Ravenwing

.......it'll happen to me! Did a nice 24 miles yesterday, really nice day. About 2/3 of the way through, I'm cruising along about 22 mph on a steady slight uphill. Concentrating on my breathing, in through nose, out through mouth, nice long smooth breaths. Suddenly, ZAP! Got stung......on my tongue. Really?? Instant reactive spit-out followed by several WTF thoughts. Not sure what it was, probably just a fairly small hornet. Not going to stop; thinking "well, so far I've never been allergic to stings", but sort of wondering what I'll do if my tongue or airway start to swell. Figured the best thing to do was to keep pumping, circulating stuff through and out of the system. It was sort of painful for a few minutes, but not that bad, and I just kept concentrating on the ride. By the time I got home it was pretty much nothing, and I was ready for lunch. Can't help but think it would have hurt a lot more if I'd stopped instead of keeping going.

Note to self: Yo, idiot - when cycling in the summertime and exhaling, remember to keep lips pursed or shut!

This has been a public service announcement

ltxi

That's funny....thanks for sharing..

John E

I am glad the incident did turn out to be funny. As noted, it would not be funny at all for some folks.

hyegeek

When that happened to me, the worst part was attempting to tell people what happened when I got home. It's hard to talk with your tongue a bit swollen. I agree that stopping would probably just have made it worse.

WNCGoater

I got stung last month at mile 99 on my first century. I was struggling at that point, probably looked like a dog panting. However the bee went into a top vent on my helmet and zapped me in the top of my head.

I have had bugs fly in my mouth while "panting" and I've had the thought, "What if that was a bee". Never actually heard of someone that this happened to.

Considering the lack of swelling and your rather quick recovery I would suspect a bee rather than a hornet. It's been my experience that the stings of wasps to be much worse than bees. Honey bees and various other bees seems to be much less severe than yellow jackets or hornets, both wasps. The mildest seems to be from the bumblebee.

My head was on fire that last couple miles but within minutes of finishing my ride the pain had subsided. I assumed it was a yellow jacket but the quick recovery told me it wasn't. I experienced no residual itching etc. per usual with a yellow jacket sting so again, I don't believe it was a yellow jacket.

Typical stings from yellow jackets have lasting effect, pain for sometimes for a week or more, then itching and the mark on your skin can linger for weeks or a month or more. I believe this to be because of differing types of toxins in their venom between wasps and bees. Honey bees can sting only once, and it causes their death. Don't know about other types of bees. Wasps can sting repeatedly and live to do it again another day.

Yellow jackets are the spawn of satan and come from the pit of hell.

andr0id

I've been stung twice. Once in the helmet and another time when one blew up between my legs and stung me on the inner thigh.

WNCGoater

And to add, because of your post and my experience, I think it would be a good idea to pack a couple Benadryl in my bag. I don't have any allergy to stings, at least I never have. But as I understand, that could change at anytime. If some "unusual" reaction manifests after a sting(s), pop the Benadryls and get medical attention.
I'm going to stick a couple in a small baggie.

WNCGoater

Oh I forgot, a couple years ago I was riding with some mtn biking shorts, baggy on outside with inner tight lycra. On a downhill the little demon went between my outer and inner shorts. He was wearing me out, stinging multiple times up high on my thigh, but because he was having to sting through the lycra he wasn't zapping me really good. Nevertheless, I almost wrecked trying to steer and extricate him at the same time!

SammyJ 

Glad your ok!

Rootman

Yep, been there done that. Luckily I didn't get stung the time the bee / wasp flew into my mouth. Been stung in the head when the little bugger flew into my helmet vent and on the arm as the bug smacked into me. Man they really make a sharp cracking noise when you hit them at speed too, especially off your glasses or helmet don't they? One time I thought it was a gunshot the noise was so loud. Must of been a big'un!

Another time I was working on the house on a ladder and a bunch of bees came piling out of a hole in the soffit, one flew right into my mouth and stung the inside of my lip as I spat it out. Swelled up to about 5 times the normal size. Hurt like a sum'a'bich.

Filerunner

I was riding my cruiser about 3 weeks ago with some loose shorts and a yellow jacket got me on my outer thigh. When I lifted my pant leg up he flew off. that really hurt and it was the first time in my life that I've been stung while riding my bike.

rumrunn6

off topic, isn't breathing in through your nose restrictive?

btw, 22mph uphill, impressive!

mr_bill

Getting stung on your lip isn't much fun either. Don't ask how I know.

-mr. bill

Phil_gretz

"Ah ga bht nnn ma dnnng" "Ah gaht bhhht nnnn MA DNNNG!" "AH GAHT BHHHT NNNN MMAA DNNNG!!!"

Rootman

It really shouldn't be, unless you are like me and have a very small nostrils. I've heard it repeated in many sports, "in through the nose and out through the mouth". It's also supposed to help keep your mouth from going as dry too.

Then again I can't remember how many times I've ridden through a could of gnats with my mouth wide open

Kobe 

It happened to me once to except I drank it out of a soda can. Awful tasting creatures that bite.

Racer Ex 

At a stage race a few years ago the TT circled on orchard where they had just put out the hives. I got hit three times, one flew into my helmet vent. Had this happen with a wasp once as well (helmet attack)...I prefer bees as they don't keep stinging (guys look at you funny when you rip your helmet off and start hitting yourself with it).

That same TT one guy got stung...in a bad bad place.

Wileyrat

I haven't been stung bicycling, but I've had a yellow jacket end up in my shirt and got stung me a few times while riding a motorcycle.

The last time I rode my road bike, my mouth and a butterfly became acquainted.

JanMM

Visited a porta-potti at a local park a few weeks ago in the middle of a ride - almost as soon as I got inside a wasp-like thing stung me on the ear. Just once, thankfully. Jumped out of that port-o-let very quickly.

Dan Burkhart 

I know exactly how that can happen. The little buggers are good at hiding inside the neck of a beer bottle.

h2oxtc

I got to the part about the Porta-Potti and I said to myself, "Nooooooo". Was relieved to read that it only stung your ear.

I've thought many a time that I should try and put some kind of mesh inside the helmet to keep the kamikaze bugs out.

Cougrrcj 

When I was a kid, I was never allergic to bee stings.

Then at age 28 I got stung by a wasp on the inside of the elbow - right in the artery. Within five minutes I was stumbling over my own feet. Yep, a severe reaction can cause paralysis. Luckily I was only a couple of minutes away from a doc-in-the-box med center and got a shot of epinephren.

A couple years later I was re-roofing the house and unknowingly disturbed a yellow jacket nest. I had about fifty of them on me. I rolled around on the roof, and ended up rolling OFF the roof, landing in the shrubs. I went inside and took a handful of Benedryl, called the wife at work to take me to the hospital, and lay convulsing on the floor until she got home (20 minutes).

At work, I had one fly up my un-tucked loose shirt and nail my in the arm pit - another trip to the hospital...

Now I carry an Epi-pen in my bike bag. I also have one at home, and another one at work...

OldTryGuy

A couple of weeks ago I had a wasp take a short break from its flying around S.W. FL. by landing on the inside of my right knee. It was so happy to have that short respite that it left a calling card of 4 stings. Happened at mile 11 of 105 so I had a reminder all morning long.

qcpmsame 

Last week I reached into the newspaper tube to get our paper out, from my truck. Turns out there was a wasp nest in the top/rear of the tube. One of the suckers got me three times on the left middle finger before I could even react. Since I had been stung a month previously I knew what was coming, the finger, then the back of the left hand began to swell and burn. We were out of Benadryl so I just washed it and got dressed to ride, that night I woke up at 2:30 AM with a throbbing finger/hand. Next morning I hit up my sister-in-law for a Benedryl, first thing at work. It took about an hour to feel any relief from the throbbing/swelling, and then the itching kicked in.

Made for a long few days or popping the Benedryls each morning until it went back down. Its time to see my PCP about an Epi-Pen. Holding on the the bars is hard when your hand is looking like a catcher's mitt, and its bare. Now I am the proud owner of three hard, brown, scar tissue areas from the stings, and some residual itching from time to time. I no longer have a wasp nest in our newspaper tube, either.

Bill

BlazingPedals

As I ride feet-first, and even have my feet higher than my butt during part of the pedal circle, my butt is exposed. Yup, it happened. I don't react severely, but now a week later it itches like crazy. At least it's in a good place.