 A bit about the race...wFirst of all, I want to thank you all for your incredible support throughout the past ten days of my racing the TransAm. This is my first look, some 15 days after the start of the race, to visit the BROL forums and I haven't looked at the other post in this thread...yet. Needless to say, the word I received throughout the race from my very limited contacts were extremely encouraging and motivational. To you all...I'm most indebted and I truly mean that. Right now, I'm sitting in my favorite Starbucks penning a few race reflections.I am indebted, especially, to the following people for any personal success I might have experienced throughout the 1333 miles into West Yellowstone. 1.Carol...my wife, my love, and my digital ride partner and social media correspondent 2. Robert Johnson and his wife who walked me literally through many difficult passages and victories throughout my journey 3. Lonnie Morse: Dear friend and advisor and expert Easy Racer consultant 4. Hundreds of others well wishers and the Good Lord who delivered me safely through the difficult times. Special thanks to Rand, Randy, and Thom O. Some random facts/comments: Rider race age 64 Bent: Socked GR w/ultegra frt brake and BB7's rear disc on 29er wheel 58/42/24 Ultegra crank w/ 11/32 xt cogs. XTR rear derailleur. Koolback seat. Seat base weld broke just outside W Yellowstone...seat base actually fell off the bike when I stood up...BUT it was my own fault for my misloading of seat bags on top of seat frame. Tires: Ultremos both ends(700x28mm on rear)...one flat Loaded bike weight w/all fluids: 70 lbs I usually rode w/96 ounces of liquids Favorite bike fuel:Ice cold 4% whole milk Emergency back-up calories of ~1000-2000...Large Payday's, Powerblocks. Clothing: Merino wool short/long sleeve jerseys w/waterproof pants and Shower's Pass WP socks plus assorted other jerseys. Shorts: Wrestling singlet cut off at the waist w/added elastic. There are ONLY side seams and no front/back seams. Had virtually no seat comfort issues of any significance throughout the ride. Body weight on June 7th start: 158lbs Weight on return home after fully hydrated: 149lbs. Lost a pound a day while eating as much as I could on the bike. Longest day: 233 miles w/10,000' climbing Shortest day: IIRC...around 71 miles Avg. daily mileage to West Yellowstone: 148 miles/day IIRC Estimated total climbing to that point. Just my estimate:80,000' Total time to distance taken from retracing my route one Trackleaders: 300 miles 1day/6 hours 500 miles 2days/13 hours 800 miles 4days/13 hours? 1000 miles 6days/6 hours 1300 miles 9days/3 hours? My longest moving day on the bike was just shy of 16 hours. I know, I was off the bike way to much to be very competitive. Along those lines though, the average TransAm racer was what I called "30/30"...carrying 30 lbs less gear/bike and 30 years younger. My game plan was to try and maintain a 'middle of the pack' position and then, once I reached Pueblo, CO, start making up time and reeling in what riders I could across mid-America. As the race progressed, I did find myself getting stronger and recovering better than I thought. I was reasonably confident that once I hit the plains, and could get into a good long steady rhythm, a 22-24 mph cruising speed would be doable disallowing any wind influence. The trouble riding the mountains was the difficulty in locking into any long-term rhythems. Though I never or rarely went anaerobic, accelerating the bike/climbing took a fair amount of energy due to the weight, etc. One of my toughest pulls was climbing three passes between John Day and Baker City most of which happened at night. The first pass was a 9 mile pull of 5-6% with no let-up...none. I ended up walking 15-30 minutes on that climb due to calf pain. I finally rolled into Bake City at 3:15 am after climbing the 2nd and 3rd pass on a quiet mountain rode. I was so cold and shaking so badly that, at times, I had difficulty steering the bent. I then lost my headlight. Fortunately, a car came up behind me and stayed there so I could use their beams to see my path for the next hour. Like I said...I was extremely cold. I was up and on the road, IIRC, by 8:00am or so. Another low mileage day faced me and, on a long, steep sustained climb into Halfway, OR, I found myself walking about 90 minutes due to extreme slope, strong headwinds, and a troubling left calf muscle. I survived though  Unfortunately, I found myself going to bed on an empty stomach due to unusal circumstances or poor planning, on at least three occasions. The Payday candy bars? Coming out of Wisdom, OR, with nearest services 46 miles down course, the Payday got me there. I might mention I was surprised at my weightloss during the ride. I was already what I considered a lean 158# and so I reckon, what I have suspected for quite some time, my body is fairly efficient at cannabalizing itself hopefully w/not too much loss of lean tissue. So fast forward to this past Monday: It was a cold, wet, hilly 71miles heading toward West Yellowstone. Rumble strip, poor riding surface, and semi truck traffic about five feet away. At one point, the wind/rain was so strong that I pointed the bent into the wind/rain, planted both feet firmly on the ground, and tried to ride it out motionless hoping it would soon pass. Eventually it did and several miles further down the road is when I picked up my only flat. Ten miles out side of Yellowstone, I stopped, stood up to stretch, and my seat base hit the ground. I rode on several miles and then noticed my wife had texted me. Said snow was expected in W Yellowstone and NOT to plan on camping out if at all possible. She soon posted she found a room for me at the Madison Hotel (hostel) in town and to head in that direction. Within 30 minutes of reaching the Madison, the sky literally opened up in an ice cold torrential downpour of hail and rain for the next hour or so. Thank God I was inside. To make a long story short, the following morning I had breakfast w/two new hostel friends and returned to the lobby to sit/rest/reflect around 9am. I wasn't feeling well and also had a case of 'Thrush' that made eating/chewing difficult...a different trip to the ER for that...and became aware of my high heartrate for the first time. Using the timer on my iPhone, my resting HR held a steady 160bpm for the next 4 minutes and then converted back to normal(60ish), and then 5 minutes later converted back to 160bpm. FWIW...I counted 16-17 beats in 6secs then add a zero. This continued on throughout the morning without let up. At one point, and I'm feeling a sense of deep, deep fatigue at this point, I layed on my floor of my room where I felt my heart far exceed my capacity to count that quickly. Fast forward to 2pm that afternoon. I walked across the street to a small medical clinic where I was promptly informed their not an immediate care facility. They asked what was wrong, however, and had a nurse check out my pulse/bp. Within the next minute, they had called 911 and within three minutes I was on an 80 mile ambulance ride to the nearest large medical facility in Rexburg, Idaho. Throughout the 90minute drive, my heart would 'convert' between rhythms...150-160 and then back into the 60's. This converting would take place radomly over a period of several seconds. A bit disconserting to say the least. Fortunately, they were able to record on paper as this was happening as well throughout my three hour stay at the Rexburg(Madison) Medical Center. Fast forward to Thursday afternoon in the W. Yellowstone Cafe while waiting for my flight out. The low point of my race. Upon checking my heartrate, I estimated it to be in the low 40's and skipping every 3rd beat. Five seconds later, it was red-lined at 160 bpm. At that point, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to make it ;) I did actually broke down for the first time during the race while on the phone with my wife. It was tough. Yesterday, Friday, I got admitted to the Good Sam Medical Facilityin their ER. Fortunately, my heart put on a good show for the physicians/cardiologist varying from 39-125 beats while quietly at rest. This Wednesday I meet with an electrocardiologists for consultation for surgery to repair the electrical circuits in my heart. It's called RF Ablation and, in my case, it can be a life changing surgery where they use a catheter to gain access to the heart and 'kill' a small part of the heart responsible for the mixed up electrical signals. It seems my heart currently has two speeds while at rest...fast and slow...with changes between the two taking just seconds. I might note that when the cardiologist left my ER room yesterday, he turned to me and said 'you are going to racethis next year aren't you'? I said I was done with ultra racing upon which he said 'we can fix this thing'. You'llbe 100% fixed. Go for it! |
Update:Cardiologist diagnosed me with SVT...supra ventricular tachycardia. Says it's rarely life threatening and recommends no treatment. Indicated It may never return or it may. They have the highest success with ablation surgery...killing a small electrical-generating part of the heart from the inside...if I'm in an SVT rhythm at the time. The SVT rhythm is a rather unnerving experience to go through to say the least ...mine lasted six days...especially if it's your first experience with them, you're a long ways from home and familiar faces, and your dealing with it alone. My room in W. Yellowstone  On the road somewhere outside Wisdom, MT  |
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