As we are now only hours away from the official start of le cirque du cyclisme 2009 and many of you are ready for flights or long drives, I just wanted to let you all know of a little inconvenient episode that occurred to me last year, so that you can all perhaps avoid there being a repeat this year.
Last year, upon conclusion of the swap on Sunday, I found that both of my ankles were severely swollen. I first simply put it down to standing for hours in the sweltering over 100° F temperature (for those that were not aware, the barn is not enclosed and is most definitely not air conditioned, so be ready to sweat like the pigs that often occupy the same place where we will be displaying out bikes!), but after the 3 hour drive home, the swelling only got worse, even after icing them. The ankles then started turning a nice scarlet red. After about a week of discomfort and no improvement, I finally went to see my doctor, who almost immediately feared a blood clot or something ominous like that. He sent me through a battery of tests. After getting all the tests back, he called me back in to his office for a last check-up. Apparently the whole matter was caused by some type of mite or spider bites. In fact the doctor who by then had come to the correct conclusion, was able to then pinpoint the multiple bites.
My advice is therefore, if you are coming to the swap and show on Sunday, make sure that you at least have socks on and if you can stand it, also long pants with a reasonably tight cuff.
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ
USA