only once while riding - I took a yellow jacket to the chest at about 20 miles an hour a couple weeks ago, it bounced off and hit me stinger side down on the right arm. I'm pretty sure it died in the incident so I suppose I got off easy lol.

At the weekend Cycle Oregon a few years ago, we were returning past fields with beehives. Early afternoon. Hundreds of cyclists riding into thousands of heavily loaded honeybees returning to their hives. The bees did a remarkable job of missing us. On average, we hit ~3 each and I heard of no stings.

I doubt if you would have had much trouble with that swarm. Those bees are on a mission, to follow and escort their queen to the new home of her choosing. Stinging some in the way mammal and dying because of it is completely outside their marching orders. (I would do my best to not hit the queen.)

Ben

Only once when I was a teenager. I was biking through the river valley and I hit a wasp nest hanging from a tree. I counted 28 stings. Felt a bit light headed and I walked my bike home.

Years ago while cycling with a friend, she suddenly stopped in the middle of a long downhill section of our ride. I learned later that she had been stung on her nipple. OUCH!!! We were on our way to a town called Hope in western New Jersey. When she resumed riding and met up with me, she had a look of horror on her face as she asked in a pitiful, despairing voice, "Where's Hope?" We still laugh about it now, but it was no laughing matter at the time (actually, I think we did get a good laugh from it at the time). Fortunately when entering the town of Hope, we soon came upon an emergency response station where she received medical attention.

I still remember the medical caregiver telling us that if it ever happened again and we were in the middle of nowhere, the thing to do is to mix some water with dirt, smear the resulting mud on the area of the sting, and let it dry. As it dries, we were told, it supposedly draws out the venom. I don't know if that actually works or not.

It sounds plausible to me, and I'll bear it in mind!

Wasn't while commuting & over 30 years ago on a cycling camping trip. Caught a yellow jacket in the ear. Had an Alfred E Newman ear for a couple of days

A wet teabag will relieve some insect bites and stings. Used teabags are fine. It may be the cool compress as much as the tea that provides the relief.

One that I remember: A bee made her way up my shorts leg, stinging me on the inside of the thigh. I was happy she didn't make it up any farther!

I've been stung a few times, but don't consider it more than an annoyance. There's some pain and swelling, but In some ways I'd rather deal with the short term pain, than days of itching from other insect bites.

BTW- I once had a bee hit me near the mouth, then bounce or crawl in and sting me inside the lip. That did hurt, but he got the worst of it when I bit him back. (Bees taste very sour).

Took a bee right to the neck at 22mph. Immediately stung me and nearly knocked me off the bike. Also took one to the top of a freshly shaved head as it made its way into my helmet through the vents as I rode by. That one really hurt.

The only times I've ever been stung was shen I moved to a new city (St. Louis) where I was stung on each of my first three mtn. bike rides. Fortunately I didn't crash, but it sure made me wonder about midwest mtn biking....

only stung once by a red wasp, but most of my rides are along creeks, and I've eaten many bugs

I'm sorry, but the thought of somebody actually crashing due to a tiny bee seems hilarious to me. It would be especially funny if the rider was swatting and yelling. (but didn't get hurt bad)

Yellow jackets are wasps not bees. This means they can sting repeatedly. Bees lose their stinger after one hit. Over the past seven years I've been stung by something only twice. A lot of my commute is through the woods. Because of this I have been bitten by spiders at least a half a dozen times. For me they cause way more trauma.

Once on my way home from work back in Cali, I got stung by a bee square in the sternum about 1mi into a 11mi commute. Somehow, I did not fall over with the searing pain in my chest. I came to the next red light pretty quick, grabbed my chest, got the bee out of my shirt (he was at my shoulder by then, not that it mattered) and kept going. I was OK by the time I got home.

Had a teeny bug hit me in the inner corner of my eye and sting my eyeball this summer. I was blind for several minutes. My eyeball was red and ached for several days, and it gave me a bad headache. Ugh.

Got nailed this summer by something that hit my neck and dropped into my t-shirt. Stung me right dead center on my sternum. So I went home and told everyone that I got hit with sudden-onset chest pain while on a 20-mile ride, but I pushed through it and lived.