C Law,
Thanks for your advice. I pretty much give up on trail riding and stick to the road during the summer months. The MTB comes out of the cave once freezing temps return. Trail hiking, during the summer I use long pants treated with permethrin unless it's too hot to stand it.....
I've heard DEET based products are relatively ineffective against ticks although it seems to be working for you. I can say that in my experience picaridin based repellents like Natrapel have hands-down outperformed DEET with regard to mosquitos, plus it doesn't attack plastics/fabrics, doesn't smell (as) bad as DEET, and is supposed to be less hazardous to the user.