MSers in Training 2020

[AMFADVENTURES]

Cruising over 70 on a bike

Veronica, that wasn’t exactly the story I was hoping for from you. Obviously, very happy you seem to be recovering pretty well. I’ve never experienced shingles but have heard from various friends and relatives that it is extreemly unpleasant. Can only imagine how much worse it might be for an MSer. Glad you’re back with us.

Dave, that’s pretty close to the trike I saw on the trail the other day. One MoFo mean machine for sure. Can’t help but think a person could get in a whole lot of trouble on a trike like that. I see Grady wants video and Veronica hasn’t wasted any time tempting you with a race challenge ... if we ever get out for a ride, I'm sure you'll be waiting on me to catch up. Looking forward to hearing all of the new adventures when it finally does arrive.

JT, making any progress?

Cruising over 70 on a bike
Maybe not quite what you’re thinking. Not 70 miles per hour, I have no desire to ever go that fast on a bicycle … not even 70 miles, I’ve done that a number of times and now looks like I’ll have to do it at least once more. Nope, we’re talking years here as in 70 years old with MS. Diagnosed over 20 years ago, suffered various symptoms 8 or 9 years before that but still riding. Quite an accomplishment I think although I’m reluctant to take the credit. The credit goes to the bike.

I rode a little less than 20 miles on my birthday. Rode to a coffee shop a few miles away to meet my brother for birthday wishes. Not far, didn’t try to go fast, no hills, just time in the saddle to reflect on 70 years, the last 30 with MS. The next day I rode faster and longer and threw in a few small hills just so I could say I'm over 70 and still riding. Some time in my 70th year I’ll ride 70 miles in a day. I might need to work up to that, do a little increasing distance training. Also, the heats on right now and it’ll take me a good 6 hours to do 70 miles and I know better than to get caught out in hot temperatures for any length of time. But I will do it. I have to. It’s the middle finger to the MS. I’m 70 years old and I have MS, but I’ve still got miles to ride and hills to climb.

Year to date: 1,590 miles, 76,743 ft. of ascent

Larry

[Grady]

Larry, CONGRATS to you and Happy Birthday!! I have no doubt you will get your 70 mile day in. You are one tough dude.

[ActiveMSers]

Everyone, to give you an idea of how far I go back with Larry on ActiveMSers... I knew him when he was in his 50s (I was in my 30s)! We've been inspiring each other for well over a decade and have had the good fortune to meet up on multiple occasions. He's as nice in person as he is on the forum. I'm proud to call him a friend, and I'm proud to wish him a Happy Birthday!

I cannot gush enough about how important he has been over the years to ActiveMSers and the community as a whole. One of his earlier stories is on our main site and is a doozy of a read.
https://www.activemsers.org/post/cyc...an-epic-ms-150

I cannot possibly hope to match his miles, but I'm out there. It's been crazy hot and today is over 100 degrees, and it will hang there for a few days. Some years we never get into triple digits, so this is roasty for being up a mile high. So riding might be on pause temporarily. Then starting Monday, because folks haven't been following the rules in NM, masks are going to be mandatory even during exercise. My bike tan is going to look crazy strange!!

My ride Wednesday though was great, got deep in the cardio zone on my 6 mile HIIT ride. Stay cool, everyone!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys. I think I credited the bike earlier but I owe just as much thanks to all of my friends here on ActiveMSers who have allowed and even encouraged me me to to stay active and keep trying. I truly do appreciate and am eternally grateful to all of you for your support and for putting up with me over these many years. All the best to all of you!

Larry

[JTHrider]

Larry, making progress slow and sure. Got the peddles on the bike and been using them on the trainer. Really love the fact that I don't need to worry about where my feet are placed on the peddles. Unclipping is becoming easier (have them adjusted very loose) and I can do the with my weak leg. Took the bike out but just used the flat part of the peddle and that worked surprisingly well with regular sneakers.
Glad to hear your still peddling at 70!
John

[JTHrider]

Seems I had the peddles set too loose, took the bike outside for a ride and noticed my feet moving around, very sloppy in the peddles. Looked them over and noticed the adjustment screw backed all the way out on both peddles. Called Performance Bike assuming I would need to get another pair on my dime, but the customer service rep told me they can send me a 1 time replacement. Couldn't believe it, what a nice surprise.

[AMFADVENTURES]

JT, yeah, I believe it, performance has always been good about that kind of stuff. Glad to hear they still are. And glad to see you're making progress.

No stopping here. I managed to get up the West side of Trail Ridge a couple of weeks ago, barely. Not everything about Covid is bad. Due to overcrowding concerns, Rocky Mountain National Park has instituted an entrance by reservation only policy, and they only issue a severely limited number of reservations, UNLESS... you're on a bike!!! If you are on a bike, you get VIP service and no reservation needed. You do have to have a parks pass but they bent over backwards to make sure we didn't waste any time getting through the gate! Pretty cool. Now if I could just breath at those high altitudes, something age doesn't seem to be helping.

I just turned over 2,000 miles and 90,000ft of ascent for the year.

[JTHrider]

Got in a nice ride on the Buffalo, N.Y. Outer Harbor trail. 10 mile ride on paved trail, little crowded at times but not horrible. Legs still giving me issues near the end but working on the endurance. Thought about getting an ebike motor for the front wheel with peddle assist. That way if I push myself to far I will be able to get back to the truck. Any suggestions/comments on motors, needs to fit 700 wheel.

[cl3me]

Been getting some biking in, boyfriend is now hooked, we just went out and bought some new road bikes....a Cannondale Synapse for me and a Specialized Roubaix for him - both carbon framed endurance road bikes, a big upgrade from our aluminum framed bikes....we rationalized it as fitness in COVID era, we did a 60km ride this past weekend. Been doing some horseback riding too. I have a few miles to go to catch up to Larry's mileage, but now that I have an awesome road bike now I have a chance! I was contemplating an ebike, but decided to go the carbon fibre route for now, the Synapse frame does an amazing job of dampening the road vibrations, when I did the same 60km ride before I had more numbness and a hand tremor ....this time no issues.

[AMFADVENTURES]

JT, congrats on the 10 miles! I'll never forget my first post dx 10 mile ride. On the way back, I got about 1.5 miles from home and seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to make it. I did make it of course. Since then I've found myself in a similar situation any number of times but barring incidents or accidents, I've always made it, albeit, sometimes I cheated a little but usually I just slowed down and plodded along. As far as an E-wheel, keep in mind that the wheel and the battery will likely add at least 18 lbs to your bike, a potentially big deal if you run out of battery with any hills left to get up. Again, congrats on the 10 miles, that first 10 miles is a biggie!

Karen, fantastic, nothing like investing in a new state of the art carbon bike to keep a person in the saddle. And a built in bike buddy to boot! Speaking of staying in the saddle, sometimes the stock saddles even on a good bike aren't that good when you really start putting on the miles. If you start having saddle problems check out the Selle Anatomica saddles, something one of the members here turned me on to several years ago. Saddle sores are no fun. The longer I use it, the more comfortable it gets.


Good News - Bad News

Let's go with the bad news first. August is turning out to be one of the hottest months on record! Along with that, Colorado and much of the west, is seeing record drought which translates to forest fires of which the second largest ever to occur in the state, is less than 50% contained. The smoke from the fires along with the record heat has caused Denver's air pollution to rise to the dubious level of 3rd worst in the WORLD. Ozone rises to unhealthy levels every afternoon but lately has risen to dangerous levels even for normally healthy individuals. Add to that the Corona virus concerns and accompanying regulations and the fact that as one crosses city and county boundaries the regulations are prone to change. All in all, it's making getting out for a ride pretty challenging.

I might have found a little good news this morning as I was perusing headlines. Some healthcare party in Japan tested ozone as a disinfecting agent against the Corona virus. Turns out at levels harmless to humans, it's about 90% effective! So since Denver's ozone level is so high, we may be one of the safest places in the nation as far as potential exposure to the Corona virus goes. Yay.

I am still riding just not riding very hard or very far. For the year to date, I'm at 2,444 miles and 102,498 ft. of ascent.

Larry

[ActiveMSers]

Karen, love the photos! I'm glad the new forum allows that feature. And JT, keep cranking! And Larry, yeah I'm feeling you. It's been hot here too. Temps should be in the comfortable 80s, but we've been above 90 for WEEKS. So our rides have been relatively short. And with gyms still closed, our fave bike trail is usually too busy for comfort. Grr. But we are still getting out a few times a week, so that's good. In a bit of good news, it appears my new e-handcycle is FINALLY making it's way to the States from Austria. Then customs. Then the Spokes 'n Motion in Colorado. Then Paul will order the battery and get it ground-shipped (it can't fly from Austria). THEN Paul will drive the bike down here. So the wait continues, but hopefully there is light at the end of that tunnel!

NOTE FOR ALL: You finally should be able to add custom avatars to your profile. The photo limit is 2MB, but that is pretty much the only restriction. Note that the "crop box" is small, but that can be resized stretch around any photo you choose. Looking forward to see what folks choose....

[cl3me]

Dave - love how it is so much easier to add photos to the forum and I even figured out my avatar.

Larry - the stock saddle came off my new bike right away and put on my favorite Selle Italia Lady Gel saddle and some sweet Look Keo Carbon pedals.

[ActiveMSers]

The training thread has been unusually quiet. I'm guessing that is part pandemic exhaustion. I hope everyone is doing their best to stay fit during this challenging time. I'm still managing to exercise most days, and getting on my bike regularly. My new one is scheduled to arrive this Monday if all goes well. It's certainly been a process!

Do any of you exercise regularly with a mask on? I cycle with one, but only pull it up when I near fellow bikers or runners. I don't find it too hard. But being in the Southwest there isn't much sweat so my mask stays dry.

[AMFADVENTURES]

I think you nailed it there Dave. Covid fatigue is definitely hitting me, from restricting my normal physical activities like hitting the gym to visiting my favorite restaurants once in a while. Not to mention the constantly changing local Covid regulations. I even had a near Covid exposure experience! Fortunately all of the people I was immediately exposed to tested negative while I quarantined.

And Covid isn't the only one around. As you recently pointed out in The Hunker Games, the constant political bombardment seems to have reached an all time peak with new crises emerging on an almost daily basis. Too much for an MSer to try to keep up with.

In my area we're experiencing bad air and smoke fatigue due to the many forest fires resulting from the recent pronged drought conditions in the West. It has restricted my outdoor activities. High intensity exercise is out of the question on marginally bad days, of which there have been many, as are extended lighter activities.

The bottom line is that all of the competition for fatigue has the MS fatigue surging to keep up during a period where it is difficult to get enough exercise to keep it under control. Kind of a Perfect Storm of sorts. Fortunately some of these fatiguing events should begin to fade away over the next few weeks.

While it all has slowed me down considerably it hasn't stopped me. I have managed to surpass 3,000 miles and 118,000 vertical ft. (about 22.5 vertical miles) for the YTD.

And, no I don't wear a mask while I'm cycling but I do frequently take one with me, particularly if I know I will need to make a water or coffee stop along the way.

And Karen, well of course you took care of the saddle problem immediately, glad to hear it. I only mention it because I put up with saddle sores for years before I found a solution . Hope this finds you riding in Clear air up there! PS: love the new bike!

Larry

[Veronica]

Ok, ok... time to post... Yup, Pandemic/COVID Restrictions/concerns plus political issues has just worn me down. For me, as with so many, I find myself staring at a screen for one reason or another just much, much more than I ever did before. Video conferencing is so very useful for work, and social reasons, but it poops me out! This just adds to feeling exhausted. When I don’t need to be on the computer, I am not, and I find I am not reading fun thing...like this forum ....as often as I did, since when I can, I want to go do things OUTSIDE that lets me just forget thIs national and world horror show.

So, my getting out to move and explore has been just a huge relief for me. I am having so much fun on my rides..... there are so many variations of routes I can take around here that I just play it as I feel when I get to a fork in the road. And recently I got to ride with two good friends...another MSer and her husband. We met in an area where I never biked before, so it was double the fun of riding with friends ( physically distanced!) and on new roads...nice challenging route that took us past apple orchards They just smelled so wonderful.

I have gotten abit stronger this season despite my late start complements of that bout with shingles. And that feels good... to feel the positive change in abilities when I tackle some of the more challenging inclines around here. You know, I bad mouthed the video conferencing above, but working from home, and handling my clients via phone or video, has certainly allowed me to fit in a ride between people. When I was working 90 miles away, that was obviously not possible!

I’ve attached some photos of that recent ride with friends, and from today....just a stunningly beautiful cool Fall day. And Dave...about the masks....I haven’t ridden on our really nice rail trail even once this year since it is over-run with walkers and cyclists now and I didn’t want to be dealing with constantly pulling up and down a mask. Riding directly out of my driveway on these roads I have absolutely no need for a mask... another great escape for me.......

And Larry, you continue to amaze me....great season you are having!

Dave.... your long wait for your new wheels has me antsy, too. But I can’t wait until you are rolling with it...... I wish you Happy Trails that are longer and different!