Stung....
 

.....by a bee!!! And it hurt!!! 😩
It got me in the back of my neck, right by the hairline. This was the second time this year, so really weird, especially since the last one before that, was around 40 years ago. 🤔 I'm gonna have to medicate myself now, just as a precaution. 😁😉

Did it hurt?

Was it Africanized?

Good point.
Although I prefer to believe it was educated in Western Bee Society.

Of course it hurt. I started a thread just to whine about it, didn't I? 🤪😉
As far as being Africanized, my generation was taught in school, that it's rude to ask a bee where it's from. 🤔😋😁
Otherwise, I didn't notice any swarms chasing me, so figure I must be OK. 😁😉

Wah Wah.

Come back and complain when one smacks you square in the face and almost knocks you off of your bike like happened to me. ;) Got me in the cheek at about 15mph. Hurt like hell. Lucky I am not allergic or it could have been ugly.

It can be worse. They could be South American.

At the risk of engaging in oneupsmanship, this seems the appropriate place to complain about the time a bee flew into my nostril while riding on a bike path.

I don't actually think it stung me, because my nose didn't remain sore or swollen for a long time, but my nose was bleeding, and snot was flowing freely. Not my favorite bike riding memory. :mad:

Imagine what the bee went through!

I got stung by a wasp recently them suckers are nasty. Luckily not a on ride because that would have made me crash. Luckily not allergic but that sucker hurt and it still hasn't healed after 2-3 weeks.

When I was touring in BC many years ago I had a bee get caught inside my sunnies and sting me on the eyelid. Instantly blind in one eye at 30+kmhr.
Three days before I could open my eye enough to see. Not a good experience. I don't like bees.

Hung up my hammock tent last week Monday. Ducked under the tarp to make an adjustment and came out in a hurry. Stung right between the shoulder blades. I did not locate the hive, but I must have disturbed one with my tent. There were almost a dozen bees on or hovering near my tarp. Obnoxious part, apart from a welt that was still itching yesterday, is that I couldn't relocate my tent until the bees had chilled out, which wasn't until almost dark. Actually I unhooked the hammock and pulled it out, but the tarp continued to be an object of fascination for the bees for some time afterwards. It hadn't been 40 years since my last bee sting, but it had been a while. Not long enough, though. Still, I suspect I got stung through the tarp and my shirt. The itching was annoying, but in the past there has been a lot more localized swelling as well. I figure I got off easy.

Besides whether you’re allergic to bees or wasps, their stings can become infected. If it still isn’t healed after 2-3 weeks I’d get a Doc to look at it. May need an antibiotic.

I’ve been stung on the head before while riding. Some helmets now have screens in the venting to at least take care of the ‘bug in the bonnet’ problem.

OP sorry to hear about your sting. I hope you recover quickly. :)

I'll throw in my sting story. Last summer I had just popped open a bottle of beer taken one drink when I got distracted for a moment or two. I returned to my bottle and took another swig, a wasp had flown into it, and stung me on the lip as soon as I got a drink. It hurt for sure, but the worst part was I spilled my beer. Actually I threw my bottle and screamed. :) My wife says it was pretty funny.

Good stuff, Maynard. 👍 It always helps, to keep things in perspective. Or something. 😁
See, something told me to acquire extra mary juana, and I did so right on time. There's no telling how bad this could have been, without it. 🤔😁

That's funny too, right there. Folks, you just can't make this stuff up. It takes a certain skill. 😁😉

The bee was riding on the bike path? What kind of bike did it have?

Bianchi, of course.

Yeah I probably should take a look. It has certainly improved from initial but a lot of times my stuff is slower to heal at least these days.

The mesh is nice. ABUS does it on some of their helmets and it is quite nice for those situations. They also do the Pedelec 2.0 which has a integrated rain cover that tucks away in the back and a little USB charged light for a tiny little bit of extra visibility in the darkness.

I'm guessing it was a yellowjacket wasp & not a honeybee. They're very close in appearance. I've been stung by yellowjackets at least a dozen times (incl once while biking) & never by bees nor other wasps. A few years ago a yellowjacket sting caused my forearm to swell up for a couple of days; in my town a local guy was killed after he ran his lawn mower over a yellowjacket nest. Yellowjackets live pretty much everywhere in USA incl Arizona & are much more aggressive than bees. Yellowjacket nests can be very small & nearly impossible to see but those guys will sting whatever comes across their path.

Did you put your own medicine called 'pee' to the stung area? It helped a lot when I used to live in the farm :D

Well, here's a happy thought: between vulnerable and endangered species and colony collapse disorder, bees should be less of a problem for cycletourists in the future.

Interesting. I have always thought that a yellowjacket was species of bee, and never realized it was actually a wasp. I don't know what the technical differences are, but I do think that yellowjackets can sting and go on with their day, whereas honeybees get one sting in and are done for, I think. I feel like my recent encounter was with a yellowjacket as well. I never located the entrance to the nest/hive, but I did see several hovering close to the ground. Reading up on how aggressive they can be, I guess I'm lucky to have only gotten one sting, especially since after disturbing them and getting stung, I had to go back and retrieve my tent.

In the past, when stung, I've experience some very noticeable, local swelling. This most recent sting was on my back. It was several days before anyone actually saw the sting site, and at that point there was still a noticeable welt, but really it was only mildly itchy and tender and one of the least annoying bee stings I have experienced.

Yeah, I've only once been stung by a bee on a ride, and it was because the bee somehow got caught up in my jersey. But I've been stung by wasps considerably more often, though not yet this year. Nasty critters and they are able to deliver more than one sting.

Sorry to derail your wasp theory, but these were honey bees, living in those big flat box hives like we've probably all seen on TV or in the movies. 😋
I was definitely in their space, taking a tinkle, lol, but not on purpose. It's an old neglected business, with falling roofs and overgrown weeds.
What surprised me was, I only got stung once. I must not have seemed very threatening, there were definitely backup bees around, too. 😲🤔

Ahhh. Such are the joys of aging.