How long have you been riding a bike?
I used to ride as a kid and rode MTB in my 20s but stopped for 20 years to play soccer. I’ve been back cycling now almost 3 years.
Tell us something inspiring and/or unique about yourself that relates to cycling.
I can climb well for about 30 seconds of power. In soccer I was a fast defender, so I have power in my legs. I use to run XC and track in HS and college. I also have large lung capacity (from job testing as a bench chemist) so I think that helps with my VO2 which isn’t professional levels but hovers around 45-50, not bad for my age. So when others see a hill and go “ugh” I see a hill and want to tackle it!
What is the biggest accomplishment you’ve made on a bike?
Definitely that first Century ride. The Century we trained for was cancelled and the backup Century we chose had double the elevation which we didn’t train for. Since the route wasn’t published we had no idea until riding past mile marker 90 that there were two 3 mile climbs! Then there was the rain: 6 hours and 20 minutes of chilly rain on a ride that took us 7 hours and 20 minutes with 5,000 feet of elevation. That’s almost a mile going upwards. Mounting those climbs and finishing them was something we weren’t sure at the time we could persevere. We had to push past failure in our minds and stick to our goals. Perhaps a 2nd big accomplishment was the pile of food we ate at the end, haha.
To give you an idea of the hunger: Carlos was ready to marry the person who made him a peanut butter sandwich at a rest stop mile 80! Such long rides force you to deal with thirst, salt loading (pills, pickle juice, mustard packets), hunger (which snacks to bring, how much to eat and not over eat), pain (Vitamin Ibuprofen), aches (i.e. wrists & bum) and keep your mind focused on finishing. Not to mention months of training for endurance and elevation strength plus getting a professional setup for our bikes to fit our body’s dimensions and find the right seat. Then you have to trial different types & layers of clothing for different temperatures and conditions (i.e. 60 vs 80 degrees, sun burn vs raining)
It’s not as hard as running a marathon physically or mentally I’m sure, but it is enough of a challenge that made us both feel we’d done something significant. Carlos even had accomplished triathlons and yet hoped we could at least get to at least 80 miles. I was set on finishing but was anxious about the climbs and made sure we salted at every stop. We both leaned on each other to get through it together. We celebrated this achievement with an oval “100” sticker on our cars. But there is an invisible sticky that bonds us still. Perhaps that is the real accomplishment. Not the miles, not the bragging rights, but the bond of friendship.
Then you have to trial different types & layers of clothing for different temperatures and conditions (i.e. 60 vs 80 degrees, sun burn vs raining) It’s not as hard as running a marathon physically or mentally I’m sure, but it is enough of a challenge that made us both feel we’d done something significant. Carlos even had accomplished triathlons and yet hoped we could at least get to at least 80 miles. I was set on finishing but was anxious about the climbs and made sure we salted at every stop. We both leaned on each other to get through it together. We celebrated this achievement with an oval “100” sticker on our cars. But there is an invisible sticky that bonds us still. Perhaps that is the real accomplishment. Not the miles, not the bragging rights, but the bond of friendship.
What’s the biggest challenge you faced with regards to cycling and how did you overcome it?
When I got back into cycling after decades of soccer through my 30s & 40s (needed to quit due to chronic tendon injuries) I stupidly cycled in July heat for 6 days a week for 2 weeks straight. This, unbeknownst to me, caused severe dehydration and loss of electrolytes. This turned a normal, healthy but hereditary heart arrhythmia that only happened when I was very stressed into 1 missed beat every minute of the day for 2 full days. So, naturally concerned, I contacted a Cardiologist. They scheduled me for 3 weeks out (obviously not concerned about it, and strangely, neither was I, uncharacteristically) and meanwhile I hydrated and the severity went down but still occurred more than normal per day. The visit showed it was the “good arrhythmia” to have, not causing damage or concern. So I started learning about how to hydrate properly, how to salt load properly, how to pace myself so I didn’t experience over-training (i.e. staying in a fat-burning heart range for most rides instead of a cardio range).
But my heart was not back to it’s previous normal and I felt that cycling stupidly had “broken” me a bit. Well, happily, 2 years later, I was swimming in an olympic pool and we challenged each other to swim the length on one breath. I wondered if I could do it and it turned out I was the only one in our group who could. Mind you, it felt like I was suffocating to finish the last 20 feet! However, after that, my arrhythmias were gone! Totally gone. For 3 straight months I didn’t have not one. Then, I did have them, but like I used to have them all my life prior. I read up on it and found out that people experiencing fibrillation of the heart can cause it to stop by doing a “Vagal Maneuver” which there are several, but one of them is causing some form of respiratory distress, similar to holding your breath and swimming. Apparently this also works for Arrhythmias.
Sooo, swimming underwater, holding my breath, helped reset my heart’s pace maker! This whole episode taught me how to prepare & handle long rides safer, how my heart works, and eventually gave me a form of remedy. As an aside, such under-water training helped increase my VO2 which helps my climbing ability in cycling. On my 3 year follow-up with the Cardiologist, she asked if I was ever experiencing “shortness of breath”. I told her “no, in fact, I have others asking me how I can climb so well w/o panting as heavy as they are”. This episode helped me get into great shape safely, and it shows.
Free form – tell us anything you’d like!
When I had to end my soccer career I was becoming depressed. I asked other players my age (nearing 50 at the time) what other sports they got into. I was told that Cycling was great since it similarly uses the power of your legs but without the tendon, knee & ankle stress. I started MTB for a year, then transitioned more to XC as I liked greenways then to a used road bike. To reduce high intensity solo workouts (Being dumb, I initially felt every ride was a race and was exhausting myself, not properly exercising in a healthy way.)
I joined social rides to force me to slow down. I found it replaced the social interaction I was missing from leaving my soccer group. Its introduced me to the City of Raleigh intimately. It has introduced me to several breweries social scenes & beers. It gradually got me interested in helping others who had flats or became de-chained (sometimes at night, so hard to fix in the dark) This led to me being asked to sweep rides and introduced me to organizations like Oaks & Spokes. Eventually one day at Crank Arm, our ride leader had to cancel, and people just naturally asked me if I was going to lead the ride!
Here I was, only road cycling a little over a year and now being asked to lead a ride. I’ve lived & worked around Raleigh for 29 years and knew the roads well enough, even better from sweeping (following the leader is hard when they don’t stick to their planned route!) so I felt I could do it. Its been very rewarding and has been pushing me toward more civic engagement and a sense of purpose to go along with these new social circles. Plus the exercise, exposure to nature, seeing the city grow first hand, learning about it’s past, & feeling in general very alive makes this, for me, the best sport I’ve ever been into!