Almost managed to swallow a bee today. Saw him just in time to close my mouth, but because I was riding at 19-20mph he sort of got stuck on my lower lip until I had the wherewithal to "patooee" him off to the side. During that time he had a chance for a half-hearted sting, which he took.

Second time this has happened to me. First time round I was wearing a hoodie and the bee flew into the hood. I got a good sting on the neck before I had a chance to pull over and whip the hoodie off.

I love bees, and what they do for us, I just don't want them in my face.

Something similar. I hit a bee, which went into my mouth and delivered an angry sting to my lower lip. I bit him in anger before spitting him out.

Ended up with major swelling, which made it hard to speak clearly, and lasted most of the day, but in fairness, I think the Bee got the worst of it.

Yellow Jackets and Honey Bees aren't the same, with Honey Bees being the great pollinators, and Yellow Jackets just being pests.

I don't think I've seen a bee before it hitting my mouth, but did spit them out quickly. I did manage to get stung through my shorts once this year, and will occasionally get stung in the neck or mouth.

My worst yellow jacket attack was solo boat hiking/camping over a decade ago. I lost the trail so I cut down to the river and headed upstream by boat to my destination campsite. Then once at my camp site, I knew where the trail was, so I decided to do some exploring. I cut up to the trail through some brush and must have hit a ground nest and got swarmed. Whew, a couple of quick thoughts, nothing on me could be damaged by water, so down to the river and I plunged in.... it works

I took my first to the back of the neck last week. Must have been a honey bee since it didnt bother me more than 1/4 mile and just when getting started with tough TT.

I know your pain!

I had a bee go behind my glasses and sting the bottom of my eyebrow once - while on my bike. I instinctively slapped at him, broke my glasses and cut the bridge of my nose. Not fun. I didn't crash though

On another occasion I had one latch onto my mustache and tag my upper lip 3 or 4 times. That was no fun either

I had a wasp land on my inside upper thigh near that you know what area. I almost lost control of the bike before flicking it off me.
Good thing I was on a neighborhood road with no traffic or parked cars, or it probably would not had gone as well as it did.

I haven't broken my glasses due to bees

I have a habit of slapping mosquitoes into my ears. In my younger years, I did that a couple of times with yellow jackets buzzing me. I've learned to differentiate between the two since then.

Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee?


Can you still put your lips together and blow?

Bumble bees are the best. I know from experience that that you can actually pet a bumble bee pollinating.

Don't have a lot of problem with bees here, but we had some nasty biting flies in the spring. Big suckers that would dive bomb into your face. One of them bit my elbow and it took two weeks to heal.

And they'd stick with you. Had one harass me for half a mile, so I decided it was time to lose him. Put my head down and cranked hard. After about a mile and a half I looked to my left and the darn thing was right at eye level, just pacing along next to me.

No insect problems here, other than swallowing loads of the little buggers.

I got home from a ride a few days ago to find that an evil seagull had scored a bullseye all over the back of my bright clean jersey.

So get a face shield.

Was riding once with my baggy mtn biking shorts, some wasp or bee got up the leg and on my thigh and started wearing me out! Luckily it was between the outer and inner shorts so that prevented any real deep penetration.

Then once when finishing the last few struggling miles of a century, one flew through the slits in my helmet and nailed me in the top of the head. Didn't need that, especially then.

Thus far I've been lucky on the face though I always ride with some type of glasses.

They still grow oranges here, so I get too-close-for-comfort to bees all the time. So much in fact I invested in a bee-proof helmet (Smith Overtake) after having so many bees go in the vents and sting the top of my head. Personal single-ride record for "bee strikes," in which we make contact at speed but the bee doesn't sting, 28. Most bees in the helmet in a single ride, 4. Most stings, 2.

Took a June Bug off of the knuckles a few days ago. Felt like getting hit with a rock.

Never swallowed a bee but I straight up swallowed a pebble on a group ride the other day.

Same here. Never though about being stung by a bee/wasp while riding before reading that thread... Good thing the little buggers are so small they are tasteless. Worst part (but much less than a sting) though is when they get stuck in the throat and no spitting can get them out...

Wasn't a bee then. Bees can only sting once. Wasps and Yellow Jackets can sting multiple times.

I've had a bee get into a helmet vent and got stuck inside my helmet. I had to pull over to remove the helmet. Luckily she wasn't mad enough to sting and just flew off.

Just what I was going to say:-)

You are right, the beast was actually a hornet - unless of course beast is also incorrect, in which case I will just let it bee

Words of wisdom...

As one who is allergic to bee stings, I avoid riding when fruit trees are ripe - because of yellow jackets and wasps. Honey bees aren't as aggressive. Yes, I have to carry an epi-pen in my seat/handlebar bag, or have ready access to a massive dose of Benadryl!

I didn't used to be allergic until a wasp got me on the inside of the elbow - right in a vein - when it was attracted to and had landed on the shiny buckle of my mailbag. I was gasping for air within five minutes (anaphylactic shock). I drove myself to the doc-in-a-box (med center) rather than reporting back to my office first since I had realized that time was of an essence!

Many years later, I got nailed again at work when I had opened a mailbox. This time i was ready - I called my boss on my cell (and got the answering machine) and injected myself with the Epi-pen. THREE hours later, the boss shows up and tries to get me to sign paperwork saying that 'I had denied medical attention'. No chance, Fatso! I had spent three hours shaking and convulsing, waiting....

Bee/yellow-jacket/wasp/hornet stings are NOT to be taken lightly!!!

I see what you did there ... well played

Was off on a charity ride on Saturday and got hit in the face by a wasp. It managed to sting me under my right eye. Hurt like hell and it's still puffy today. Damned bugs. What are they doing out in nature anyway?

You know, Jens Voigt has never been stung because a bee would never be foolish enough to attack Jens.