Tandem Cycling - I was hit today on the tandem

No, not by a car, though I have had my fair share of that. It some sort of bug.

My wife and I were about 1/3 of the way into our ride, flying along and feeling great. We were leveling out from a nice downhill and spinning along at about 35 mph. Suddenly I see a blur of something flying straight towards me at face level. No time to move, but plenty of time to experience pain as whatever it was hit me on the jaw, right below my ear. All my wife saw was me flinch and pieces of something go by. We think it was a bee based on the fact that after coming to a stop my wife pulled what looked to be a stinger out of my face. Spent the next while swollen. Needless to say, kind of cut the ride a bit shorter than we had planned.

I've ridden for years and eaten plenty of bugs, but this was certainly a first.

On a positive note, I now sort of know that I am not allergic to bee stings.

Very glad to here you weren't allergic to bee sting that would not have been good!
I can tell your still in a little shock from the type O (35 mpg) that's no problem I didn't have a problem understanding what you were trying to say. I'm not one of those who will tell you to learn to spell type, just glad your OK it could of been a really bad situation.

I can tell your still in a little shock from the type O (35 mpg)

Oh wait, it was a tree across the head, not a bee. :thumb:

Been stung twice by a bee in 33+ years of piloting our tandems.
Once, leading a paceline bee stung me just above the knee. Whacked it and never swerved or missed a pedal stroke. Turned red later.
Another time, within 1/2 mile from home, bee stung me on lower lip. Flinched a bit, pedaled home. Put on some meat tenderizer to stop swelling.
Another time, bee landed on left temple of my glasses and wandered around a bit and even crawled out on to my glasses mounted mirror. Turbulence eventually knocked it off.
Heard of folks getting them caught up in their helmets . . .
Rather take a hit by a bee than car or truck (been there, done that too!).
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I will never forget the look on Red Riders face, bombing downhill, both hands unzipping her jersey and shaking a bee out of her clothes, only to come to the sudden realization that she never rides without hands, never mind she was going over 25 mph at the time. :roflmao2::roflmao2::roflmao2:

She didn't crash and it didn't sting her. All was good.

I was stung by a bee once on the arm while ridding... no big deal. In the spring time in Central CA farmers use a lot of bees to pollinate citrus, almonds, etc. So it is common for bike ridders to get stung. We also have something worst: Fire flies. They are this small mosquitos that get into your eyes and once you smash them with your eyelids or fingers, they produce this chemical than forces you to close your eyes because of the sting... not fun.

Had never been stung in over forty years on bikes, motorcycles or open cars until three weeks ago when a wasp got me in the neck while riding our tandem near home. Then incredibly, just one week ago, I was stung again by a wasp on my lower lip while riding the tandem. Both times it stung like hell for a while and I had swelling the size of a golf ball for three days...then the swelling was gone and all was well...the way I figure it, I'm good now for about 20 years before the next one!

Bill J.

Was talking to my trainer today and he said I was the third cyclist he'd heard about getting stung over the weekend here. Hmmmm.... Coordinated attack?

Have only been stung once by a bee while riding. It hit me in the face, but bounced onto my leg and stung me there. My first instinct after pulling the stinger out was to stop but then decided to just keep riding. I already knew what happend and there wasn't anything I really needed to stop for.

The adrenaline in my system caused the swelling to completely dissapear until I stopped riding. When I did stop, the swelling came back, only less swolen over a larger area. A larger area on my leg surrounding the sting location was just a little sore.

We had a close call this weekend with a big old bumble bee. (fifty cent piece sized:eek:) We had completed our 68 mile ride. We were in the car on the way home and all of a sudden this huge bumble bee crawls onto my wife's skirt. She swatted at it once, I looked over and told her to be calm, then frantically pulled over and urged her to slowly get out of the car. It flew off. That was a close call.

We figured out that it came in while we were out on our ride. I had the windows cracked to keep the car cooler. It must have flown in while we were away.

That sounds like as much fun as when a buddy dropped a lit bottle rocket in the car as we were driving along. Ah, the stupidity of youth.

What's the last thing that goes through a big dragon fly's mind when it gets hit by a bikers forehead at over 50 mph? Its butt. Had to wait a few minutes to wipe off the guts and pull the carcass pieces from between my forehead and helmet since I was too busy staying in controll of a 3k foot 14% descent. On a single. Been stung 4 times, once on the tandem. Utah bees are mean.