Ticks & Poison Oak (yuck!)
By Esther Kim
With the spring and summer season, mountain biking season is in full swing. There are some things to watch out for when mountain biking particularly in the warmer months.With warm weather comes ticks. If you happen to notice a tick latched onto your skin, you want to remove it as promptly as possible. You do not want to get lime disease or expose yourself to the possibility of getting lyme disease.
Although other methods of tick removal will work, such as burning them off or drowning them in oil, tweezers are probably the most convenient when riding on a trail. Keep a pair in your hydration pack or saddle bag. Grab the tick firmly with the tweezers, including the head of the tick. Slowly turn the tweezers counter clockwise, like backing out a screw, and pull. It is important to grab the head as well, since the head can detach and still continue to burrow into your skin.
Besides gross little critters like ticks, another thing to watch out for is poison oak. It is quite abundant on the trails in the bay area. Although the color changes from red to brown to green, depending on the season, you can typically look for a stalky plant with three leaves. In the winter when there aren't any leaves, try to familiarize yourself with the stalks, as these can cause an allergic reaction with contact as well.
Poison oak contains an oil called urushiol. When this oil has contact with your skin for a period of time it has cause a bad rash. It usually shows up two to four days after contact and looks like bug bites, but continues to spread and blisters and pusses, and leaves your skin extremely bumpy and extremely itchy. It can be very uncomfortable and can last two to four weeks on average, so it is important to try and avoid getting it.
Since poison oak is so abundant, chances are you will run into one way or another. To prevent contact with your skin, there are over-the-counter products such as Ivy Block which work great to deter direct contact with your skin. It is a watery milky white lotion which you put onto your skin before you go through poison oak areas. It dries and leaves a white film on your skin but will mitigate the chances of catching poison oak if you've applied it correctly.
If you've already had contact with poison oak, you want to wash the oils off your skin immediately. The sooner you wash, the greater chance you will not get it. Wash in cold to lukewarm water. Never take a bath. You do not want the oils floating in your bathtub as this can cause it to spread. A great product called tecnu can be used to wash off the poison oak. It is a liquid cleaner specifically designed to take off the poison oak oils from your skin. Jump in the shower and clean away with tecnu.
If you've already gotten poison oak, and the rash has started, you have to wait for it to work out of your system, but there is something you can use to mitigate the itch. A product called Zanfel works pretty good. It is expensive but comes in a little tub and feels like a facial scrub. You can scrub this into your rash area, which feels great, and wash it off and it should take the itch away for a good four to eight hours.
If your poison oak rash is serious and spreading rapidly, your best bet is to go see your doctor who can prescribe steroids or other medication to reduce the rash.
Remember to wash your clothes and gloves after riding through poison oak, and clean your bike which may also have the poison oak oils on it as well. You can spray rubbing alcohol down on your bike to get rid of the oils. Some people even spray the affected areas on their skin with rubbing alcohol. I haven't had much luck with this but others say it works, although it will leave your skin extremely dry.
By Esther Kim
With the spring and summer season, mountain biking season is in full swing. There are some things to watch out for when mountain biking particularly in the warmer months.With warm weather comes ticks. If you happen to notice a tick latched onto your skin, you want to remove it as promptly as possible. You do not want to get lime disease or expose yourself to the possibility of getting lyme disease.
Although other methods of tick removal will work, such as burning them off or drowning them in oil, tweezers are probably the most convenient when riding on a trail. Keep a pair in your hydration pack or saddle bag. Grab the tick firmly with the tweezers, including the head of the tick. Slowly turn the tweezers counter clockwise, like backing out a screw, and pull. It is important to grab the head as well, since the head can detach and still continue to burrow into your skin.
Besides gross little critters like ticks, another thing to watch out for is poison oak. It is quite abundant on the trails in the bay area. Although the color changes from red to brown to green, depending on the season, you can typically look for a stalky plant with three leaves. In the winter when there aren't any leaves, try to familiarize yourself with the stalks, as these can cause an allergic reaction with contact as well.
Poison oak contains an oil called urushiol. When this oil has contact with your skin for a period of time it has cause a bad rash. It usually shows up two to four days after contact and looks like bug bites, but continues to spread and blisters and pusses, and leaves your skin extremely bumpy and extremely itchy. It can be very uncomfortable and can last two to four weeks on average, so it is important to try and avoid getting it.
Since poison oak is so abundant, chances are you will run into one way or another. To prevent contact with your skin, there are over-the-counter products such as Ivy Block which work great to deter direct contact with your skin. It is a watery milky white lotion which you put onto your skin before you go through poison oak areas. It dries and leaves a white film on your skin but will mitigate the chances of catching poison oak if you've applied it correctly.
If you've already had contact with poison oak, you want to wash the oils off your skin immediately. The sooner you wash, the greater chance you will not get it. Wash in cold to lukewarm water. Never take a bath. You do not want the oils floating in your bathtub as this can cause it to spread. A great product called tecnu can be used to wash off the poison oak. It is a liquid cleaner specifically designed to take off the poison oak oils from your skin. Jump in the shower and clean away with tecnu.
If you've already gotten poison oak, and the rash has started, you have to wait for it to work out of your system, but there is something you can use to mitigate the itch. A product called Zanfel works pretty good. It is expensive but comes in a little tub and feels like a facial scrub. You can scrub this into your rash area, which feels great, and wash it off and it should take the itch away for a good four to eight hours.
If your poison oak rash is serious and spreading rapidly, your best bet is to go see your doctor who can prescribe steroids or other medication to reduce the rash.
Remember to wash your clothes and gloves after riding through poison oak, and clean your bike which may also have the poison oak oils on it as well. You can spray rubbing alcohol down on your bike to get rid of the oils. Some people even spray the affected areas on their skin with rubbing alcohol. I haven't had much luck with this but others say it works, although it will leave your skin extremely dry.
