Not for me but this guy died of it doing the Brighton Marathon and there’s a few quotes in there that I thought might apply to cyclists;

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10639043.Brighton_Marathon_runner_died_of__catastrophic__collapse_caused_by_bowel_disease/

We know that up to half of people who run marathons develop symptoms relating to their gastro-intestines.

“They can be minor stomach cramps, diahorrea, but on the other end of the scale, ischemic bowel can be exhibited in endurance exercise.”

He added: “When it gets to that critical stage, depending on how much of the bowel has died, depends on whether the person can survive.

Gastro-intestinal problems suffered by people associated with endurance sport were being increasingly examined in studies, Dr Taylor added.

not really much to help identify if you have it, really, from what it says.

“ischemic” is a general medical term when an organ has ‘worn out’, stopped functioning or ‘died’. It’s a kind of ‘catch all’ term.

Not quite – it relates to a restriction of blood flow to tissue.

And its ‘ischaemic’ not ‘ischemic’ unless you’re from the US of A.

I always used to get the splats after xc running, so I quit

When you exercise hard, your body diverts blood to muscle etc, and away from the bits of the body not immediately needed, which is why people get stomach cramps when exercising. However, I can’t see how this would cause a 23yo to develop an ischaemic gut; I suppose it’s possible if he was critically dehydrated, or if he had an unusual blood supply to his bowel.

Ischaemic gut is unusual, and is usually a result of thromboembolism of the major blood vessels supplying the bowel. I have anaesthetised my fair share of people with ischaemic gut for the ensuing laparotomy and bowel resection, and have looked after more on ITU postop. I would say there are two things these patients generally have in common – they are elderly, and they are very, very sick.

Andy

Agreed, seen plenty come through my front doors and they always seem to be little old ladies. Can’t recall ever seeing it in anyone under 70 odd and I’m sure they would stick out as they would be so rare.

Don’t let it put you off, this has made the papers as it is vanishingly rare.