Just a quick warning and reminder. I had to remove 2 ticks that had bitten me after riding a LW this week. Currently on a course of antibiotics.
that's the first time I've been bitten, we were riding off piste where they are probably more common.
I'll be carrying a tick remover from now on and checking for them after rides.
Were you riding continuously or did you stop / sit down anywhere?
Doesn't really matter if you stop or carry on.
I picked one up about 4 weeks ago bashing down a trail that was getting quite overgrown.
Found it on my wrist about an hour later.
Got it off there and then with some tick twisters and no ill effects to report.
Check behind your knees too, they like warm moist places
One of mine was on my chest, dont know how I missed it when I showered after. The other was behind my knee. We didnt stop for long, only to put some pads on at the top of that new trails with the silly jumps in it.
But we rode down some overgrown stuff where there are probably more deer around.
Pulled them both out carefully with tweezers and have ordered one of those tick remover credit card thingies. Fingers cross no long lasting issues.
With no symptoms, aren't antibiotics a bit OTT?
The undergrowth has gone wild this last week up there. It's amazing how quickly some of the trails become overgrown.
<goes to eBay and orders tick twisters>
The o tom tick twister is the best imho.
bencooper - sorry, my post wasnt supposed to be a Daily Mail type scare story. But.... there is evidence that a quick blast of antibiotics can prevent Lymes Disease if adminstered early enough. You can have the disease for a month or more with no symptoms. 4 hours is enough time for an infected tick to transfer the disease, they were in me for more than 24, though no idea if they are carriers.
And, in my case, I've just finished a course of steriods, so am a bit susceptable to infections.
A friend of mine has Lymes, which he caught in the US. It's a pretty bad disease, I'd rather be too cautious, even if it means no booze for a week!
eeek. Just ordered a tick twister as well.
*itches*
agentdagnamit where about does the new trail you mention start from?
squaremonkey - it you ride Yer Tiz, to the point before it crosses a fireroad and begins to climb a litte (but the fireroad before where the switch backy climb starts), there's a trail that comes down from the left and actually crosses Yer Tiz. Which isnt good...
The trail carries on to the right, where there is a small clearing just off Yer Tiz. There's a couple of lines starting there, the left hand one down over a little rock garden (that most lyrca clad Strava monkeys racing the blue route would avoid).
The longer route fallows the fall line of the valley, swoops side to side across the bottom of it, then has some ridiculous jumps, that are noteable for their size and absence of any real landing. Certianly not for me.
To be honest, I much prefer Picnic Bench(es) and Knicker, but it was interesting to find these "new" ones. I suspect the jumps will be destroyed.
Whilst we're on the subject, I also rode down into Nightingale Valley from the old fort. That's a pretty steep run....
But if I had to guess, I may have been ticked on the route that starts just NW of the fort (near a no biking sign), where where's a fairly new kissing gate by that limestone rockgarden that drops to the trail. It then runs right out onto the Pill path (and into the path of the Triathalon runners if you rode it on Sunday!).
I picked up a tiny one the size of a poppy seed in Leigh Woods on Sunday, but I'd spent half and hour with secateurs on a section of off-piste trail, so it's hardly surprising. Too small for a tick twister, I pulled it off with tweezers and it hadn't even got down to the blood, thankfully.
But.... there is evidence that a quick blast of antibiotics can prevent Lymes Disease if adminstered early enough.
Interesting - I've always just removed them and kept an eye out for a red rash. The twist-type removers are brilliant.
agentdagnamit - MemberThe longer route fallows the fall line of the valley, swoops side to side across the bottom of it, then has some ridiculous jumps, that are noteable for their size and absence of any real landing. Certianly not for me.
That's not new, it's been there for years in some form or another. Doesn't really get ridden much because it's a dead end (unless you climb over the railway line...)
There seems to be mixed opinion on how common a sign the bullseye rash is, somewhere between 40% and 90% I think. My friend has spend £12k of his own money on treatment over the last 2 years, as he reckons the NHS dont really understand the disease.
Thanks DrRad, good work
Our local vet has warned us that there's a huge number of ticks around this year & to keep an eye on the mutt - hadn't even considered being affected myself. :-\
Quite a few of us in the Cheesy Riders have caught ticks in AC and LW in the last few months. Be careful, people!
Pulled the first tick of the year out of my puppy dog's ear the other day. Will be checking her daily from now on. The tick twisters great and worth the couple of quid.
Jeff
OP has a point using a single dose Doxycycline as a prophylactic is a good idea and is recommended. Though I have had 6 ticks already this season one on my ball sack 😳 but I have noticed them soon after being out in the forest and removed with the otom remover.
I never bothered with the Doxycycline, but now you got me thinking I should try and get hold of some for future use.
In the past I have been treated twice even though the test was negative as I was symptomatic and the test is only 50% accurate! You are usually asked to come back for another test but I don't see the point just get treated to be safe.
Tick related diseases can and will continue to ruin lives unless there is more public education regarding the risks.
Well that was my quickest Ebay purchase ever!
typed in , o Tom , 1st result tick twister, Buy it now?
Hell Yeah!!!!
( hoping I never have to use it though! )
agentdagnamit - I think I know the ones you mean, all the gulley jumps towards the bottom.
If you regularly ride with your other half, why not incorporate routine tick checking into a fun game for the 2 of you?
I'm sure Spando would agree..
Found a small tick by my knee a couple of weeks ago, after having gone out to LW, I had had to spend a while fixing punctures, so I figure it hopped on my then.
Hadn't got down to blood, & no rash, though the bite itself is still a little red. Hopefully I've been lucky, but has made me more careful about checking myself.
Got some tick tweezers from Cotswolds, a couple of quid, so a complete no-brainer
Also worth check a few days after as well. I found one a couple of days after a ride, it wasn't attached so I can only assume that I it was in my shoe and made the move when I put my shoes back on to ride to work.
I'm almost tempted to shave/trim my leg hair to make it more difficult for them to latch on.
Check your belly buttons as well. I had one embedded in mine as a kid after building bivouacs in the woods.
If I took antibiotics everytime I got a tick i'd rattle when I walk. I check everynight when I shower and remove. I know that as Spando says, tick borne disease can be serious but changing my life to avoid them would ruin it more.
My friend has spend £12k of his own money on treatment over the last 2 years, as he reckons the NHS dont really understand the disease
I have a friend in the same position, it has ruined her life. NHS diagnosis and treatment of Lyme's is diabolical. Perhaps it will take a critical mass of cases for Something To Be Done, but with the NHS seemingly being privatised, I somehow can't see that happening...
sweepy - if it was sheep ticks then I'd agree, but there aint no sheep in Leigh Woods. That, and the steroids, made me err on the side of caution.
Thats fair enough, If I got a tick once in a blue moon i'd probably err on the side of caution. But I live in an area rich in sheep and deer and can get upwards of 50 in a good year (for them).
I think there used to be a vaccine but it was withdrawn because of anti vaccine lobbying.
Funny how we think there arent really any poisonous animals in the UK (well, I've seen 2 adders in my 43 years), but the local woods are infested with virtually invisible critters that can give you some serious bad news.
Ah, no, gone Daily Mail again....
Wish me luck I will be mincing around off piste in a bit..
Do base layers stop the little critters ?
Plus one for the antibiotic prophylaxis. I ended up with Lymes after being bitten last November. Got a bullseye rash and didn't think anything of it then ended up with flu like symptoms and stiff neck and shoulder.
Had two weeks on antibiotics but it has taken 4 - 5 months to be shot of it completely. It left me vulnerable to any virus which came through resort all through the winter and generally lethargic and listless.
Thankfully I've had no ill effects since then but there are some proper horror stories out there and it can be completely debilitating. If you do end up on antibiotics I found that a course of probiotics afterwards helped restore a bit of balance. Normally I'm not an advocate of alternative remedies but they did seem to help.
AC/LW/50acre and Plantation ridden this morning and not a tick in sight when I finished.
Can someone please explain how easy they are to spot if they are on you. Can you feel them if you run your hand over the area or do you need to look? Never seen one myself.
If you look they're easy to spot visually.
Except on the dog when they get hidden by her coat, so I just run my hands through her hair and they're easy to feel.
Soap - good luck, ride like the wind and they wont be near you.
Pretty sure they cant get through clothes. Leeches seem to be able to do this, but they seem to get under mine then head for warm areas....
Just be very careful when removing them, google the proper techniques or get a tool. There's a lot of bad advice about using a match or vaseline, you want to avoid that sort of thing.
Can someone please explain how easy they are to spot if they are on you. Can you feel them if you run your hand over the area or do you need to look? Never seen one myself.
They can be very small - the nymphs are little more than a speck.
1. A speck of dirt the doesn't come off when showering. Look closer and you can see it's got legs
2. I react quite strongly with an immediate rash and irritation at bite. This is how I usually find them, burrowing into me in the night.
A nymph woke me up Monday night while in Germany, in the back of my thigh. It had just gone-in (no blood in its abdomen). It had escaped the shower, sleeping, changes of clothes, flying to Germany etc, to bite 36 hours after I was out riding in the UK. Quite usual. I got it out with with two credit cards, not having the tool or tweezers to hand.
I don't usually notice them on me until the morning after in the shower (hence why I've now got tick twisters in my locker at work), but as I've found quite a few on me from riding Bristol's trails of late, I've been a little more fastidious in my post-ride checks. The problem is they can be really small until they've started harvesting your blood.
I've also started using DEET-based insect repellent & since doing so haven't been bitten.
Maroon, check your whole body when you shower after a ride. Have a close look at any new blemish, from poppy-seed size upwards to 6-7mm length. Ticks (google images) are little legged creatures, you can see the legs even on the smallest ones. They range from pale grey to black in colour.
They latch onto a leg & crawl up to somewhere warm, or where the lycra starts. I've had them in armpits and groin, so check carefully all over. You might notice them by feel, like new scabs.
I survived with all four limbs intact.
If this thread gets any more Daily Mail I'm gonna start riding in a chemical warfare outfit.
Moses do you really check your whole body after every ride?
Dogs get Ticks because they scamp around at low level through the undergrowth.
Never had a tick after 10 years of riding on the Quantocks.
Probably get 50 bites now.
I've never even considered ticks before now.
Pretty scared about this evenings ride!
I used to get them all the time on the quantocks. Just pull them out and don't worry about it. It certainly never occurred to me to get antibiotics I'd have been to the go every other week if I did.
You only need antibiotics if you get bitten by an infected tick not for every bite 😉
Never had a tick after 10 years of riding on the Quantocks
You're lucky, i reckon I've had well over 30 there in the last 3 or 4 years. It got to the stage where i was getting 2-3 per ride last year then i had the red ring/bullseye rash come up around one bite and ended up on antibiotics for 2 weeks. I always wear lycra tights under my shorts now so i can't pick any up.
If anyone ever gets this come up around a tick bite get it checked out asap!
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I got a Tick on my ballbag once. I didn't die.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Bloody horrifying though!
A friend of mine has Lymes, which he caught in the US. It's a pretty bad disease, I'd rather be too cautious, even if it means no booze for a week!
The whole not drinking on antibiotics thing is a bit of a myth. It's only really Metronidazole and tinidazole you need to worry about, anything else is alright within reason.
Most of my riding is on the road now so it's just the pricks I need to look out for
/gets coat
This is a quite useful link although a couple of years old now:
[url= http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=398 ]http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=398[/url]
Maroon, sort-of. I look out for ticks when I shower after a ride - if I'm washing all over it's not an effort as I'm not a hairy bloke. It depends on the place & season. Winter across the Qs wouldn't be a worry, but going through chest-height bracken somewhere else would be.
Tickcard ftw, even had to use it mid ride. After a ride and woodland bbq i had to remove 5 from me n the mrs. At the rate i get them, I'm gonna stock up on deet rather than be on Doxycycline for the rest of my life.
double post. sorry
I just rode LW and AC last night. I don't think I have any, but I'm scratching all over right now just reading this thread. Ticks/lyme disease really scare me.
After not collecting any on my ride this morning I've just found one on my leg after walking the dog this evening. 🙄
We've got 2 cats, ticks are rife - we took four off one the other day, and are finding at least one on each cat every day.
Neither have shown any ill effects.
We dont live in Leigh Woods, btw. Or anywhere near it.
<Upon return from said woods, is almost disappointed by the lack of blood sucking parasites> 😛
Yetidan
The whole not drinking on antibiotics thing is a bit of a myth. It's only really Metronidazole and tinidazole you need to worry about, anything else is alright within reason.
well, that depends on whether you want them to be affective or not. Best to avoid milk with doxycycline as well.
The whole not drinking on antibiotics thing is a bit of a myth. It's only really Metronidazole and tinidazole you need to worry about, anything else is alright within reason.
well, that depends on whether you want them to be affective or not. Best to avoid milk with doxycycline as well.
Actually he's quite right.
The myth stems from basically people being infected with STD's, drinking and getting horny before the treatment has had time to take effect, and then infecting further people.
Thus, doctors told them if they drunk whilst on anti-biotics they would be ineffective.
There are a small number you cannot drink on, but your doctor will explicitly tell you this when prescribing the medicine.
Reading though the posts, two things that I'd like to mention
The vaccine was withdrawn due to it causing Lyme Arthritis and you won't necessarily get a Bulls Eye rash
The vaccine was withdrawn due to it causing Lyme Arthritis
Lyme and vaccination are both subject of controversy, do some reading and make your own minds up on this.
You could start reading here, though it's rather old...