Skin cancer and bike riding

[Tom \Johnny Sunset\ Sherman]

[email protected] anonymously wrote:
> Male age 49..... have a small basal cell carcinoma on
> my leg to be roved in a few weeks. Light complexion.
> But where this lesion is is on a part of the body that
> I WOULD have thought didn't get much sun anyway!! It
> wasn't own my back or arms or anything.
>
> Given the info above I'm wondering what others do to
> avoid sun exposure while on long bike tours? I never
> worried abt it much but will now!! And ironically was
> going to get back into touring soon, buy bike, etc.
>
> BUT.... now I'm cognizant that I MUST avoid sun
> exposure while cycling in noon sun.
>
> I hate sunscreens.... so what other things do you guys
> wear or use that allow one to be cool, not sweat tons,
> and keep flesh form being exposed?
>
> Advice on clothing and apparel and methods please?

See <http://leitra.dk/>.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
A Real Cyclist [TM] keeps at least one bicycle in the bedroom.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

 

[NickP]

For the upper body, you could try
http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/product-detail-ROC-SUM.htm. I wear these in
the Australian summer, which can be pretty damn hot...

Bandannas do a good job of protecting the back of the neck and, if you're
bald like me, keeping off the sun through the helmet slots.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Male age 49..... have a small basal cell carcinoma on
> my leg to be roved in a few weeks. Light complexion.
> But where this lesion is is on a part of the body that
> I WOULD have thought didn't get much sun anyway!! It
> wasn't own my back or arms or anything.
>
> Given the info above I'm wondering what others do to
> avoid sun exposure while on long bike tours? I never
> worried abt it much but will now!! And ironically was
> going to get back into touring soon, buy bike, etc.

 

[Mark]

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:44:31 -0700, Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>
>> Not wanting to state the obvious, but since nobody else will...
>>
>> Do you hate sunscreens more than you hate cancer?
>>
>> Sunscreens aren't perfect, but they're pretty convenient, some aren't
>> terribly greasy, and unless you get apparel specifically designed to
>> filter out the dangerous stuff (which is just now beginning to make its
>> way into the marketplace), they (sunscreens) may actually do a better
>> job.
>
> I'll second that. Skin cancer is nothing to fool around with, and anyone
> who spends much time in the sun is susceptible.
>
> There's a good sunscreen for everybody. Here's a good resource, probably
> more than you ever wanted to know:
>
> http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens/summary.php

Agreed. We've had some nasty bouts with melanoma in my family, and I
don't want to go there myself.

Here are some things I've learned by trial and error:

1) I also have the sense that cream sunscreens adversely affect sweat
evaporation. Gel sunscreens don't seem to have this problem, and don't
get as gummy as the cream type, but it's hard to find gel sunscreen that
has extensive UVA protection.

Coppertone Sport Gel has one of the recommended UVA ingredients
(Avobenzone IIRC), but smells like a beach and isn't in stores near me
anymore. I recently discovered Neutrogena gel, which is unscented and
pleasant to use, but twice as expensive as the Coppertone.

2) There are zinc oxide variants that don't make you look like frosty
the snowman; the brand name of the patented ingredient is "Z-cote." the
zinc oxide is apparently ground super fine, and the result is
semi-translucent. Makes you look pale but not bleach white. I've only
tried this stuff on my face. I think it's supposed to last longer w/o
need for reapplication. The type I've used is in a thick, sort of
greasy cream, but it's not unpleasant; on some spring Oregon rides it
serves more of a waterproofing function than sunscreen function. In
summer, it doesn't seem to catch bugs as much as a
sweat-and-cream-sunscreen mixture.

I am starting to think I'd like to look into a summer-weight long-sleeve
jersey that block UV, though.

Mark J.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

>> A friend and fellow randonneur used the Boure SPF whatever long sleeve
>> jerseys this year and liked them much better than sunscreen. I haven't
>> tried that sort of thing. UV rays do make it through typical bike
>> jerseys, though.
>
> I have an old Bellwether long sleeve lightweight Coolmax jersey, which has
> the widest comfort range of any cycling garment I've owned. It's fine for
> temps in the 50s (with a windbreaker) to nearly 80F. It does a pretty
> good job keeping the sun off without being too hot. It's also handy
> against poison oak while mountain biking. It's very old and faded now,
> with a couple of holes, so it looks really tacky, but I still haven't
> found a replacement.
>
> Nashbar used to sell very lightweight long sleeved jerseys, but I haven't
> seen them in awhile.

The problem is that many fabrics pass through an alarming amount of UV. I
was at a Nike product meeting, where we were discussing the future of
cycling apparel, and one of the things that came up was whether to
incorporate a new (two years ago) fabric technology designed specifically to
block UV. The differences between how well it worked vs what you got with a
standard jersey was substantial but, unfortunately, so was the bump in
price. The question was, would using this create a selling point that would
be so compelling it would offset the higher price of the garment?

I thought that it made a lot of sense, but in the grand scheme of things,
the public's awareness of skin cancer isn't high enough, and the marketing
would have to be pretty scary to be effective... and the last thing we
wanted to see was something like Specialized convincing half the world that
men shouldn't be riding bikes.

I have no idea if anybody's picked up the ball and run with the UV-blocking
fabric in the meantime. It's not my area of expertise (I'm not the
soft-goods expert in our operation).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com



"Matt O'Toole" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:02:50 -0500, Tim McNamara wrote:
>
>> A friend and fellow randonneur used the Boure SPF whatever long sleeve
>> jerseys this year and liked them much better than sunscreen. I haven't
>> tried that sort of thing. UV rays do make it through typical bike
>> jerseys, though.
>
> I have an old Bellwether long sleeve lightweight Coolmax jersey, which has
> the widest comfort range of any cycling garment I've owned. It's fine for
> temps in the 50s (with a windbreaker) to nearly 80F. It does a pretty
> good job keeping the sun off without being too hot. It's also handy
> against poison oak while mountain biking. It's very old and faded now,
> with a couple of holes, so it looks really tacky, but I still haven't
> found a replacement.
>
> Nashbar used to sell very lightweight long sleeved jerseys, but I haven't
> seen them in awhile.
>
> Matt O.
>

 

[Patrick Lamb]

On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:14:48 -0700, Mark
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Matt O'Toole wrote:
>
>Coppertone Sport Gel has one of the recommended UVA ingredients
>(Avobenzone IIRC), but smells like a beach and isn't in stores near me
>anymore. I recently discovered Neutrogena gel, which is unscented and
>pleasant to use, but twice as expensive as the Coppertone.

I'll second the Neutrogena gel. Bullfrog gel also works well for me,
but when I ran out and couldn't find any for a while, I tried my
wife's Neutrogena and liked it. One benefit is that I don't seem to
need as much of the gels as I do the creams.

Pat

Email address works as is.

 

[[email protected]]

On Oct 4, 12:57 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> Male age 49..... have a small basal cell carcinoma on
> my leg to be roved in a few weeks. Light complexion.
> But where this lesion is is on a part of the body that
> I WOULD have thought didn't get much sun anyway!! It
> wasn't own my back or arms or anything.
>
> Given the info above I'm wondering what others do to
> avoid sun exposure while on long bike tours? I never
> worried abt it much but will now!! And ironically was
> going to get back into touring soon, buy bike, etc.
>
> BUT.... now I'm cognizant that I MUST avoid sun
> exposure while cycling in noon sun.
>
> I hate sunscreens.... so what other things do you guys
> wear or use that allow one to be cool, not sweat tons,
> and keep flesh form being exposed?
>
> Advice on clothing and apparel and methods please?

Dear M,

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2007/10/08/?uc_full_date=&campid=0&

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[Matt O'Toole]

On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:24:49 +0000, Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

>>> A friend and fellow randonneur used the Boure SPF whatever long sleeve
>>> jerseys this year and liked them much better than sunscreen. I
>>> haven't tried that sort of thing. UV rays do make it through typical
>>> bike jerseys, though.
>>
>> I have an old Bellwether long sleeve lightweight Coolmax jersey, which
>> has the widest comfort range of any cycling garment I've owned. It's
>> fine for temps in the 50s (with a windbreaker) to nearly 80F. It does
>> a pretty good job keeping the sun off without being too hot. It's also
>> handy against poison oak while mountain biking. It's very old and
>> faded now, with a couple of holes, so it looks really tacky, but I
>> still haven't found a replacement.
>>
>> Nashbar used to sell very lightweight long sleeved jerseys, but I
>> haven't seen them in awhile.
>
> The problem is that many fabrics pass through an alarming amount of UV.
> I was at a Nike product meeting, where we were discussing the future of
> cycling apparel, and one of the things that came up was whether to
> incorporate a new (two years ago) fabric technology designed
> specifically to block UV. The differences between how well it worked vs
> what you got with a standard jersey was substantial but, unfortunately,
> so was the bump in price. The question was, would using this create a
> selling point that would be so compelling it would offset the higher
> price of the garment?
>
> I thought that it made a lot of sense, but in the grand scheme of
> things, the public's awareness of skin cancer isn't high enough, and the
> marketing would have to be pretty scary to be effective... and the last
> thing we wanted to see was something like Specialized convincing half
> the world that men shouldn't be riding bikes.

I've long been convinced that the bike industry does not get the cream of
the crop of the marketing professions!

> I have no idea if anybody's picked up the ball and run with the
> UV-blocking fabric in the meantime. It's not my area of expertise (I'm
> not the soft-goods expert in our operation).

I do remember seeing anti-UV jerseys a few years ago (Descente?), but they
were short sleeved racing jerseys. I haven't seen anything else lately,
but anti-UV is certainly popular for other kinds of sportswear -- golf,
boating, fly fishing, etc.

I bet it has hit the runner's market. There might be some anti-UV
runner'a clothes that could work well for cycling. So check the runner's
brands.

Matt O.

 

[[email protected]]

>
>
>> I hate sunscreens.... so what other things do you guys
>> wear or use that allow one to be cool, not sweat tons,
>> and keep flesh form being exposed?
>>
>> Advice on clothing and apparel and methods please?
>
>Ride at night.
>

I can do this when riding around home.... but what abt
say a 2 week long distance tour?

 

[[email protected]]

>Not wanting to state the obvious, but since nobody else will...
>
>Do you hate sunscreens more than you hate cancer?

NO

But.... Id rather wear clothing if possible

I will use sunscreen if no clothing option is
available.... but trying to think abt ways to use
clothing. After al.... it is the original sunscreen

 

[[email protected]]

>The problem is that many fabrics pass through an alarming amount of UV.

Interesting!!

I didn't know this. I thought any cloth was always a
god 'sunscreen".

 

[[email protected]]

>On my legs I used Aloe Gator's SPF 40+ sunblock gel - which is
>sufficiently sticky to stay in place for a day long ride.

This may be what I have to do... wear shorts on legs an
use sunscreen as per above.... but wear long sleeve
cycling jersey for arms, etc

 

[Colin Campbell]

[email protected] wrote:
>>
>>> I hate sunscreens.... so what other things do you guys
>>> wear or use that allow one to be cool, not sweat tons,
>>> and keep flesh form being exposed?
>>>
>>> Advice on clothing and apparel and methods please?
>> Ride at night.
>>
>
> I can do this when riding around home.... but what abt
> say a 2 week long distance tour?
The scenery should look GREAT! Or maybe I should say FLAWLESS!

 

[Mark]

[email protected] wrote:
>> The problem is that many fabrics pass through an alarming amount of UV.
>
> Interesting!!
>
> I didn't know this. I thought any cloth was always a
> god 'sunscreen".

Definitely not. I've burnt fairly badly through a thin knit jersey.

Mark J.

 

[[email protected]]

>[email protected] wrote:
>>> The problem is that many fabrics pass through an alarming amount of UV.
>>
>> Interesting!!
>>
>> I didn't know this. I thought any cloth was always a
>> god 'sunscreen".
>
>Definitely not. I've burnt fairly badly through a thin knit jersey.
>
>Mark J.

Ok

So what makes clothing that IS good at screening out
suns rays better than regular clothing?

What do they do to this special high spf clothing to
make it work?

 

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

> >Not wanting to state the obvious, but since nobody else will...
>>
>>Do you hate sunscreens more than you hate cancer?
>
> NO
>
> But.... Id rather wear clothing if possible
>
> I will use sunscreen if no clothing option is
> available.... but trying to think abt ways to use
> clothing. After al.... it is the original sunscreen

The reason I brought it up is because there are many of us who don't give
sunscreen a second thought... we simply use it without considering there
might be a downside. Until you started this thread, I had no idea there were
so many people who couldn't stand to use sunscreen.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

 

[[email protected]]

>The reason I brought it up is because there are many of us who don't give
>sunscreen a second thought... we simply use it without considering there
>might be a downside. Until you started this thread, I had no idea there were
>so many people who couldn't stand to use sunscreen.

Well its not that I cant stand to use it.... only that
id prefer not to

Also I've even some evidence that the compounds IN
sunscreen could be harmful...... especially the nano
particles in them.