Someone mentioned recently that they ride covered up to avoid ticks. Let's add nettles as another reason. Some of the lower tracks and paths on the BMKL are going to become overwhelmed with them soon I reckon. It didn't use to be like that back in the day. I wonder if it's because of less mrb traffic nowadays?
Apparently nettle therapy is a thing. If so my right calf is NEVER going to become arthritic.
Did a road ride today, cutting through an alleyway back into the village my hand went a stand of nettles. Itchy as hell now.
Yeah, nothing like the first nettles of spring
A strand of briar suspended across the steepest part of the trail at eye level. Nature's barb wire
Apparently nettle therapy is a thing. If so my right calf is NEVER going to become arthritic.
mum picks me bagfuls of them at this time of year and I rub/smear them all over my legs/arms etc….it helps with my SPMS nerve pain and constant feeling of spiders running over my skin, and they feel good when I grab a handful.
Nettles? Lightweights! Briars and blackthorns will rip your skin open, puncture your tyres, and in the case of blackthorn, infect the wounds.
And you’re worried about a bit of a tingling sensation? Call yourselves mountain bikers? Deary, deary me! 🙄
A strand of briar suspended across the steepest part of the trail at eye level. Nature's barb wire
After looking in a mirror and thinking back to a last minute dodge that is why I almost always wear glasses now.I have three options from clear to full sunglasses but always try to remember to wear one. The nasty cut just under my eye really freaked me out.
On the briar front I did once have a really awkward conversation with HR. Where I was riding was lots of singletrack enclosed by briars and so my arms were shredded. HR obviously didnt want to start with "so why are you self harming" which led to lots of confusion until I realised they were asking why my arms were such a mess.
On the nettle front I would want really, really, really good evidence for how it helps including me being able to throw the researchers into a clump of nettles so they can show their dedication to the cause.
A strand of briar suspended across the steepest part of the trail at eye level. Nature's barb wire
calamus australis - wait a while or lawyer vine - is a local nasty. It’s barbed and tears the skin and has the finest tendrils so you think you have managed to avoid it but then you feel it. It’s impossible to touch at all without getting snagged and it seems particularly to get caught in the crook of your elbow, a horrible place to get cut.
Makes you feel alive!!
In ascending order of nastiness my local trails go nettles, brambles, blackthorn and top nasty is the dog rose, dangles down at the perfect height to catch your face. I have a scar on my nose from the 90s from a rose thorn
When life give you nettles, make nettle beer
