Category Archives: Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Endless ramblings regarding the every Tuesday & Thursday-morning bike ride, leaving Olive Hill & Canada Road at 7:45am, rain or shine

Still here

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

It’s been a bit tough lately; there’s no question I’ve had some issues with power since coming back from France. Those two broken ribs interrupted things in a bad way. Even though it was only a very short time off the bike (just a day or two), and it seemed remarkable I was riding again just a day after diagnosis and two days after breaking them, I had to take it easy for a while. No big climbs, no really long rides, had to be careful not to crash and re-injure myself worse than before. Normally, I’d come back from France and have some of my best times on the local climbs! This time? Far from it.

Most of it, I think, comes from a pretty rapid deterioration in breathing ability. I’ve got some pretty sucky lungs (going in for another test next week), and the only thing that keeps me going is working them (my lungs) really hard. I mean really, really hard. My ability to clear CO2 out of my system is terrible, testing out at 28% of normal. I make up for it by breathing much more rapidly than most, which requires your lungs to really, really work. Give those lungs some time off (shorter rides, staying out of the hills initially) and what happens?

Even though things seem so bad right now, it still feels like I’m just one really good hard ride away from getting back to normal. Tackle something really challenging, like doing a Santa Cruz loop again.

Sounds like I’m looking for excuses, right? And I’ve got one more in my pocket. The meds I’m on for my bone marrow issue are doing a great job at controlling my otherwise out-of-control platelet engine (you don’t want too many platelets as they can lead to nasty things like strokes, heart attacks, blood clots…), but they’re also beginning to drive my hematocrit level lower. I dropped from 43% (not bad) on my test 4 or 5 months ago, to just 40% (not so good) on my test last week. Fortunately I’m in a place where it’s OK to lower my med dosage a bit, which might bring them back up a few points. This, by the way, is approved by my hemo/oncologist. I doubt he has too many patients that want to chart out dosage vs power levers vs hematocrit. 🙂

I’ll try to get back to updating more regularly. Another thing that’s kept me away from the diary has been planning for my annual vacation with my wife; Covid makes international trips just a bit more challenging than before! Plus this trip has a lot of moving pieces, takes place in Greece and includes time on a cruise ship in the middle of it all. Cruise ship? Me? Such a strange concept, but I’m actually looking forward to it. Leaving on Wed Oct 27th, returning Wed Nov 10th. Two weeks, 6 missed rides, and nobody gains weight on a cruise ship, right?

But it was worth it.

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride
This morning climbing the big hill on my Tuesday/Thursday-morning bike ride, I had thoughts of turning around half-way, thinking I’d been doing this for 40+ years, maybe it’s time. But I pushed on through, because I’m not ready to face that reality yet, and what would I post here? That the time will come when you have to give up, not put your dreams on hold but realize they’re not possible?
Fortunately I don’t have too many days like this. One thing that keeps me going, pushing through such thoughts, is that I’m 65, been doing this for 51 years, and there has yet to be a day I didn’t feel better at the end of a ride than at the beginning. Or I should say, a day I thought afterward, I shouldn’t have ridden. Or ridden so hard.
I think the key thing is that what I do to myself, pushing myself, is voluntary. I am in control. When you’re dealing with issues at work, or at home, finances, kids, spouses… those can wear you down because you can easily feel like things are happening to you, other have control over you. Your exercise routine is totally you. You own it. You are it. You have 100% agency. You know what you accomplished and nobody can take it away from you. You didn’t let some obscure type of cancer stop you. You didn’t let all those things you *have* to do and aren’t appreciated for or feel like you’re just spinning wheels… they didn’t stop you. The doctor who told you “If you’re tired, just rest” didn’t stop you.
The only person who can really stop you… is yourself. This morning I didn’t let that happen. I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel like giving up. It wasn’t easy. But it was worth it.