cycling and bee stings

bianchimoon

Anyone else have a problem?, I seem to be quiet allergic and within a couple of hours swell up like a balloon in the affected area, quiet worrying as riding hard with mouth open most of the time and a sting in the throat could be an issue. Been stung 3 times in last year, looked like i'd been 10 rounds with a pro boxer. Anyone been through anything similar?

fenix

Never been stung out on the bike. Maybe it's your perfume ? ;-)

bianchimoon

Fenix wrote:

Never been stung out on the bike. Maybe it's your perfume ? ;-)

Hmm, must be the other guys i ride with seem to get away with it... could be i'm always in front

fenix

Bees only sting as a last resort anyway - are you trapping them inside your top or something ?

cooldad

Learn to ride faster than the bees.

webboo

Not bee stings but wasps, got one in my helmet. Ended up with 4 or 5 stings resulting in swollen Lymph nodes and an emergency blood test to check it wasn't anything serious.

bianchimoon

Fenix wrote:

Bees only sting as a last resort anyway - are you trapping them inside your top or something ?

first caught in glasses, second on back of neck, then behind my ear of all places, each time riding at speed... weird

laurentian

I'm allergic too - potentially quite seriously so. Following advice on here, I always carry an antihistamine with my tools etc and was grateful when stung on the head last summer. I'e often thought about a helmet with an insect protection mesh - or perhaps a bandana . . .

joncomelately

cooldad wrote:

Learn to ride faster than the bees.

How can you tell which bees are learning to ride and how quickly they're learning?

fat daddy

Joncomelately wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Learn to ride faster than the bees.

How can you tell which bees are learning to ride and how quickly they're learning?

the ones with parents that buy them balance bikes ..... all other options lead to slow learning or complete inability

bianchimoon

oxoman wrote:

Antihistamines would be the best bet if you ok with them, mate of mine is seriously allergic and carries an epipen at all times to stop his airways closing. I've had a few in my roady helmet but not stung luckily. Should get a new one with bug mesh really.

I'm more worried about swallowing one of the blighters and getting stung in throat/mouth

term1te

I haven't had a problem with bees, but I did get a small beetle in my eye a while back. Stung like crazy and half my eye went bright yellow for about a week. I was about to go to the doctor when it began to fade.

redvision

I was stung on my head several times by a ******* wasp which was in my helmet and apparently thought the way to escape was to sting me over and over.
Fortunately I don't react to stings but my head is still sore several days later.

Thinking about it, I never had a problem with wasps before switching helmets (currently have a met rivale). Guess the more aero styling comes at a cost...

hubcap

A couple of years back I had a wasp fly into my mouth, the little bugger stung me twice inside the bottom lip before I could spit him out. Swelled up and was pretty sore but it died down within an hour or so.

I've also eaten about half a kilo of assorted small insects during evening rides over the last couple of months, but none of those have stung

graememacd

I had a bee fly into my helmet vent and sting me on the forehead, had a headache for about 3 hours afterwards. I always wear a cycling cap under my helmet now.

mamil314

Hubcap wrote:

A couple of years back I had a wasp fly into my mouth, the little bugger stung me twice inside the bottom lip before I could spit him out. Swelled up and was pretty sore but it died down within an hour or so.

I've also eaten about half a kilo of assorted small insects during evening rides over the last couple of months, but none of those have stung

The frieking evening rides! They are, indeed, doubling my protein intake.

As for bees, wearing glasses and cap under helmet is pretty much all one can do apart from carrying antihistamines if allergic.

rpherts

Had a horse fly dine on my shin once on a descent. Reaching down to swat it off was probably more dangerous than letting it chew away at my leg to had to leave it.

I think just about everyone has had a wasp get tangled in their helmet or helmet strap.

shimanobottombracket

Fenix wrote:

Bees only sting as a last resort anyway - are you trapping them inside your top or something ?

don'† bees some†imes go apeshi† en mass? I always assumed †hem †o be really agressive.

wongataa

bianchimoon wrote:

oxoman wrote:

Antihistamines would be the best bet if you ok with them, mate of mine is seriously allergic and carries an epipen at all times to stop his airways closing. I've had a few in my roady helmet but not stung luckily. Should get a new one with bug mesh really.

I'm more worried about swallowing one of the blighters and getting stung in throat/mouth

I've had a bee fly into my mouth. It stung me on then inside of my lip before I managed to spit its corpse out. My lip swelled nicely and hurt on the way home but started to go down later that day.

StillGoing

Anti-histamine and carry an epipen if you're that allergic. I myself am allergic to all non-steroidal anti inflammatories and have to wear a medium bracelet and carry an epipen around just in case i'm exposed to aspirin or ibuprofen etc by mistake. Makes pain control a nightmare when you can only take Arcoxia 30mg once a day.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anaphylaxi ... tment.aspx

AK_jnr

Being a bit (huge) of a worrier I shat myself when alone in the mountains near Malaga last year. Miles away from seeing any cars and I was stung on my lip. Just prayed I wasnt allergic as I probably wouldnt of been found for a while haha.

Dizeee

I'm glad to have read this as I have a history of issues with this, the last being yesterday afternoon.

I HATE wasps, go a real phobia of them, and had never been stung in my life. That was until 2014 when I had a wasp trapped in my helmet for the first time. The definitive thwack of it entering the vent is something I have now subconsciously stored in my memory banks. After the first episode which had me thrashing about yanking at my fastened helmet with earphones and sunglasses being flung all over the place, I decided to wear a cap 100% of the time. Lucky I did, as a few weeks later I had two wasps fly into my helmet and avoided being stung, managing to more calmly whip off my helmet.

Fast forward to present day, and after the heat wave a few weeks ago I ditched the cap in favour of ventilation. I have been riding like this for the past 3 weeks, and wondering about whether to go back to a cap. Yesterday I went out and did 20 miles, and had the thwack. I managed to unclip my helmet which happened to be right next to an HGV. A bee, sat in the side of the helmet, which luckily didn't sting. So it's back on with the cap at all times now, no more risk taking.

bianchimoon

a week after my sting, still sore and poison is still weeping out. How the blighter managed to get on the back of my ear at 17mph+ !!!, My own fault if i'd have just left it it probably would have just flown away