If ever proof was needed that cycling, and crashing out of the saddle, has gone mainstream in Ireland it has to be this product. A Dungarvan-based pharmacy is now supplying its own road rash cream (Hat tippage to Stephen Murray for the photo)
The bike boom Ireland is currently in the middle of is seeing plenty of spin-off employment being created for, among others, mechanics, clothing manufacturers, retailers of equipment and nutrition.
But pharmacists are also turning over a few quid. And not in the illegal way you might suspect.
The sharp rise in the number of people taking up cycling has also resulted in more crashes.
And one pharmacist in Waterford has been quick to spot an opportunity.
Kelly’s Pharmacy in Dungarvan is now stocking its own brand of road rash cream.
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And sales have been going well, with more and more people hitting the deck and requiring 'heal-me-quick' remedies.
“Absolutely, it’s selling well,” explained a member of staff at the pharmacy this afternoon.
“Crashes are happening more and more and it’s going to keep happening because there’s more people cycling.”
For the uninitiated; this is what road rash looks like. It's worn in this shot by Irish pro Sam Bennett, sustained in a bad crash at speed earlier this year.
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Road rash – a cycling term for the grazing caused when flesh meets tarmac at speed - is the most common cycling injury and it’s very painful.
But Kelly’s concoction purports to ease the agony and speed up recovery time.
“You need something to heal the wounds and if it’s very sore you need something to take the pain out of it,” the staff member explained.
“There’s a few things to the cream; it gets things healing a bit quicker, it’s anti-bacterial and it also moisturises the area.
“If it was an open cut you wouldn’t touch the cream but for that bad graze it’s good.”
A tub like the one in the picture shown costs about €8 but you only use the smallest bit, says our chemist.
“It’s just to cover the area. Apply it once or twice a day and leave a dressing over it and do it again that night before bed”.
It looks like cycling, and crashing out of the saddle, has just gone mainstream in Ireland.
