders can actually build a web while a bike is being ridden.
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