Attempting a long ride with shingles

I had shingles twenty years ago but I couldn’t even ride a bike then so I’ve no prior knowledge.
I’ve got them again.
I have a 200 plus mile ride to do in 10 days.
Any tips on how I can damage limitate?
No chance of cancelling my ride.

“No chance of cancelling my ride. “

Why are they going to shoot you if you don’t do it?

See to me my health is more important that going for a bike ride, but I can appreciate to you it might not be.

^ wot he said, shingles can shirely be very mild (as per my case) to extreme’s as per my nan (had it for 6 months..).

Cancelling maybe really crap but better than messing yourself up unnecessarily

No chance of cancelling my ride

It’s a sponsored ride.

Monksie – sounds iffy though fella, speak to your GP?

Why does a sponsored ride make it any different, if your ill your ill.

Or is the idea to go for the London Marathon effect and raising millions of pounds by dying as a result?

The virus is active again, which I believe means your immune system is a bit below par? Riding 200 miles will not help it recover.

I have a 200 plus mile ride to do in 10 days.

20 miles / day, no worries.

😉

Doing an endurance event will suppress your immune system, so give the virus free reign to expand uncontested and do more damage / take longer to clear up.

Pretty daft IMO.

Why does a sponsored ride make it any different, if your ill your ill.

If, like Monksie, you’ve put a lot of effort into the preparation, fund-raising and logistics, you may well be reticent to cancel.

However, I’d agree. Monksie – no-one wants to see you **** yourself up (well, not in a non-cycling way 🙂 ), if it needs to be rescheduled so be it.

I kind of said to a few media people, who have it on record and ready to be publish “If I don’t do it, I’ll refund everybody”. I can’t see St. Ann’s Hospice covering that little pay out.
I don’t dare mention my ride to my GP. She’ll think I’m getting manic again 🙂
I need a stunt double stand in…..Hello Mr Nettles!. Very kind of you sir.

No. In all seriousness. It’d be a massive let down if I couldn’t do it but I’d rather not die unless I have to. My rash started on my upper arm last week. It’s now patching all over my chest, ribs, stomach. lower back and upper thighs. No really sore blistering though. My riding over the last two weeks has been laboured somewhat so I knew something was wrong.
Any tips on what I can do between now and the 14th?

rest… 20 miles per day unless you carrying lots of kit, done at a very steady pace should be easily attainable… but I’d suggest you see your doctor who will be able to judge your condition better than us internet medic’s…

Just the usual creams and acyclovir (sp) tablets and rest i’m afraid 🙁

Sorry Zippy. It’s approx. 220miles in 13 hours. Not over 10 days.

Do it in the car, nobody will know. Just make sure you keep it a secret.

Oh….

I’m off on that day, so I’ll do the last 100 miles, you just need to find 100 miles worth of STWers now. 🙂

No really sore blistering yet though.

FTFY!

I remember having it years back, was agony, but didn’t last long. I had it on the plane going on holiday to Ibiza, but I recall going out for a day in the mountains on a hired mountain bike, so it can’t have been that bad.

Crikey! How about you do the first 100, I’ll get a lift down and we’ll make a judgement and you can ride home if you don’t fancy the 2nd half? 🙂

Eeek! Postpone it!
I think any rational person would agree your not in a healthy state to complete the challenge and anyone who suggest you are is potentially endangering your life (maybe a tad dramatic but not unreasonable)

Do it in fancy dress monksie, preferably an outfit that covers your head – then you can sub riders in and out any time you like! 🙂

Crikey! How about you do the first 100, I’ll get a lift down and we’ll make a judgement and you can ride home if you don’t fancy the 2nd half?

Cunning, like it…

I had them at the start of April and didn’t get out of bed for about 10 days. Don’t think i had them to bad either as i just had spots on the top/back of my head.

Think i rode for the first time about 3 weeks after they started and then slept again for a couple of days. Also ate loads after the ride. My ride was only maybe 12 miles so god knows what you’ll be like after 200!!

I would say don’t do it or can you put it off and dio it in a couple of weeks?

As for what to do until then?? Rest like mad and eat well.

and do more damage / take longer to clear up.

There is no guarantee that any damage which might occur will eventually “clear up”. I may well be permanent and irreversible. Read this tragic story about a lifelong committed cyclist struck down by shingles :

Cyclist Recycled!

I’m liking some of these ideas.
I’m going to have to get it done. No chance of cheating. Camera and website rubbish people are at various points along the way (I’ve still not got the route organised yet. They want big roads, I want The Golden Arches of Happy Food).
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/olympic-park-to-manchester-velodrome-in-1-day-whos-coming-win-a-tv
Just in case somebody, by any chance, hasn’t seen it.
Arse, things are getting worse. My one nice feature, my right ear is getting a rash now.

I’d guess that even a mild dose of shingles would make you feel pretty crappy, so riding a bike all day wouldn’t be much fun, never mind that it might make it worse.

It’s a bit of a bad do, but postponement might be an option.

I’m not sure I could ride that far although I could do with the miles for the 3 peaks.

Hmmm….

From the voice of experience can you postpone the ride? I had shingles and didn’t rest and it took ages to clear up. I did a typical 5 mile run I was used to, against what I was advised, and as a result made myself worse and got a nasty dose of the flu. The rash from shingles took ages to clear up my Dr said I made it worse myself.

but postponement might be an option

Anything other than postponement would be, frankly, stupid.

Come on fella, there’s nothing that can’t be rearranged.

Oh dear at the above link. Flippin’ ell.

“Anything other than postponement would be, frankly, stupid”

This thread is not going the way I hoped. I’m going to ask if it can be removed.

Sorry to have bothered you all. Pretend this thread never happened.

😉

You’ve got my email, don’t be shy…

Would it be really offensive if I took a photo for your opinions on how bad it is? I’m starting to worry now.

As long as this hasn’t been a long rouse to allow you to post pictures of your wanger on the internet, fire away…

Awww busted. It was a daft idea. I’m going to shut up and stop reading this. It’s all going **very** wrong (and a tad odd).

Many years ago I got a kidney infection after the last NPS in 2007. I was put on Antibiotics, with the expectation that it would all clear up in 10 days. I naively thought that as I was on antibiotics that was that and I could ride as per normal. I went on a 70 mile club run and found it very tough when normally I’d have been setting the pace. Anyway, my infection came right back the next day and completely overwhelmed both my immune system and the antibiotics. To cut a long story short, I was ill for 6 months, went on endless courses of antibiotics for months on end, lost 10% of my kidneys to scar tissue, and couldn’t exercise properly for a year….

My advice would be take it very easy if you’re ill, these bugs can turn very nasty if you choose to switch off your immune system…..

Seriously fella, rearrange the ride.