I doubt there will be any touring for me this year. Even though my bike is ready with new mavic disc rims, narrower tires, and new sleek fenders, I am not. It appears that my breakdown in the pyranees was not me being a wimp, but actually the beginning of lyme disease.....
....and its the nasty arthritic late onset stuff. Basically my right leg hurts, and it was intense for a while.
Lyme is all over the world, don't assume its just in the northeast U.S. Only half the cases of lyme show the bullseye rash so when you go bike touring be sure to check yourself for ticks! And it doesn't have to be a deer tick (although that is the usual "vector?"), it can be any tick. I might even carry antibiotics with me next time despite my strong anti doping stance. I sure am taking a lot of 'em now! Plus a bunch of herbs.
After I returned home my health continued to decline until I couldn't walk in February and I had to stop working. At that point my friend Eric Guillard suggested I might have lyme and after some thought it made sense. Even more sense after I read up on the disease. Due to late detection it has established a strong hold in me so its going to be a project to get it out. So far I have been improving, slowly. After six weeks I started to work again and even rode the trainer a few times for a half hour. That's to help fight the lyme by circulating blood (with antibiotics and herbs) into my otherwise stagnant leg. It still hurts, can't ride outside. But I can walk okay if I am careful.
Next year? Bike tour to Lyme Connecticut? Probably not. I would prefer a ride starting here and going around Nova Scotia, or a month in Iceland, or perhaps the big one (la vuelta a South America) if Nat Faulkner exhausts his ironman bug and puts that one together. Oracle Jen already went touring this year on the Iditarod trail with Kyle on Surlys with 4" wide tires. Yes, I am jealous. Not only did she get to go touring, her bike has 4" tires!
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