Okay, maybe there's no association at all, but since it appears to be a possibility, I thought I would run this thing up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Many years ago, a tenant of mine told me an interesting story about how Dr. Bronner's led to a painful and serious aggravation of a skin rash he had picked up in Australia. His physician found the episode to be predictable and funny; my tenant did not find it to be either.

I put the story out of my mind until recently. In over 40 years of cycling (just shy of 500,000 miles), I had never had any issue with saddle sores until I got one on a tour a couple of years ago. I initially thought it was some combination of age, a sharp increase in mileage while on tour and replacing my saddle just days before leaving on a trip (the old one broke). After that tour, I healed up just fine. Then, it happened again on the next tour. Well, I'm still old, but the other two conditions were not applicable. Then it happened again. Getting old is starting to be a pain in the ass. I should note that the only soap I bring on bike tours is Dr. Bronner's and I use it for everything (laundry, body, hair (what's left of it), dishes).

About that time, I began to wash my cycling shorts in the shower with Dr. Bronner's soap at home as well as on tour. Interestingly enough, I began to develop saddle sores on a regular basis. My math major son suggested to me that one plus one equals two, so I stopped using Dr. Bronner's a few months ago. The saddle sores stopped appearing. Then, two weeks ago my wife and I did a short overnight ride to the beach for the week-end (90 miles each way). The only soap we brought was Dr. Bronner's. Guess who got a saddle sore on the ride home.

So, maybe by rear-end is weird. Maybe this is all just a coincidence. Either way, I'm done with the good Dr. Has anyone else ever had something like this?