Evenings in the spring are the worst for insects here. I find riding in the drops helps a lot in avoiding them. Although insects can be annoying, declines in their populations could have dreadful impacts on the ecosystem.

I've literally eaten crickets and some sort of worm. Crunchy and nutty.

I the summer I ride along Lake Michigan early in the morning, right before and after sunrise.
Sometimes I ride into a swarm of little tiny flying bugs, smaller then mosquitoes. More like a swarm of gnats! If you don`t see them fast enough, you`ll inhale about a dozen!
One good thing about riding in Wisconsin now.............the freezing weather means no more bugs!

Back in the day working second shift I was riding my MC home and some bug hit my hand. Left a big yellow streak of slime a foot up my arm. I don't know what it was, but I was glad I didn't get it in the face.

Inhaling bugs is dumb. Wear a bug net over your helmet. You will never go back.

eat them free protein

with a 5~15 knot breeze up the river valley there are few bugs ..

it's a trade off for headwinds one way..

I tend to do a lot of commuting along a river. I've discovered there are some places where it is just nasty to ride at dusk.

As far as insects declining, I do believe that humanity over-uses pesticides, herbicides, rodenticides, etc, all without considering the broader impact of the use, in part because we're growing to a point where we need almost every inch of land for our own agriculture.

And, people don't like those creepy crawly things.

But, things like pollinators are very important for our crops. "Food" is necessary for the entire food chain.

You think bugs and bicycles are bad news! Try riding a motorcycle at 60-70 mph and than getting hit by a bumble bee! Man that smarts!!!

+1 Rode through whole bunch once and one got wedged between my right thigh and the gas tank! =#$@!!

We've been getting infestations of the phorid fly. I live in the "Mushroom Capital of the US" (Kennett Square, PA), and this fly somehow likes it here. Most days, no problem. Think I'll check out using a mask of some sort for the bad days.

When I was living in St. Louis, I'd be out riding when a bug spray truck would come along blanket spraying its fowl stuff into the air (in the city, not agricultural).

I'd try to take a quick turn to get out of its way, and a few seconds later it would be coming right towards me. No way to escape it.

Of course, a few of my spring rides north in the "Valley" here in Oregon have been bad as the farmers broke out the herbicides/pesticides, and one would be riding in the stench for miles.

On the other hand, I've been also through clover fields, I think, when they put out honey bee hives on the opposite side of the road from the fields and flowers. Just swarms of bees everywhere including crossing the road.

I do a lot of fast descents (bicycle) in the local canyons and yes, there are many bugs that really hurt if you take one in the face. Especially on a lip!

You know that the bugs are bad when the guy at the front of a paceline has to pull off because he is full

Bee hives on a recent ride through the Georgia countryside.

I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me.

I've been stung by *something* that hit me in the head, somehow just above the eyebrow and just below where my helmet fits on my head. Don't know for sure what it was, but it didn't sting for long and didn't leave a welt. Either a not-too-venomous wasp or he didn't have enough time to inject too much venom into my head.

My worst experiences, and within the past four years, have been being stung on the face on two separate occasions by wasps . And unlike most species of bees which die after they leave behind the weapon for human removal from the skin, the wasps extracted their stingers, stayed alive, and flew off.

It took hours each time for my pain and swelling to subside. Wasps are nasty in every sense of the word.

Just use the tooth paste made for cyclist. It is called Bug Out.

When I first started riding recumbents I read a warning not to wear baggy shorts. The consequences don't bear thinking about.

I've been considering crafting some sort of screen visor for a helmet, and gluing in some screens in the vent holes. I like [MENTION=449705]bcpriess[/MENTION] good idea about just wearing a bug net.

Wait, somewhere there's a shortage of insects? Not here. It is exceedingly rare for me not to be hit in the face by some kind of bug at least once every 20 minutes or so. The only exceptions being riding when it's either very cold or raining. They still grow oranges here, so there are beehives aplenty. Only stung three times in 2018 (all above the neck) but that doesn't count how many of those hapless ladies made it into the helmet and I got them out before they could panic. Some sort of flying thing hit me in the lip just this past Tuesday, felt like getting hit with an airsoft BB. I've definitely swallowed more than my fair share of gnats and blackflies.

Oh, hit in the ear by a june bug once-- at speed. That was almost worse than the bees.

Bugs. That's one reason I like to wear sunglasses. The number of times a bug has smashed in to my sunnies is hard to count. Which is why I don't understand how some people can ride without glasses, never mind the wind and the brightness of the day itself.

We actually had a decent summer in the UK this year which is unusual but the bug count did go up with it and I've learnt to cycle with my teeth always closed at least as I'm sick of swallowing flying things. One evening going across a field there were literally thousands of tiny flying things and lasted for over 1/2 mile it was horrible and you didn't know whether to breathe through gritted teeth or have them going up you nose.

Another day I had what felt like a log hit my glasses, when I got home I thought it was bug guts on my glasses that had dried so soaked them in water overnight and when you I still couldn't get it off realised It'd actually left a big scratch on the lens ... it hit with such an impact I wasn't half glad I was wearing glasses as could have seriously damaged the eye otherwise.

Perhaps my favorite part of winter cycling is the lack of bugs. On a hot summer evening, I'll come home literally covered in tiny little black bugs. I've learned to keep my mouth closed on descents.

That said, we did not have a strong mayfly emergence in La Crosse, WI this year (a bad sign for pollution levels in the Mississippi). During a good year, they bring out the snowplows to clear the dead bugs from the bridge. Here's a good hatch from a few years back: