I took a friend (60) out for his first ride in 13 years. Michael is fit and very active. I am 68 and been riding 4 years and ride a lot but I'm still recovering from a new hip, so my mileage and speed are down (23 rides in June & July, 13.7 mph avg. at average ascent of 40'/mile).*
- Day 1 was 19 miles. 11 miles out was reminding him of a lot of basics. The 8 miles back he filled my mirror - 14.2 mph @ 38'/mile
- His bike was a Nishiki, pre-indexing. I upgraded the front brake to a dual pivot, replaced one of the tires, and tuned the bike. The gearing was quite reasonable, IMO, and it worked well.
- Day 2, the very next day, at his insistence, was 20 miles. He was dragging butt from the start but absolutely refused to turn back or let me get a car. His average moving speed was about 10 mph for the first 15 miles. He did consent to eat a Clif bar. Later he revived, triggered by a nice, long downhill stretch, and he's saying "faster." Our final 5.4 miles (@ 47'/mi.) were done at 15.1.
- Day 3 he was willing to admit he was sore. For the next 7 days - he didn't ride, he was in Maine.
Today he tells me that his bladder blew up while he was in Maine. He was completely blocked. Catheter got installed, LOTS of urine got drained.
He was told his prostate had swelled, probably caused by the cycling. He is learning how to self-catheterize!
I am curious.
Does cycling inflaming his prostate sound plausible? I'm sure that there is a lot of relevant experience.
Thanks all!
FYI - Points of possible interest:
- I had prostate cancer 3 years ago, "moderately aggressive," and had it removed (it takes the surgeon 8 hours doing it robotically). No complications since.
- I broke my hip while I was leading 70 riders on my 3rd annual "Bonsai Ride." After 42 miles, everybody eats the sandwich they pre-ordered from a good bakery in the courtyard at Bonsai West. Which Michael owns.
*
[This is a brag, but it helps put my unusually high mph with Michael in perspective.] I got PO'd at myself and decided to work more in August. I made a max effort ride to start August (16.0 for 24 @ 31'), have done 2 other rides over 15.0, improved my longest ride to 47 miles, and did a major hill ride of 38 miles at 71'.)