Iride01 

In all my years of cycling, I've been stung by a few bees and wasp, but never bitten on the butt by ants.

17 mile into a short 30 mile ride I start feel something biting my butt. I wipe and swipe my hand across and am okay for a few yards, then another bite. few more yards and a third. I never stopped to investigate closely and thankfully there weren't any other bites.But they sure did hurt.

Fire ants are nasty bites. And I got three big whelps. One on each butt cheek and one in my crack. Rather annoying at the moment.

Trying to figure out how they got on me, I hadn't stopped for more than a half minute at intersections. And the last was six miles prior. Do you think they were flung up onto me by the tire?

I've seen an old man that walks the trail take his walking stick and stir up the fire ant hills along the trail. If this was his doing, do you think it'd be alright if I use that stick on him? <grin>

Germanrazor

Bwaaaa ha ha. I hate fire ants! Did you take a break and sit down near a mound?

Iride01 

No, except for three or four stops at intersections for less than 30 seconds each, I rode continuously. The stops were on pavement in areas where I've not noticed fire ant mounds. Bike is indoors till I take it out to the porch and start out from there on concrete.

There are a lot of fire ant mounds out on the section I got the bites. But not having stopped, I'm surprised that they'd get flung up on me by the tire without getting smashed and killed by the tire.

Maybe it wasn't fire ants, but they are the only bite I've ever had that looks and feels like these do. When fire ants crawl up my leg it's typical that they bite almost as soon as they find skin. So I'd expect them to have bitten on my ankles or calf if they got on me while having a foot down.

JPChap

You must have been keen to ride that day if you had ants in your pants.
Jokes aside, I don't find it likely that any would have been flung up from the tire, even so, it'd be more likely to bounce off your shin like gravel/sand sometimes does, but it could be possible. Also they may have crawled up somewhere on your bike at one of the stops and ventured their way up the tubes onto the saddle onto you? I'm not a bug expert

indyfabz

During a tour in Montana I sat down by the side of the road to shed layers, including my base layer, which required me to pull down my bib straps. I was on the ground for a while because I also had to remove my shoes to take off the leg warmers.

Finally stood up and pulled up the bib straps. That’s when I started feeling little stings. I also felt a few on my neck. Rubbed the neck and pulled off a couple of little ants. Immediately pulled down the bib straps and wiped several off my back. Turned to look at the ground and realized I had been sitting on an ant hill.

Lesson learned.

BoraxKid

Are there ant mounds around your house, like out in the yard somewhere? I would think maybe the ants were on your bike before you left home, and it took them a while to make their way onto you. Having ants flung onto you by your tires seems very unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

I had an encounter with ants recently: my wife and I were doing a Saturday morning ride to get acquainted with the area we just moved to. We stopped after about 90 minutes of riding to take a break and figure out our next move. I was sitting on the curb when I started feeling ant bites on my butt. She immediately hopped up and refused to sit down again, while I just moved over a few feet and did the Asian/Slav squat (it's a really under-rated rest position in the USA). At least from that posture I could see them coming and move again if I needed to. Ant bites are really obnoxious when you're just trying to rest your legs for a few minutes.

fietsbob

Ant Bikes
Alternative Needs Transportation (ANT) based in Boston.

Iride01 

No ant hills around the house. I keep those in check with ant poison.

I thought while on the ride that maybe it was some tiny sweat bees or small wasp stinging me. But when I got home they look like the fire ant bites I've had in the past. Not anything like stings.

But it is hard for me to see back there. My wife has to do the close up inspection. I can only look in the mirror. She isn't the best at bite and/or sting identification.

Germanrazor

Like you, I have found that they start biting as soon as they hit your ankles or wherever the avenue they start to get on your body. I hate fire ants with a passion! If I had access to nukes they would be deserving! Now sweat bees are a nuisance as well. But I really don’t see them able to access into one’s bibs or shorts like a fire ant possibly could.

Iride01 

Well that's one thing that puzzles me. It almost had to be from the outside and through the material of my bike shorts. There is no conceivable way they would have gotten inside as they would have found skin and bitten me elsewhere first.

The legs are very snug on my thighs and go almost to my knees. And my jersey bottom rides well below the top of my shorts and is also snug.

The material of my Pearl Izumi shorts are thin in that area. Certainly it will have been stretched even thinner since I stay fairly low and bent over.

So that too seems to favor a sting from outside the shorts, but then again, fire ants have some strong jaws. They can chew through plastic drain pipe and cable insulation when they have an inclination to.

Maybe it was a last hurrah before death for them as their squished body was tossed onto my backside by the rear wheel. It's possible there was a trail of them on the path I suppose, coming back from or going to forage.

JohnDThompson 

Did they start a nest in your saddle?

Moe Zhoost

canklecat

I've had my front tire kick up fire ants that bit my shins. It's conceivable the rear tire could kick them up onto our shorts or jerseys, so we wouldn't feel them crawling up our legs, stabbing us with poison along the way.

Kabuki12

Years ago I decided to try mountain biking. I bought a middle of the pack Secialized bike and took off to the trails. Memories of my motocross past came rushing through my veins and before I knew it I was catching air off anything that even looked like a jump. That took me into an area laced with thorns, puncturing my front tire. From years of cycling I always carry a pump and patch kit so I sat down and proceeded to patch the tube. While I was pinching the tube between my thumb and knee waiting for the vulcanizing effect to occur , I felt a very bad sensation down on my man sack. I guess some very aggressive ants had decided to humiliate me in front of my wife and friends! I really should have looked at the ground before sitting down with shorts on.I don’t know what kind of ants they were and I really don’t care, they were real small but bit like bees.

wipekitty

Eek. Fire ants are evil. Maybe time to start riding with a big bag of Amdro?

I wonder if spiders could have gotten into the shorts somehow. Some of those little suckers can get into clothing drawers, and they can pack a punch as well.