Quote Originally Posted by bikemom
That's a real bummer about the norovirus. I did a Bike VA ride a couple of years ago. We got hit with food poisoning. It is quite yukky being in the port-a-potties with full blown diarrhea - sweating profusely. I also didn't do the last day ride just because I was too weak.
BikeMom, I was on that same Bike Virginia and also contracted a nasty case of Camplyobacter poisoning. It was simply the sickest I have ever been in the intestinal tract in my life. I couldn't ride the last two days of the tour. (It seemed to hit everyone at different times; a guy in our bike club didn't have symptoms until arriving home, but then was sick for weeks after!)

I was one of the lucky ones; we were moteling it rather than camping and had an amazing SUITE in an elegant inn with 18th century antiques and a HUGE marble bathroom. It was the last lodging anywhere in town when we booked, so we ponied up for the expense and called it our anniversary gift for each another. A better gift was never had; I felt like I had a guardian angel.

I almost hate to tell you this, but there was a bidet in the bathroom! That was the best thing a girl with the serious trots could ever, ever hope for. I LIVED in that bathroom for two days. I remember sympathizing heartily with any riders with this illness who were camping and having to use porta-potties. I would have died.

Did you hear? The CDC finally ruled that the poisoning came from polluted water from chicken farms that splashed up on water bottles on the 1st or 2nd day of the tour (I can't remember which), when there was a brief shower. We drank from water bottles not knowing they had been contaminated. Some people didn't get it, others did. My husband never got sick, lucky guy. He skipped day four's ride to stay with me but did do the fifth day to go get the car at the end and pick me up at the inn.

What a memory!

Emily