An abundance of bugs that want to bite you can ruin a bike ride, so plan ahead to deal with them.
Often when you are biking on a nice warm day you like to wear a tshirt and shorts, but you might regret this if the bugs are bad. If you are unprepared, the only thing you can do to avoid bugs is to keep riding at a good pace and don’t stop if you can help it. If you want to stop and you want to wear your tshirt and shorts, you will need to consider bringing bug spray to protect yourself. You can also purchase bug protective clothing that covers your upper and/or lower body with a bug resistant mesh. Some mesh clothing is meant to be worn baggy rather than tight so make sure it is not too close fitting. Might want to try out mesh outerwear before you decide to go on a long bike ride to make sure you are comfortable with it. You can buy really cheap mesh outerwear or more expensive mesh outwear so you need to decide how much you want to spend and read some reviews.
There are many different bug spray brands. Deet-based bug sprays are distinguished my how concentrated the deet is and you may want a stronger bug spray if you intend to be riding in wilderness areas versus say the beach. There are many different bug sprays in the non-deet category and you might want to look these over as well. You might opt for one of these non-deet bug sprays alone or decide to carry both types with you as some types of bugs might be more repelled by one versus the other type.
To conclude, you need to plan ahead when you are going out for a bike ride in the country. Just as essential as bringing water, is thinking about how you will deal with bugs either by wearing appropriate clothing, taking extra clothing, or carrying one or more sprays to help fend off the bugs that wish to have you for a meal.