Originally Posted by
Davidz709
Hi -- I used to do at least 4 centuries per year, a number of "metric centuries" etc. over hot and hilly MA during cycling season. Having said that, clearly "extreme" is a relative and personal descriptor. Whether it really amounted to a risk factor in my case clearly is only a matter of conjecture.
As above. The folks I've ridden with who got Afib were all a bit more extreme, so you're a little early but as we say here, everyone's different. I've got one randonneur friend, did PBP twice, has a wall full of "K-hound" medallions, all for year's distances only doing brevets and the like, 10,000-20,000k, would do hill reps on a local steep 1200' climb day after day. His Afib started when he was about 65. Another rider was in his early 70s, broke local age-group records, rode to 18000' in the Himalayas, that sort of thing. Another guy was a hot MTB racer, moved to tandem riding with his much less powerful wife and was still faster than stink. He started to get brief Afib episodes in the mountains and backed it all way off, below his Afib threshold, never had an ablation. Of the other two guys, one's ablation was successful, the randonneur needed multiple ablations and he's still not totally OK.
So you might be able to decide whether to get an ablation or just back you HR off. Talk to your electro-physiologist and take your blood thinners..