I dislike going to the doctors; my usual metric being that if I can get myself there, then I am obviously too healthy to need their services1.

However, once in a while there is the need for bloodletting or various impalations to prevent fun sounding tropical diseases2. There is something profoundly odd about going to the doctors while seemingly in full health – at the best you can do is leave in a similar fashion, and there is always the looming threat of someone saying ‘that shouldn’t be like that’..

Recently I had to have some bloodtests and the results showed that things were not quite right. It seems that 54% of my blood is made up of red blood cells (the HCT count), the strange thing being the normal range is 37 – 50%, and 50% also being the threshold that the UCI deem is a possible indicator of blood doping3 (i.e. strange questions may be asked at the Tour De France).

Maybe I should change my tagline:- ‘Now at least 4% weirder than the norm – Fact!’

  1. This has so far worked well, with only one trip to A&E that I can recall. ↑
  2. In tropical places of course… ↑
  3. Therefore anyone who wants to boost their HCT count should try my method of copious amounts of tea coupled with occasional pies, curries, takeaways and some cycling. ↑

Posted in Cycling,Science | 0 Comments