🌲 A Mountain Biker’s Guide to Nature (MBGTN) is a series dedicated to exploring the natural world that intersects with the trails we ride.
For those who mountain bike in the northern hemisphere, it’s spider season out on the trails. According to schoolofbugs.com, spiders tend to be the most active during the early autumn months, blanketing spider webs of forested singletrack in well, actual spider webs.
Over the past few weeks I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve encountered a face full of web, which got me frustrated but curious to learn a bit more about these crafty creatures. It turns out there isn’t one species of spider responsible for building all of those often invisible, trail-spanning webs, and the spiders we encounter will vary depending on where we ride. Even within my own backyard I found large webs spun by black-, brown-, and green-colored spiders of various sizes and shapes.
Spiders can often be identified, in part, by the type of web they spin. Orb-shaped and tangled webs of thin, semi-transparent silk tend to span long distances and are the ones mountain bikers are likely to encounter when riding singletrack. Wooly webs can be easier to spot since they are more dense and white or gray in appearance, while sheet and funnel webs usually stick closer to the ground. It’s said that spider silk is five times stronger than steel, though it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing bike frames made from the stuff anytime soon.
Of course all the things that make for an effective bug-catching net — stickiness, transparency, and coverage size — mean mountain bikers have a tough time avoiding them on the trail. If you’re feeling guilty for knocking down webs with your bike as a part of your ride, keep in mind that spiders are used to rebuilding their webs throughout the day. In fact, most can spin a web in 30 minutes to an hour, which is why you may encounter new webs on a return trip down the same trail later in the day.
Now, about that scary-looking spider at the top of the article. This prolific web spinner is part of a class of spiders known as Banana spiders, and they are generally found in warmer climates. So named because they like building webs among the leaves of banana plants, most are harmless, though some varieties are known to bite humans if they are disturbed. If you’re into spotting spiders, these can often be found on trails in the southeast like Santos in Florida.
When I’m riding, I have to say spiders don’t bother me as much as their webs do. On web-infested group rides, no one is willing to stay out front for long, and the tallest rider (usually me) generally suffers the most, even at the back of the pack. I’ve cut many a ride short because a trail is just too webby to enjoy. And that’s likely just fine with the spiders.
Your turn: What are the spiders like where you ride?
Share This:
It is amazing how different parts of the country have their unique challenges. Having ridden in AZ and ID for 26 years now, I can never remember hitting a spider web that covered the front of the bike like the photo in the article. A stray strand floating by once in a while but never a full blown web covering the trail. Webs of that number and frequency would put a damper on fall riding for sure.
We have a ton of spiders on the trails right now, mainly Banana spiders. When I ride with others, we call the lead rider the webmaster because they get covered with all the spider webs and clear them for the other riders.
Haha webmaster. Imma have to use that one.
Mid-Atlantic region and spider webs are a part of any early morning ride! I joke about clearing the trail for the riders who come after me when I’m heading back home. That said, this time of year is absolutely the worst!
I’m in the midwest and trails are covered with little orb weavers. I’ve relocated several to my garage as they hide on my bike and helmet and then climb out overnight and fill my garage with webs.
For the sake of accuracy, the spider shown in this article is called a Joro spider. While it shares many similarities with banana spiders, it is distinguishable by the red splotch of color on its abdomen and a lack of thick, brush-like hairs between the segments/joints of its legs. It also builds two additional unstructured webs on either side of the main circular web. It is not native to the United States as it, most likely, hitched a ride on a container ship from Asia where it originates.
Thanks for the correction! I ran into that guy on a trail near Brunswick, Georgia. There is a port nearby so perhaps he was a hitchhiker…
For a while I thought I was the only one dealing with this problem. I just got back from vacation in TN and I pulled/plucked three spiders off my while riding, had to stop and take my helmet off to remove two spiders, got back to my truck and removed six additional spiders from various areas on myself and the bike. My handle bars were covered in webs just like the picture and one spider was smart enough to spin a web between the cables while I was riding!