So I had just finished riding a fun route in the Oaks on Tuesday. I was riding back to my truck, which was parked at the Albertsons lot. I thought I'd take a little detour through Peter's Canyon since there was a lot of day light left. I went up Big Red and started to descend the back part. From a distance a saw a black dot approaching me at a high rate of speed. Before I knew it, the black dot went into one of the air vents in my helmet. Then there was the excruciating pain just above my right temple. An F-ing bee had stung me. I turned around and rode to my sisters house just across from Peter's since I couldn't see where the stinger was. My brother in-law got the stinger out and I took two Benadryl. Everything was fine until I woke up the next morning. I couldn't open my right eye. I look like I was in a UFC cage fight. I went to the doctor and was basically told to just ride it out. I'm not allergic to bee stings. I've been stung three other times. This is the third time in one year. Last time I was stung on my nose while riding my motorcycle, but I didn't swell up this much. So I'm off the bike for a bit. It took almost a week for the swelling to go down last time I was stung in the face. Kind of sucks since we have awesome weather. Enjoy the picture.
That happened to me at Beeks. I was stung five times at once. The bee sting above my eyebrow made me look like Herman Munster. I wish I would have taken a pic - it was pretty funny. To add insult to injury: I crashed while I was being stung by the bees, mainly b/c I was trying to get a bee out from my helmet...I was riding with no-hands. LOL!!
I haven't had a bug in the helmet since I started wearing UVEX helments. They have mesh in between the front vents to keep the bugs out:
I don't know if this would have helped in your situation, but this might help in the future... My dad was a beekeeper and I grew-up riding around bees all the time. I learned a few tricks. When a bee flies into your helmet vent, hair, jersey, etc... your first reaction is to start grabbing, or brushing wildly. That will trigger a sting every time. You freak and the bee will freak. The trick is to remain calm, no sudden movements. Come to a safe stop. Usually the bee will extricate himself and fly away without incident. Even if they are tangled in your hair, they will work themselves loose and fly away if you stay still/calm. If I'm wearing a helmet and don't know or think the bee has left after a few moments, I'll slowly undo my helmet strap and slowly lift the helmet off my head. Then allow the bee to fly away on its own. Same with a jersey, slowly pull the jersey away from your skin to allow the bee room and a path to fly to freedom. Of course this isn't 100%, but I'd say I am successful 90% of the time. The other 10%, the bees are just pissed from getting hit and sting immediately.
Not much hair there to get tangled in.:?: I have heard that for some people, the more you are stung, the more you can develop allergies. May be something to Google.
I was riding once when a bee flew at my face, and became trapped between my glasses and my nose. I stood still, hoping it would just fly away, but it seemed a little to content to stay there. So after a few minutes, I took off my glasses and he stung me right where my nose pad for my glasses go. It was a bit of an annoying ride back. The best part is I got it on camera for the most part...
float like a butterfly sting like a mother fu!%$r slap some aloe vera on it, it will help with the swelling
I get stung every year. Last night went through a small swarm and got hit a bunch but didn't get stung. Once riding Chantry Flats we all went through a swarm and 4 or 5 of us got at least 5 stings. I was one with 5. I don't like bees!
Wow! That's a lot of swelling . Sure it was a regular bee & not a bumble bee? Hope it does not hurt as bad as it looks. Has anyone else ran into the Hornets on Santiago Pk. ? Those are ruthless, vindictive, denizens of evil with wings.
Bees don't usually sting when they are truly 'swarming'. Bees will sting to protect their hive, but 'swarming' is when a portion of a hive decides to go out and look for new digs. If you've ever seen thousands of bees in a bush or tree, most clinging to one another in a ball... that's 'swarming' behavior. They are generally pretty docile. On the other hand... Lot's of agitated bees flying around an active hive... that's a recipe for a bunch of stings.
I worked in the Nor-Cal woods as a logger for 18 years and I have been beed to the extreme repeated times. Once I parked the bulldozer on a bee hive in the ground and my partner and I switched jobs; from running the cat to felling trees. When he pulled off the hive they where very angry and I was stung dozens of times. Best you can do when that happens is hide in a bush or throw handfuls of dust (dirt) in the air. Old logger trick, put drops of gasoline on each sting and the gas evaporating is supose to take some of the venom with it. Dozens of times I have fell tree not knowing a hive was in it or the falling tree hit another tree with a hive. And yes we would bring EpiPens with us. Dean
I've also found out the hard way that yellowjackets don't like it when you are plowing a field and plow-up their nest. Kinda sucks when you are operating heavy equipment and can't exactly abandon it and run away as quickly as you would like, doesn't it?
I have found if I stay on the tractor sometimes they would not find me or only a couple. Nothing like when you are on foot. I don't care how disciplined you are your first reaction is to run and that is not good unless you have water to jump in, a bush to crawl under, or a car to get into. Dean
OWW! Sorry dude, awesome photo though. My mom walked into some kind of a nest/hive a couple years ago while hiking and was stung multiple times in the face, one even inside the mouth! Pretty much the same story as yours- when she go up the next morning her face was F*cked!!!!
Thats nothing two years ago I rode by the same bee boxes that Ive ridden past a hundred times when this time they decided that they didnt like the way I smelled or something. needless to say i was swarmed and at one point i must of had over fifty bees on me the only thing that saved me was the fact the boxes were at the top of a healthy climb and i was able to start downhill immediately. I ended up with over 25 stings that all welted up like the ops eye my ankles looked like kankles. Had I not been on my bike and was hiking I would probable be dead now. I talked to the beekeeper and he said ya I got one box that has some real pissers in it.
They will often react to color... white and light-blue are calming... they don't like red. It's true, different hives have different personalities. We would place the friendly hives nearer the house and the more hostile ones as far away as possible.
Ouch man! I had the same thing happen to me while sessioning the 4X track at Southridge. Someone in front of me did a great job pissing off the bee and it flew back and stung me right in the eyebrow! Benedryl is great for the swelling. but it will put you to sleep. Hope the swelling goes down quickly
I got stung by a hornet on the forehead at the cross races at Verdugo Park- Glendale, a few years ago. I wasn't racing, though. As I was walking to get to a different location of the race route I came upon a steel stake hit into the ground-sticking up. Then this guy- race organizer- comes running over to the stake with a sledge hammer. As he shouted that the stake was a marker for the hornet nest (right above it) he got stung on the hand and then I got stung on the forehead. #-oPeople just ran like crazy. I thought my forehead was going to have a baseball sized bump on it but it didn't swell. The pain was intense. It felt like getting whipped by a thin wire or whip.
