It’s probably nothing

My progress on the bike

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, sorry about that, I’ve been riding a lot, trying to save a little time for the family and have been busy at work as well so my spare time is virtually nonexistent. I did ride a metric century a few weeks ago (100 km, or 63 miles) and had one of my best rides and highest average speed in a long time, 17.5 mph. I do have the occasional bad day still where it is just a chore to crank out 25-30 miles and keep my average above 14.5 mph. I also learned a couple of things about hill climb sprints a few weeks ago when they started showing up on my training program: #1 I do not like them one bit, they hurt and they hurt a lot, as a matter of fact I cringe when I see them on my training schedule.  #2  They have the magical power to make it rain. Every time I’ve done these horrible things it has been in the rain, so if anyone has crops that need water call me and point me to the nearest hill, I’ll hook you up.

This scene keeps playing in my head over and over

A little maintenance is required

My road bike is being ridden more now than it ever has, and it’s starting to show the effects, in the last month I’ve had to replace the bottom bracket, install new bar tape and rebuild my pedals to keep it running smooth. Unfortunately I have to do a little maintenance on my body as well to keep it running smooth. For the past few weeks I’ve been going to a Chiropractor, Dr Wilbur, just to do a little preventative maintenance and for a little tune up so to speak. I know with my legs like they are, bio mechanically I’m a wreck, and I’m sure I have some issues from the compensatory work the rest of my body has to do, couple that with much riding as I’ve been doing there has to be a few areas that are out of whack, and there are plenty, but Dr. Wilbur is working on that so as far as my back, neck and hips go I’ll be good to go soon.

The bigger issue I’ve having is that since my resting heart rate and max heart rate have dropped from all the training I’ve been getting light headed almost every time I stand up, not just the run of the mill head rush but lightheaded enough that I sometimes have to stop what I’m doing and put a hand on the chair or car door until my head clears.

Not the place I wanted to be on a Tuesday afternoon

I saw my family Doctor, Dr Mercado last week and first of all she couldn’t believe what I was doing, and like most people that don’t ride bikes much couldn’t quite understand why anyone would want to try this, but after I told her about my blog and my fundraising effort through the HNF she got it 100%. She ordered blood work to check for anything unusual and the results came back yesterday, the only thing she said was my B12 was a little low.

The nurse said this was the first time she’s had someone take a photo of their blood being drawn

I go next week for an ultra sound of my carotid arteries and to be fitted with a heart monitor that I’ll wear for a few days or a week that sends the Doctors EKG’s regularly throughout the day. I’m pretty familiar with the monitors as I’ve had to wear them twice before when I was having the opposite issue with my heart, it was beating too fast (258 bpm max! Just try to top that!) Ultimately I was diagnosed a few years back with Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) and had an Ablation done which fixed the problem. Just my luck, it’s either too high or too low! I’m not sure if the SVT is CMT related or not, but I have read that some Doctors and researchers believe it could be.

Business as usual

The good news is she didn’t tell me I needed to stay off the bike, but of course I didn’t ask her if I needed to stay off the bike, I’m no dummy! She told me to drink more fluids during the day and take an over the counter B12 vitamin and we will figure out what is up with the dizzy spells.

I’m taking on my biggest challenge yet this weekend, it is the 3 Mountain 3 State Challenge in Chattanooga, TN. It is a full century (100 miles) that climbs over 7000′ of elevation as you bike through Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. I have never ridden that much elevation in one day and it has been 7 or 8 years since I’ve ridden more than 75 miles so I’m a little anxious to say the least. I will post my results as soon as I’m able to get out of bed and walk to the computer on Sunday!