Bee'stard

davebelushi

Just out doing my best Sagan impersonation and spotted a bee about 5mtrs away but on the same trajectory. My head went one way he bumbled the other, up, down, left, right into my mouth! A sting on the inside of my bottom lip meant I got away lightly compared to the bee.

I should really learn to keep my bloody mouth shut.

drlodge

Ouch, horrid b'stard bees!

tangled_metal

I got a full on forehead strike last week at 26mph with the bumblebee flying straight towards me. That's a collision speed of 32.75mph. (I'm bored, I looked the speed of bumblebees up). It could have been even faster Since they have been recorded flying at 54km/hr I read somewhere.

Respect to the bumblebees I say. Quite some flyers despite their size.

keef66

I got the bog standard vanilla honey bee last summer. Below the helmet and above the glasses, smack in the middle of my forehead. Unfortunately I didn't realise what had stung me till I got home and saw the sting still there. So I got the full helping of venom, and it seemed to work it's way slowly down my face over the course of the next 3 days. My face swelled up and at one point I could hardly see; looked like I'd done 3 rounds with Amir Khan much to the amusement of the family. Then it all started itching and going rough and flaky. Not a good look.

So if you do get stung by a bee, quickly scrape at the site of the sting even if you can't see it just in case the thing's stuck in your skin. There's all kinds of advice about not squeezing the venom sac but apparently that's all cobblers, and speed of removal is the key

tangled_metal

In my case the bee didn't have a chance to sting it just left a red mark that "stung" for hours after. Having met that be head on it hurt. I guess it would be like me cycling head on into a truck doing 70mph. Not a theory I intend to test.

itboffin

I had one in my helmet when I got off the bike a couple of weekends ago luckily my club cap had stopped the sting which was still in there, another reason not to wear a helmet (which 99% of the time I don't).

Stay safe, always wear a cap ...

bbrap

Bees I can tolerate as they do a good job pollinating flowers, wasps on the other hand are just bastards, stung twice last year whilst cycling, not been got this year (touch wood).

itboffin

What is it with the swing from swams of wasps year after year to nothing this year but loaded of bees?

I much prefer the calm no hassle bees any day

dag_on_a_bike

Hot 'hit' twice last year, Just after my new bike arrived. Before that the last wasp stings were over 40 years ago when one went down the front of my shirt and stung me twice in the sternum. That hurt!

Well, back to last year...two bee stings, about a week apart. My theory is that they were attracted to the new bike...a Rose.

bbrap

DAG on a bike wrote:

Hot 'hit' twice last year, Just after my new bike arrived. Before that the last wasp stings were over 40 years ago when one went down the front of my shirt and stung me twice in the sternum. That hurt!

Well, back to last year...two bee stings, about a week apart. My theory is that they were attracted to the new bike...a Rose.

That is truly weird, my two stings were when I was on my Rose. But as they were wasps maybe that does not count :P

itboffin

IS it a German thing?

holiver

Stings are the only thing that I have discovered that I am allergic to. I carry some anti histamine in my saddle bag.

SCR Pedro

I took one on the tongue a couple of months back, also at high speed. Fun, it was not.

Dorset_Boy

bbrap wrote:

Bees I can tolerate as they do a good job pollinating flowers, wasps on the other hand are just bastards, stung twice last year whilst cycling, not been got this year (touch wood).

Still early for the nasty Wasps to be out in force.

Got stung on the back of the thigh by a horsefly a couple of weeks ago -felt like I'd been injected with poison as a searing pain shot down my leg.
Worst stings around here are from the Blandford fly: http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2015/05/blandfords-most-pernicious-beast/

keef66

Horse flies don't sting, they bite. But they are not very sophisticated feeders, they just do a Jack the Ripper job and suck up the resultant pool of blood. Painful things as you've discovered, and the chances of a bite becoming infected are quite high.

This from Wikipedia:

The mouthparts of females are of the usual Dipteran form and consist of a bundle of six chitinous stylets that, together with a fold of the fleshy labium, form the proboscis. On either side of these are two maxillary palps. When the insect lands on an animal it grips the surface with its clawed feet, the labium is retracted, the head is thrust downwards and the stylets slice into the flesh. Some of these have sawing edges and muscles can move them from side-to-side to enlarge the wound. Saliva containing anticoagulant is injected into the wound to prevent clotting.[27][28][29] The blood that flows from the wound is lapped up by another mouthpart which functions as a sponge

bbrap

keef66 wrote:

Horse flies don't sting, they bite. But they are not very sophisticated feeders, they just do a Jack the Ripper job and suck up the resultant pool of blood. Painful things as you've discovered, and the chances of a bite becoming infected are quite high.

This from Wikipedia:

The mouthparts of females are of the usual Dipteran form and consist of a bundle of six chitinous stylets that, together with a fold of the fleshy labium, form the proboscis. On either side of these are two maxillary palps. When the insect lands on an animal it grips the surface with its clawed feet, the labium is retracted, the head is thrust downwards and the stylets slice into the flesh. Some of these have sawing edges and muscles can move them from side-to-side to enlarge the wound. Saliva containing anticoagulant is injected into the wound to prevent clotting.[27][28][29] The blood that flows from the wound is lapped up by another mouthpart which functions as a sponge

That is truly fucking discusting.

tangled_metal

I think someone described their mouthparts being kind of screw shaped, but the digging part was also mentioned.

As a young kid I got a hornet between my glasses and my eye. I'm glad my parents taught me from a very young age to.just freeze when wasps come around until they've gone. Mind you. My parents we're annoyed to have to walk 100m back to me when I wouldn't catch them up. They understood when they saw the hornet.

I did see someone have.a bee fly up his trousers. It came out the other leg! The amazing thing was that he never got stung.