Did you ride today?

Dan. I'm glad to hear that you're okay. Thanks for telling us your story. We all definitely have to listen to our bodies because, like you said, just because we are in good shape doesn't mean these things won't happen to us. That's great news about being back on the bike and getting some riding in.

and yes, ride on!
 
Holy crap Dan. Glad to hear you're doing well. Puts a little anxiety into my rides... But one thing for sure, going into any health crisis in good condition generally improves the prognosis and recovery time. I think of my sweet wife's father getting heart surgery at 81 in already poor health - how the hell does one recover from that assault. (He didn't.) So being fit does not make us immune, but improves the odds considerably. Nice to hear you're back on the bike. Certainly competition is but one of the pleasures of riding, there are dozens more.

Ride on indeed. Be well.
 
So being fit does not make us immune, but improves the odds considerably. Nice to hear you're back on the bike. Certainly competition is but one of the pleasures of riding, there are dozens more.

Ride on indeed. Be well.

Thanks for the well wishes guys!

The exact answer from the first cardiologist to my question about having a heart attack while being very fit was: "You are still around aren't you?" . Says it all I guess! Also they told me it had a big impact on not having any residual damage.

Well it's not the competition I'd miss most but the guys I ride with, can't expect them to wait for me all the time. If I'm out of the competition I'm out of the training ride leading to it and that's my big issue. Interval training can be as hard if not harder than competition sometimes. Competition for me was just a mean of having a time frame to be in the best shape I could within my limits. Time will tell about racing but what I'm seeing right now with the testing I have done so far is that my HR at different output has gone down by 5-10 bpm due to the Beta Blockers, so it's not dramatic.

And yes absolutely ride on!
 
I've been busy with business and taking some classes at the university, so I haven't done much training this year. Been off the bike way too long. A few weeks back a friend calls and says lets do a brief credit-card bike tour in Montana. So with a few weeks to go, and finals, I squeezed in on 5 training rides, the longest at 39 miles on the flats, and couple of spinning classes. Hardly enough to consider myself fit and ready.

So last Tuesday I drove from Portland to Spokane and on Wednesday we drove to Jackson, Montana (in the Big Hole Valley). We rode a short 18 miles and spent the night in Wisdom. Next day was mild 37 miles to Wise River, mostly downhill with a tail wind. Perfect! We then had a 53 mile day to Dillon, again mostly downhill with a few little 1 mile climbs at 6-8%, but the final 12 miles was into a stiff quartering headwind of about 18mph.

I had mapped the route with my GPS, and we knew the last day of 48 miles was going to be the toughest with two passes to climb, the first with a steady ramp up at about 3-4% for about 13 miles, and a final pitch of about 6% for another five miles. The second was the highest at 7400ft, and it too had a tough climb at 6-8% for about 4 miles. The strong wind out of the southwest had not died down overnight, so 44 of the 48 miles was going to be dead into this headwind. It was one of the toughest days I ever had on the bike, mostly because I'd spent all the glycogen in my legs the day before (and because typically on a tour day 3 or 4 is the hardest as your body gets accustomed to the effort.) I wanted to quit before the climbing even started, just from the effort into the headwinds. But... I finished. I was completely spent.

Here's a few pics... the southwest portion of Montana is extremely sparsely populated, and in the Big Hole valley there are very, very few structures of any kind. Just miles and miles of wide open spaces, with a snow capped mountain range in the distance whichever way you look. And we caught the timing right as this is one of the greenest years many locals could remember. Rather than the hill sides being dried out and brown, the grasses still had some green in them. It was spectacular!

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Bob, wow, what a ride! I hate riding into headwinds. I'd rather be going up a hill. At least you can see and measure your progress.

As you know I took up MTB'ing, pretty much giving up road cycling. On Father's Day went to a new trail in Philly, about an hour from me. Didn't do much research on the trail other than watch a few YouTube videos. So up the hill I went. Little did I know the gradients went from the low single digits to up to 36.5%. I suffer on the road at gradients of 16+%. Needless to say, I had to hoof it for a good portion of this trail.:-(

I will keep trying, it's only a 124' climb. Definitely something to work towards over the summer. In your neck of the woods, the trails must be awesome. Just sayin'... ;-)
 
While sitting having supper (and breakfast the next day) in Wise River, several of the Great Divide racers stopped in for food/fuel. One fellow said the day before he'd covered 160 miles and 13,000 ft of verticle. Keep in mind this is almost all offroad trail riding along the Great Divide route (Adventure Cycling Assocation.)

http://tourdivide.org/the_race.

A challenge/adventure for the ultra-fit, hard-core, crazy person who loves to suffer. We spoke with a Irishman, an Italian, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, a German, and an American chap. They were a couple days behind the leaders and had been out about a week. We were told a bridge washout in in spot added about 40 miles to the route including a scramble up a scree field that was all hike-a-bike. They all complained how much strain it put on their achillies tendons.
 
Allen, I appreciate the mb, but you'd love riding where we were. Ranches are separated by miles, and traffic is exceedingly light, sometimes a few cars/hour. We had to stop at one point while some cowboys drove a heard of black angus cattle across the road headed to high pasture. Right out of the old west!
 
Added a new ride to my collection — a go anywhere, tour, bikepack, mountain, singletrack, pavement, gravel bike. 29+, long wheelbase, current shoes Schwalbe G1 speed 29 x 2.35”, can take up to 29 x 4”, on 56mm wide carbon rims.

It is not as fast as my Cyfac for sure, but man-oh-man the comfort and stability. This will be a bike to grow old with as the more upright position makes riding more fun. I will still ride with the fast boys on my Cyfac, but for everything else...

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Bob, great to see your post after I came back from a ride. I've been focusing on MTB'ing myself so haven't been on too many forums lately.

2.35 - 4, wow, not a lot of bikes can handle that. What brand?

Me, I haven't hit a road in 1.5 years now, maybe more. And I'm beginning to learn a one bike quiver is really hard to find...
 
No ride today. Swam, as the pool will be closed tomorrow for Easter. Weather is supposed to be nice, so I should get a good long ride in. No cowboys or 13,000 feet of vertical, but it should be nice nonetheless.


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I will probably pick it up the coming week again, looking forward to the new season.


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I will probably pick it up the coming week again, looking forward to the new season.


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Yes, same here, and probably is a definitely. Just recovered from a foot injury last year working out and can’t wait to get back at, except my body is saying it’s nice here listening to music, why get up.

Rode a quick 7 miles yesterday, our area is all hills.


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Yes, same here, and probably is a definitely. Just recovered from a foot injury last year working out and can’t wait to get back at, except my body is saying it’s nice here listening to music, why get up.

Rode a quick 7 miles yesterday, our area is all hills.


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Nice. Music is great, but need to move the old torso a bit as well [emoji3].

I hope to pick up my 50 + 50 km routine on the weekends from last year when the season opens.


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Bob, great to see your post after I came back from a ride. I've been focusing on MTB'ing myself so haven't been on too many forums lately.

2.35 - 4, wow, not a lot of bikes can handle that. What brand?

Me, I haven't hit a road in 1.5 years now, maybe more. And I'm beginning to learn a one bike quiver is really hard to find...

Allen, a friend had been raving about his Jones bike for the past couple years, but I was headed for a Niner RLT steel frame as it could handle 42mm tires. Then I started to research the Jones and while not every reviewer came away saying it was the bike for him, all came away saying it was a far different experience than they first imagined it would be, based on specs and preconceived notions.

Here are a couple links to articles that had the most influence on my decision:

https://nsmb.com/articles/jones-plus-long-term-review/

http://www.bikepacking.com/bikes/jones-plus-review/

And a youtube video... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kMkQ7z9Gi7c
 
I've been on the trainer using Zwift almost exclusively the past 10 weeks. Did Zwift's 6-week FTP Builder and immediately followed that up with their 4-week FTP Booster. I'll probably get back on the road this week, weather permitting.
 
I've been an avid rider for years (Trek Domane 5.2). Typically ride 75 - 125 mi/wk on trails and local back roads. For the first time ever, was bitten by a dog this morning while on local back road! ?? pit bull mix ran up alongside me, but didn't seem aggressive. To avoid injuring him (or me) I stopped. He then jumped up and bit my stomach (? trying to pull me off bike). Fortunately, there were people nearby, who screamed at the dog, which ran off. Sustained four superficial puncture wounds. Witnesses knew who owner was, and gave me contact info. Waiting for him to call me back. In meantime, I saw my Primary Doc who gave me tetanus shot, and starting course of antibiotics. I actually keep a small can of pepper spray mounted on my handlebars, which I've never had to use. This happened so fast, I never had time to grab it. Definitely changed my mind forever about where I'll ride. Gonna stick to the trails or MY OWN neighborhood from now on!
 
Bummer 'bout the damn dog. I never stop and shout out a lot of 'good boy, good dog' when I do encounter dogs. And I use my water bottle to shoot a jet of water in their face if they keep coming.

I had a scare last week on my new bike... there is a low traffic road I have to ride from my house, but there is no shoulder and the damn speed limit is 55. I was cruising along at about 18mph when suddenly I felt a jolt to my left handlebar end and heard a very loud pop. A car, probably doing in excess of 40mph, had hit me with his fold-away passenger door mirror. The mirror must have folded back forcefully into the door as the reflector skid down the road with me for about 100 yards. In my mind I was kind of freaking out thinking "hey, what the fuck, I'm not going down" which of course I was most thankful for. I don't know how I scored the amazing guardian angle who has watched over me for my 60 years, but I give thanks daily. Just as easily I could have been skipping down the road along with that mirror, shedding some skin on each bounce. I have wondered how much the extra giro effect of the big 29x2.35 tires and 56mm rims had on my stability, or the Jones bike geometry which biases weight distribution to the rear—I just know the bike really didn't flinch at all, I just kept riding. The car was going much too fast for me to have caught a license plate. The driver never even hit the brakes.
 
Bummer 'bout the damn dog. I never stop and shout out a lot of 'good boy, good dog' when I do encounter dogs. And I use my water bottle to shoot a jet of water in their face if they keep coming.

I had a scare last week on my new bike... there is a low traffic road I have to ride from my house, but there is no shoulder and the damn speed limit is 55. I was cruising along at about 18mph when suddenly I felt a jolt to my left handlebar end and heard a very loud pop. A car, probably doing in excess of 40mph, had hit me with his fold-away passenger door mirror. The mirror must have folded back forcefully into the door as the reflector skid down the road with me for about 100 yards. In my mind I was kind of freaking out thinking "hey, what the fuck, I'm not going down" which of course I was most thankful for. I don't know how I scored the amazing guardian angle who has watched over me for my 60 years, but I give thanks daily. Just as easily I could have been skipping down the road along with that mirror, shedding some skin on each bounce. I have wondered how much the extra giro effect of the big 29x2.35 tires and 56mm rims had on my stability, or the Jones bike geometry which biases weight distribution to the rear—I just know the bike really didn't flinch at all, I just kept riding. The car was going much too fast for me to have caught a license plate. The driver never even hit the brakes.

OMG - this is always my biggest fear! Thankful for us both to read your recollection.


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This is my worry with cycling, we are quite unprotected in traffic and otherwise.

Luckily both of you got away with minor injuries and a near miss.


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We had a lady yesterday run over by a golf cart on our concrete bike paths that run 25 miles. A elder resident felt ( golf cart) he had the right way ( wrong not supposed to be on the bike path per the county) and ran into a tourist on their bike sending the lady into the trees. We are talking Sheriff ambulance etc.. Sometimes its not even safe on a "protected bike path which is a long ways away from the highway.
 
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