I got sunburn on my arms. Can I still ride?
 

The sunburn is kind of bad, skin is peeling. I actually wore some sunscreen, but since I was out for so long it got me. Do I have to wait for it to completely heal or can I just continue and wear sunscreen, while wearing a long shirt? This is a frustrating setback.

Get a long sleeve jersey and neck/face protection. Skin cancer is much more of a frustrating setback.

Yes, you should probably avoid riding in direct sunlight. Even one peeling sunburn increases your risk for melanoma. Stay safe!

I’ve started riding with sun sleeves if I’m not wearing long sleeves. The forearms especially get so much sun exposure when riding.

Otto

Your arms worked well enough to post this, I'd say they're still good for cycling.
get a long sleeve or stronger sunscreen. The SPF number is a multiple of the safe amount of minutes you can be in the sun unprotected. Depending on where you are that might only be a minute, meaning SPF 30 is a half hour of exposure before you have to reapply.

Decades ago, the trick we used to do following a sunburn-level exposure was: liberally applying Noxema skin cream to the affected areas. Dramatically reduces the pain from the burn, and speeds healing. Of course, this in addition to high-SPF protective cream prior to any such exposure.

These days, I definitely tend to wear long-sleeve jerseys/shirts and keep exposed areas reapplied with SPF on any extended outings. Aging skin's getting much more sensitive to such exposure. Things Grandma never told us about.

https://www.amazon.com/Protection-Co...a-808088221668

Cooling & protection: with innovative cooling technology & protection to block out over 98% of harmful UVA & UVB rays, the cooling sun sleeves are more than your average sun sleeves.

"Women's BB coach says toughen up butter-cup"
So for 8 years i worked in surgery. My hobby was sailing. Sunburn on Saturday and Sunday and pain Monday. Sailing has additional reflection from the water. I used some sunscreen, scrubbed my hands and arms with a brush before every case.By Friday it peeled and I went to work Monday with sunburn. The hospital paid for my 4 college degrees. I worked evening shift. Since then we use aloe vera and find some with lidocaine. You don't "need to wait". I suggest less time in the sun during a day. Put on Aloe after next sunburn and it reduces odds of peeling.

It is not the number of minutes. It is a factor of time that would be safe without protection.
https://news.psu.edu/story/141338/20...sunscreen-mean

what do you measure time in?

Read what you wrote. You claimed SPF 30 protects for 30 minutes.

It protects 30 times of whatever the normal time is. If a normal time is 10 minutes (depends on your skin, clouds, altitude etc) it will be 300 minutes of protection. It is a factor, not a time. That is the F in the name.

Ok, I agree. That is essentially the same as my original comment.

if it impacts your riding abilities that can put others at risk, you might consider only riding with the lizards for a while.

DreamRider85 :love:

Another setback...another dramatic scenario...another quandary.

You did it!

Stay strong, my friend.

As to your question, ride after sunset or before sunrise?

If possible, ride early or late, skip the 10-3:00 sun.

If not, try some sunsleeves. And keep sunscreen on your neck and face.

I believe the OP is the very first cyclist to ever get a sunburn. How will the world continue on? Bikes will no longer stay upright for him, or allow shifting, braking, or coasting. It’s over. Damn you, Solus!

Sun sleeves are awesome, they are actually cooler than bare arms if you sweat even a little bit. I have some Voler in black, which befuddles some people that don't understand radiative heat transfer.

Don't forget the ear-lobes. The helmet doesn't cover them and they are high up, so more often in the sun than arms that also move around. Many cyclists that had ear skin cancer and the ear lobe removed. I kind of wish helmets would cover ears a bit - but that would not looks spandex-approved.

humans can live in the sun and in fact, before industrialization we spent most day outdoors without protection. Yes, that was before the ozone hole, but still.

I try to get my tan early in the season and have consecutively longer exposure. Many of my rides have occasional shade. Only on long rides that have a lot of sun I put sunblocker on. On very long sunny rides I take some SB with me to re-apply. When I bother with SB, it is SPF 50. I guess if I use it, I may as well do it right.

But even on shorter sunny rides, I put some SB on my ears.

There is some health risk with putting SB on your skin, so you weigh that against potential skin damage. Sun also is healthy, so no need to put SB on every time there is some sun.

I think the clothes that are rated to block UV are a bit of a scam. Yes they work, but regulars clothes work as well. UV has a high frequency (high energy), which is why it damages your cells (or plastic etc.). But that also means it dissipates very quickly. If you would measure UV behind a regular T-shirt, I doubt you could measure a lot. Not many people sunbath with many clothes on. I have really normal clothes and my forearms are tanned, but the upper arm or chest are as white as I'm in winter. So really no need to pay $ for special UV clothes.

Don't forget the eyes. Use glasses that have a certified 99% UV rating. Dark glasses open your pupils up, and then you don't want UV rays hit your eye cells. Cost of the glasses has no impact on the actual UV rating. At college we tested sunglasses and the cheap glasses blocked all UV, and the girls' fancy fashion sunglasses basically let all UV through, like they were designed to transmit UV. I use Bolle OSHA rated construction sun glasses. They are certified to block 99% of UV and cost $10. They also have clear HD glasses that block all UV as well.

Late last summer I had a melanoma in situ removed from my right forearm just below the elbow crease. It really was a "benign" looking thing about the size of a pencil eraser. I just ordered some of those arm protectors.

If you continue burning your skin will cook into a leathery brown and will never need sunscreen again you just really gotta let it burn and peel and burn and peel and burn and peel. Really roast that stuff. Maybe put on some Crisco before you ride to really sear up nicely.

smoked roasted arm jerky?

More than half of my riding buddies are gingers, and stops to replenish their coating of sunscreen are frequent. I get one mild burn in the early summer then don't worry about it much after that, but tend to stay covered up a lot of the time.

I wish Voler made a balaclava out of their sun blocking material. Probably get sued by the blue man group though.

To add additional seriousness to this thread for those who are actually serious about the subject...Voler makes some nice stuff. I have a pair of their arm and leg warmers that are a zillion year old yet still in decent condition.