I rode to Lawrence yesterday with Bill, then met up with Brian, going over for the annual Sunflower Bike Shop holiday extravaganza. We rode on gravel, down by the river. I never feel too good starting out nowadays, but after a while, I felt better.
The weird thing was that my legs and lungs never seemed to be on the same page. It was as simple as this. I was pretty comfortable, breathing-wise, if I was over geared or under geared. But, as soon as I was riding the correct cadence for my legs, my normal cadence, it seemed like I was getting winded. I’ve never really experienced that before. It was pretty interesting to me, from that respect, but of course, mildly disturbing from a mental state.
We made it over to Lawrence fine, just when it got dark. Adam Mills and his wife, Alyson, drove up from Dallas to come back for a visit, which was nice. We ate with them, plus Brian’s wife, Michelle, Shadd Smith, Joseph Schmalz, plus Matt Gilhausen, our illustrious leader from TradeWind Energy. It was good see everyone.
The Sunflower Party was great as usual. Lots of good people, beer and wine, plus Dan’s famous prize giveaway. I don’t see these people nearly often enough, so it is always good catching up.
This afternoon, I’m making my way over to Kansas City to visit with Dr. O’Keefe. I really should write down everything I want to ask him, but I’ll probably just wing it. I’m looking forward to the whole thing.
I’m virtually positive I’m going to race on Saturday here in Topeka at the Kansas State Cyclo-X Championships. I haven’t raced for over a month, maybe longer, so it will be a reality check. I’ve hardly done an effort for a month and a half, so it might be more of a reality check that I imagine. But, you have to re-start somewhere, so this is a pretty good option.
Okay, I’ll let you know all I learn at the cardiologist.
The gang back together for dinner at Freestate.
Dan, master of ceremonies.
I try to stay out of the fray upstairs.
Sunflower Bike Shop is a great store. They have tons of camping stuff.
Plus, they sell boats and also climbing gear.
And it’s dog friendly.
Anyone drink any of this stuff? I had an ounce over at the Walberg’s house a couple nights ago. Man, is it hard to get down.
Steve , you could have a virus in your heart. I had the same type issues last year. I was going good, got sick and continued training , then noticed I was going anaerobic really easily in all sorts of activities- walking up stairs (the reason I went to see the doc.), riding, running. I was getting dropped really easily and just felt crappy all the time. I took some antibiotics and had an ECG and a stress test. The test showed slight myocardial myopathy but the Dr. surmised that a virus that had moved to the heart was the probable culprit after the 2nd ECG showed no myopathy. Hard efforts and training are believed to drive any virus in the heart deeper into the tissues. Maybe take a bit of time off until you get a def. answer on condition of your heart. I’m all good now health wise. B.
Hi Steve,
I think you should write down some questions. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer a year ago. When I visit my urologist/oncologist, I always make a list of questions. It takes a lot of stress out of the situation and ensures you don’t have that “why didn’t I ask that?” moment when you get home.
I celebrated my 1 year surgery date yesterday with an 85 mile ride…a “kiss my ass cancer ride” as I call it. 2013 will be my 30th year on the bike and yes the WSJ article on exercise did mention increased risk of cancer from extreme exercise.
I hope you have a good visit with Dr. O’Keefe.
Steve, you have been riding bikes your entire life. I would say that if this is the first time you’ve ever experienced a lull in your body like this then I would probably take that as a cue that there “might” just be a legitimate health issue to blame. Getting old/slowing down (?) I really don’t see that being the case. Just over 1 month ago you were kicking ass at the Berryman “admittingly not feeling great then either”. Is this trip to the cardiologist a “real” appointment or are you just going to pick this guy’s brain about his theories regarding exercise and the heart? Get yourself checked out!
If you’re getting winded riding your normal cadence, you’d better think twice about racing. You need to talk to the cardio doc and get checked out to make sure that there are no issues that would prevent you from racing – before you consider racing again.