'My proud brandishing of the parasite was met with limited sympathy': what to do and what not to do when you get bitten by a tick while cycling
Call it a rite of passage, call it bad luck: I wouldn't recommend it either way
A couple of weeks ago I returned from a ride with a friend in tow. Not the sort of friend who fist-bumps you afterwards and says 'great day, seeya next weekend'. Or even the sort of friend that might say, 'good to see you still have the FTP of an asthmatic ant, Shrubsall', with a conspiratorial wink. No, this was the sort of friend that might suck your blood while giving you Lyme disease. A tick, in other words and, actually, no friend at all.
My proud brandishing of the pin-head sized parasite was met with limited sympathy, or indeed admiration, from family members. Instead they recoiled in disgust and went off, I presume, to find the nearest plague mask. I went off to find the nearest pair of tweezers to get rid of the thing.
Having been at Cycling Weekly for over two decades, and cycling a little bit longer, James is in a good position to tell you what's good and what isn't in the world of bike riding.
The chances are you know about ticks. You may well have had an encounter with one – they're not uncommon. They can be found in every UK county, and there are plenty in the USA too, particularly in the North-East and the West Coast. You may well also know that they can transmit Lyme disease, with one estimate putting the proportion of carrier ticks in the UK at 4%. In the US there's a pronounced variation, depending on where you live, ranging from less than 1% to 50%. There are other delights too, but Lyme is by far the most common.
Small (in some cases minute) spider-like critters, ticks lurk on foliage tips, latching on to humans and pets as they brush by. They'll then spend some time searching for a likely spot before biting on to feed, which is where any potential disease transmission occurs.
If you're part of the gravel fraternity and your rides take you along overgrown paths or through long grass it's worth checking yourself over when you get home. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends showering within two hours, which can wash off any roaming ticks and gives a chance to spot any that have latched on. Covering up as far as possible, avoiding foliage and using tick repellent can also go some way to ensuring you never experience the pleasure of meeting one.
Tick removal involves pulling the offender straight out with tweezers – don't try to burn it or drown it. I can vouch from my own experience that this is easy and painless (though slightly icky). Standard recommendation is then to dispose of the tick by placing it in a sealed container or novelly, folding it in sticky tape and binning it. Not having read this and being of the 'live and let live' persuasion, I chucked my mate out the window. I rather regret this now: I can imagine it waiting in the lavender outside the front door, ready to strike again.
If you get bitten by a tick and are unlucky enough to have been furnished with Lyme disease, there's a good chance you'll notice an expanding red 'bullseye' rash (usually around the bite, but it can be elsewhere) within a few weeks. You may also experience flu-like symptoms. At this point, it's worth getting yourself to your family doctor, who will likely offer a course of antibiotics. Left untreated, it can spread throughout the body over time and cause all sorts of unpleasant symptoms, from severe fatigue to localised paralysis and more.
For me personally, I'm going to spend at least the next couple of weeks looking out for rashes and swiping at the foliage outside my door. But, equally, I feel more alert to the possibility of another bite while out riding, and if I do find another stealing my, quite frankly, precious blood supply, it's going to be in a whole lot of trouble.
