lsberrios1 

So this is my commute to work this morning.. On my new Giant TCR SL .

I was going down a hill at about 30 mph when all of a sudden I feel like something stabbed me in the throat. I kept riding but the pain did not subside...At first I thought that my helmet strap had taken a hair of my upper chest / throat area but it did not want to go away...

I kept riding. Got to a stop light then all of a sudden.... BOOM, THE SAME BURNING THING IN MY LEFT BELLY. I was aching at the stop light not knowing what to do... I said "holly crap, maybe I have developed a sensitive skin allergy to the straps on my backpack" (stupid assumption but I was not going to stop).

Get to work take off my clothes and realized that I have stings in my throat and my left belly. 1 on my throat, 4 on my left belly. I though "oh well at least I know it was some sort of insect, but it's gone".

I go change, pick up my back pack to go home in the afternoon and BOOM!!! Another sting in my index finger.... I was like WTF!!! THrow the backpack, look at the floor and htere is THIS (see photo)...

IT HURT...

WalksOn2Wheels

I got a sting from one of those suckers earlier this summer. Those are probably going to look a lot worse before they look better. I think it took a week or two for mine to heal. And mosquito bites usually swell up and disappear in less than 24 hours on me.

datlas 

Yellow Jacket wasp. I have had them sting me before. Very unpleasant. I feel your pain.

BillyD

You'll live.

Radish_legs

Rule #5 .

HardyWeinberg

FLvector

That's a Baldfaced Hornet. They build a large paper nest and protect it vigorously. It might be near your commute, so if you see it, give some distance. They will swarm if disturbed.

Here's a link for more info if interested. If your throat doesn't completely swell shut in the next 24 hours you should survive.

After pulling a pair a jeans from the clothes line and putting them on, realized I had a bumblebee buzzing inside around the groin area. Not sure how I didn't get stung multiple times, but they had to come off. And it didn't matter where I was.

bruce19

I've had this happen on two club rides this season. BTW check out this cross bike I bought. Colnago World Cup. I'm loving this thing. For those wondering why I'm posting my new bike here, the OP and I know each other from Ducati rallies and I'm just updating.

lsberrios1 

That is gorgeous, Bruce! Congrats!

RPK79

The first stings don't surprise me too much, but it still being there when you went home?! That's some dedication.

chip1

I had the same thing happen to me...except it was just a harmless beetle. I felt some itching throughout the ride but I ignored it thinking it was just an inner tag from the jersey. I freaked out after finding out what it was. Had it been a yellow jacket I would've surely passed out.

CliffordK

I've gotten snagged by yellow jackets a few times on the bike. The last was on the neck a few days ago as I was just riding along.

But, I don't let a single bee get me a dozen times

My worst... Well, it wasn't biking. I was up hiking along a river. I lost the trail and had made my way down to the river, then boated upstream to my campsite. I knew where the trail was from the campsite, so I thought I'd explore a bit. Left the wallet with my pack. Went upstream a bit more, then started climbing up to the trail. I must have hit a ground nest... bees everywhere. The only thing I could think of doing was running back down to the river and diving in (nothing in my pockets that water could hurt). As soon as I was under the water, they just went away, and ignored my boat too. I probably only had a dozen stings.

Dad's worst... We bought a "new" piece of property which we decided to plow (perhaps the first time in decades). He was doing square corners where he would plow forward, then reverse and turn, then start plowing forward again. Anyway, he plowed up a nest on a corner. Then put the tractor in reverse and backed over the nest by which time the bees were quite angry. So he jumped off and started running across the field to get away, only to see his tractor slowly backing across the field, with a swarm of bees around it. So he had to head back and shut off the tractor.

Apparently he was just literally covered with bees. So, after cleaning them all off him, Mom decided he should go to the ER. But fortunately he was just fine.

Ravenwing

Heh, had a similar thing happen once when pulling pasture spruce out with a team of oxen and a chain. I was working the chain while another guy worked the team. Yup, yellow jacket nest. The other guy's yelling at me to unhook the chain! Really didn't want to do that, but otherwise the nest was going to keep going with the team. It pretty much sucked. Would have been entertaining to watch at a distance, though!

Juan Foote

So long as there is no allergy.

I carry Benedryl around in my bag for such instances. Best case scenario I get a HUGE black bruise and lots of swelling. The two next best outcomes involve Epi pens and trips in Whambulances.

Rowan

As far as I am aware, bumblebees don't have a stinger.

If it had been a stinging bee (as opposed to the bumble variety), it would have only stung him the once. The stinger on a bee comes out, ending its stinging ability and it is enough to kill the bee itself.

Wasps are nasty. I have had one right on the lip, going downhill around 35mph. The swelling went down after three or four days. The taste was awful.

Gramin

From your link:

"Effective control can only be achieved by stealthy approach and then spraying the pressurized material directly into the nest opening – holding the nozzle against the hole. The pressure of the spray in addition to the nozzle will ****** any attempts by the wasps to exit."

Are you f'ing kidding me!? Not only do I need to approach with stealth... and not only do I need spray some crap on the nest... but I have to get close enough so that I can hold the nozzle against the hole so they can't get out while I'm spraying!? Let's hope it's a big ass nozzle... and that yellow jackets are better builders than humans and don't have any leaks.

Jakedatc

Rowan, Bumblebees in the US do have stingers. there are stingless bees out there tho.

OP will just need the right gear next time (i have 2 honeybee hives)

FLvector

They do. The stinger is not barbed as with the honey bees. They can sting multiple times, but are usually not very aggressive compared to other stinging insects such as hornets and yellow jackets.

FLvector

If you don't dress in the garb that jacdatc posted while attempting to destroy a nest, you're asking for trouble.

Rowan

OK. The bumblebees introduced into Australia don't.