Got hit for the first time today...
 

... Oh, calm down. I'm fine. I didn't get hit like that.

I was climbing up a hill at a decent speed when a bee or wasp collided with my bottom lip. Got stung, lip is still swollen 4 hours later and it did hurt/still hurts like hell.

It's been my first insect-in-mouth experience. I've been "full-time" cyclo-commuting for almost a a year now and I'm surprised it's taken this long. I ride with my mouth open more often than I realize and Gainesville, FL is known for a few things: Don't Taze Me Bro, Tim Tebow, and Terry "Hot Quaran" Jones. One thing you don't realize if you aren't familiar with N. Florida is that there's a lot of bugs.

It makes me think about any kind of facial protection. I've been eyeing some eye-wear (pun intended) for a bit now but I'd never thought about mouth or other facial protection. I did plan on wearing a Balaclava this year for those really cold mornings though.

Any others have had a flying protein bite during your commutes?

I got hit by a wasp or hornet in the neck and it went down my shirt. Got me once on the chest pretty much right away so I started smacking and thought I got him. About ten minutes later he got me again on my side. The second time I got off the bike, shirt off etc. Glad I was on a pretty much empty section of the bike path. I'm sure it was quite the sight. Some weirdo on his bike smacking him self like crazy then stripping down...Never did find the thing but he got me good both times.

Oh man, it always hurts on the lips. Not sure why they're so sensitive. What are the odds?

I've been riding 3 years. This year was the first time I got stung on the bike and it happened twice (both times down my shirt).

I "rear ended" one of the big black bumble bees a few years ago in my lip. Instant pain and swelling. Same area a year ago, took a yellow jacket to the forehead at 40+ miles an hour.
I always carry a couple benadryl capsules in my seat pack. Real easy to break it open, mix the powder with a little water and put it on the sting. Cuts the swelling and the pain in a matter of minutes.
Jerry

I got stung 3 times this summer while riding my bike. Once on my upper arm and twice on my thigh. Fortunately, these aren't sensitive areas so it was no big deal. I'd hate to get stung on my face, though. Ouch!

I had a co-worker who once lived in N. Florida. He told me of waking up on the side of the road after being knocked cold by a collision with a large flying insect of some sort. :eek: The insect came out worse than he did; he saved its corpse for a while as a conversation piece.

On my way to SF I was going down a hill at 43.2 mph. I remember because as I looked up and had a head on collision with those big black bees. Right in the eye. I saw a rainbow of colors and felt like i took a rubber band to the eye.

Im okay. no sting : D

43mph? That sounds nucking futs man. I'm originally from the Bay Area and grew up on MTBs and BMX rigs so I know there's some gnarly hills out there. Here in Florida, it's mostly flat and I've become a roadie in my old age (23).

I have little else to gauge my speed on my current bike but I regularly feel like I'm doing about 15 to 20mph, probably 15 or 16 most of the time. I was going no more then 15 when I took a stinger to the lip this evening.

43 mph on a descent is nothing.

I once had a wasp get inside my helmet through one of the vents while I was descending at probably 50 mph. I was wearing an Uvex helmet with bug screens on the front vents, so he must have gotten in through one of the top vents, and he was really angry. I quickly realized there wasn't much I could do about him in there. By the time I reached a point where I could pull my helmet off he was gone. He didn't sting me.

And I've never been stung while on a bike. But I have taken a few bugs in the eye, but luckily not at any decent speed.

Never been hit with a bug of any consequence while riding my bike, other than swallowing a couple.

I have taken some severe shots to the head on my motorcycle at 70 mph. About a month ago I had a bee smack my temple and lodge itself between my helmet and head. With its dying gasp of energy it stung me. I also once hit some large flying insect hard enough that it broke my sunglasses. I saw it coming in the last few milleseconds before impact, and then it felt like I'd been hit by a wild baseball pitch.

I get wasps down my shirt a fair amount. They sting me but it doesn't bother me that much, I just get a dime to quarter size hot spot that burns for about 30 minutes and continues to be red for another 4 hours, though not really swollen. It doesn't bother me that much. I just reach around on the shirt, find them and squish them, then when I eventually stop just pull the shirt out and shake the dead bodies out.

I had a good sized bee smack me on the arm this week. He hung on for a short time while I was wildly shaking my arm, but he did fly away without stinging me. But, the bug problem that I have had recently has been with love bugs. When they are swarming, it is very difficult to keep them out of my mouth when I am breathing hard through my mouth. I now understand why love bugs have no natural enemies. They taste terrible!

Have to contend with swarms of gnats here just before summer. They're terrible on the MUPs since they're always flying at the same height as my face. I've been lucky so far with stinging insects.