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09-04-11, 12:12 AM
Big milestone today.
I did my first 100 km ride.
First a little background - For the last five years I have dealt with some significant neck and back pain. I was eventually diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which is effectively a severely compressed nerve. 11 months ago I had a rib resection and scalenectomy to try to alleviate pressure on the nerve. I was told the surgical success rate was about 50%.
By this spring it was apparent that I wasn’t in the lucky half so the surgeons suggested the next step is long-term pain control. The medications they were suggesting made me come to a realization; I couldn’t rely on the medical community to fix me. I am too young (43) to subject myself to the medications they were suggesting. If there was a way to deal with my problem I needed to come up with a method on my own.
On April 2 I went out to the shed and grabbed my old Norco 26” bike and went for a spin.
Since that first ride I haven’t looked back. I’ve been on the bike daily since then and the kilometers have been racking up. I give that little Norco credit for how good I feel this summer.
I’ve since moved up to a new ’12 Trek DS 8.5.
The crazy thing about today’s ride is that it wasn’t a big stretch and I feel pretty good.
It was on mixed terrain with about 40 km road, 20 km dirt, and 40 km paved bike path. I live in the Rockies so there was quite a bit of climbing, total of 1,400 m (4,600 ft). All told it took me just under 5 hours.
Looking forward to an easy short ride tomorrow!
Rod
I did my first 100 km ride.
First a little background - For the last five years I have dealt with some significant neck and back pain. I was eventually diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which is effectively a severely compressed nerve. 11 months ago I had a rib resection and scalenectomy to try to alleviate pressure on the nerve. I was told the surgical success rate was about 50%.
By this spring it was apparent that I wasn’t in the lucky half so the surgeons suggested the next step is long-term pain control. The medications they were suggesting made me come to a realization; I couldn’t rely on the medical community to fix me. I am too young (43) to subject myself to the medications they were suggesting. If there was a way to deal with my problem I needed to come up with a method on my own.
On April 2 I went out to the shed and grabbed my old Norco 26” bike and went for a spin.
Since that first ride I haven’t looked back. I’ve been on the bike daily since then and the kilometers have been racking up. I give that little Norco credit for how good I feel this summer.
I’ve since moved up to a new ’12 Trek DS 8.5.
The crazy thing about today’s ride is that it wasn’t a big stretch and I feel pretty good.
It was on mixed terrain with about 40 km road, 20 km dirt, and 40 km paved bike path. I live in the Rockies so there was quite a bit of climbing, total of 1,400 m (4,600 ft). All told it took me just under 5 hours.
Looking forward to an easy short ride tomorrow!
Rod