Biker395 

I dunno about immune system damage, but I do know at least two people (both endurance cyclists and quite healthy) who had very disabling reactions to the vaccine. I don’t know if the connection was conclusively proven, but the reaction occurred immediately after vaccination and are consistent with the reported side effects. They are still dealing with it.

I’m by no means an anti-vaxxer. I’ve received both primary shots and boosters every 6 months after. I’m also going to take the new vaccines directed to the new variants as soon as I can. But they are not without risk.

Calsun

There is not a baseline for vitamin D only a range of 20 ng/ml to 50 ng/ml for "normal". There are no studies to determine "optimal" levels of vitamin D and the amount needed as a supplement varies from one person to the next. How much time one spends outdoors and ones age makes a great deal of difference. Best to get the blood serum level tested so you know what it is and whether to take a supplement.

The RDA numbers are worthless and only designed to prevent ricketts in children and not to insure a healthy immune system for adults. If I took only the RDA my blood serum level would be at the bottom of the "normal" range and I need to take 7 times the RDA to get my blood serum level of vitamin D inside the "normal" range.

The medical community hopes that annual booster shots will be effective for Covid but there is also a growing awareness that as the mutations evolve that vaccines may become less and less effective. Prudent course is to minimize exposure in the first place.

The risks of getting Covid include needing to be hospitalized and then acquiring a nosocomial infection. Nosocomial infections kill thousands each year and the patient has no control over the procedures or lack thereof at a hospital.

One medication that has been very effective, particularly with patients 75 years of age or older is pavlovid. Few doctors are bothering to proscribe it for their patients which is most unfortunate as it has been shown to reduce hospitalizations by 90% and reduce rebound Covide to the same degree.

Biker395 

Yea, but those studies basically indicated that people who were outside that Vitamin D range did substantially worse with COVID infections, no? Was there evidence that exceeding that range was beneficial in fending off COVID?

The recent research on Vitamin D is interesting. For whatever reason, I make plenty of it naturally (I do get a lot of sun and have olive skin), so I haven't had to go with supplements.

I've also read some rather scary stuff about the vaccines. They are new territory, and although I can't recall the details, there were a few studies that actually showed that with multiple vaccines, the immune system wasn't much better at fending off COVID. There was a discussion speculating as to the mechanism, but I'm not informed enough to understand what they were talking about. It was far more complex than simple antibody production.

Paxlovid has made a big difference with a lot of people. I know several that were treated with it. If I were to contract COVID, you can bet I'd be at the docs asking for a course of treatment.

spdntrxi

couple more groups rides in.. it's coming back slowly... Getting dropped in the normal spots on the uphills Winning a sprint here and there despite being down 200w on peak sprint from normal.

spdntrxi

3rd day in a row riding ... 4sec of my PR on the main climb today. (all while being 12 beats below my max HR) I'm back expect for peak power .

ehcoplex 

Appreciate folks sharing their stories here. I'm in the throes of my first CoV infection (ironically- or perhaps not- I suspect I contracted it while at a medical facility last Friday, where I was the only person wearing a mask...), feeling pretty awful, and feeling awful about what it means for riding as we enter the best part of the year. My mileage was already down due to a nagging shoulder/neck issue, and now this! It's going to take some serious self-control to go slowly getting back to riding. Well, first I have to get through the 'acute' infection, of course.

Calsun

Vitamin D is important for optimum performance of a person's immune system. The capabilities of the immune system to respond to infection varies by individual and in large part with their age and co-morbidities like obesity. With Covid anyone can get infected and what varies is how effective the individual persons immune system is in responding and fighting off the virus. We know and understand that a flu virus has a greater impact on the elderly or on smokers and others with compromised immune systems.

The vaccination propaganda is being put forth by very naive and stupid individuals. Children at around the age of 4 are developed sufficiently to start to notice problems with mental functioning which may be symptomatic of ADHD or autism. It is also at age 4 when children are first vaccinated against many deadly or damaging diseases like measles and mumps. Mumps can result in permanent deafness and would any parent not feel stupid if their child had not been vaccinated and contracted the mumps and became deaf?

There were 1000 cases of people with the mumps virus in 2015 but more than 6,000 in 2016 and 2017. Vaccination lapses result in a great increase in infected children from such highly contagious viruses. In Salinas California in 2021 a young man decided against vaccination for Covid. He became infected and then infected his parents. All three ended up in the intensive care unit of the hospital. He was on a breathing machine for weeks but after a month he was healthy enough to be released. At this point he learned that both his parents had died in the hospital.

GhostRider62

Covid vaccine and boosters did nothing for me WRT Covid.

The only symptoms remaining 9 months later are some lingering inflammation, especially in the joints. I never had knee or hip pain until about 3 month into my long Covid.

My Pulmonologist said her "older" athletes take at least 6 months and often 12 months before they report back to their normal levels. Some people recover very quickly. I did not. Maybe I rode too much but my volume was about half and intensity was much less than normal. All rides were at a HR of 105 bpm and rarely higher

MinnMan

wow- so many people I know have COVID now or in the last few weeks. I don't think there are any official statistics to capture the magnitude of the wave, as everybody just does home testing and hospitalizations only measure the frequency of severe cases.

Cuidado, amigos.

Biker395 

Yep. Four people in my case.

I check our local county numbers regularly. They show infections about 3x what they were a few months ago. But you’re right. Almost no one reports anymore, so what do those numbers mean?

We have a metric that is the percent of tests that are positive. I think that’s a decent metric to detect trends. It’s been rising for a couple of months.

It’s recently leveled off, and reported infections are dropping, so I think it is likely the worst of this wave is over.

nlerner

Massachusetts tracks the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater, which seems like about as good of a measure as one can get:

https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm

The numbers are certainly on the rise compared to earlier in the summer.

Biker395 

Yea, I agree. Here are the infections and positivity rate in our hood.

Road Fan

I and Mrs. Road Fan have just gone through the cycle. Here's how it worked, at least in part.

We are both fully vaxxed, which means at our exposure to COVID in August we had good immunity to the strains which those vaccines and boosters were designed to counter. The apparent situation is that we were infected with one of the newer strains, since the previous vaxxes established resistance to all older strains. I felt symptoms, most severely; disorientation, poor balance, poor word choice when I tried to speak - mainly cognitive issues.

We went to Urgent Care and asked for them to check me for stroke or other cognitive impairment. They found no indications of stroke and did a Covid (PSA) test, which was positive. They sent me off with a prescription for 5-days of antiviral (not Paxlovid, since I take a statin as well), and a handful of symptomatic remedies.

We also got a pile of home tests, since it was recommended to use home testing to monitor progress under the antiviral. After 5-days both of our symptoms were much less uncomfortable, her tested COVID status was steadily negative, and my testing still showed positive. We were told that after another 5-days without symptoms we could rejoin "society" with or without masks as we chose. We have been out quite a bit more or less as normal. The tests we got from our library (free, thank you, City of Ann Arbor) say without symptoms we can cease retesting after two negative test indications in a row after symptoms have ceased.

As far as athletic recovery, I have restarted as I told at the beginning of this thread. At the moment, getting outside and pedaling is the thing to do - have done indoor pedaling three times - pedal stroke practice and pedaling over time. Also some significant walking, 20,000 steps in three outings.

i had a nice vintage Brooks Pro Select ready for riding, but it's not as comfortable as my nice vintage Ideale 90. If that doesn't work better I'll next try the Ideale 80, and next after that is to go back to the Selle Anatomicas.

Road Fan

Thanks a million for sharing this chart and paper, MinnMan! At the moment my wife and I are about at "Minimal of no Symptoms" stage. Our little walks, et cetera are about 50%, 2 to 5 times per week. I think we'll try to progress from that status to "light," then "Moderate" then "normal" starting at the rate of about 2 to 5 outings per week. I need to take some notes to fulfill the "monitoring" assignment - I'd like to have some data if we're going to take any problems back to our Primary Care person. She also has experience in yoga and cycling, and will make the most of what we tell her.

davester

It sure would be helpful if folks in this thread also indicated whether they were vaccinated and current with their boosters. Without knowing this it's impossible to assess the various reports of illness.

For myself, I am fully vaxed and boosted and was exposed to an infected person six days ago. Shortly thereafter I was hit with positive antigen tests and moderate symptoms (sore throat, headache, cough, fatigue) for three days. During that time I had to share driving duties (with my also-infected spouse) returning from the mountains while ill, which was pretty trying and probably set us both back a bit. Now I'm at Day 5 after initial symptoms and I actually feel pretty darn good and have no symptoms. I can't take Paxlovid due to a possible dangerous drug interaction. I'm still isolating and masking but I'm bored to death and feel like I could jump on the bike and ride. The nurse I talked to at the hospital said that her experience has been that those who are up to date on their boosters and are in good physical condition are almost always fully recovered before Day 10. Those who are not typically take much longer to recover or lapse into Long Covid.

MinnMan

Good suggestion. It's probably done in most municipalities and states. Twin Cities data don't actually look that scary at the moment, though the most recent plotted data are 3 weeks old.

ehcoplex 

Good point. Fully vaccinated/boosted, though the last booster was quite a while ago. Assuming exposure was a week ago from Friday. Symptoms started the following Monday, and really hit hard on Tuesday. Started Paxlovid Wednesday AM. Tues, Wed, Thurs were pretty miserable- terrible headache, chills/fever, congestion, coughing and lots of joint pain. Slowly improved. Feeling more or less normal, though with some residual congestion today, so I did some around-the-house stuff which brought on some nausea and shortness of breath, which is a little concerning. I considered myself pretty fit, riding at least 20-30 miles most days, more on weekends, and otherwise doing a lot of physical labor this past summer. But I think I'm going to have to be careful getting back to it....

BlazingPedals

I got it 'pretty bad' in 2020. That was before vaccines or even the treatment drugs. Was flat on my back in bed for 11 days and then spend another 8 in the hospital on supplemental oxygen, trying to get my strength back. For anyone buying the disinformation that it only affected the weak/elderly, when I was in the hospital the nurse told me that there were 31 others in the Covid ward, and ALL lf the others were college students, and I was the only one of the bunch who could take himself to the bathroom. It took me a month of recovery before I had the strength to go back to work. By the end of the 2021 biking season, I was maybe at 75%; I had most of my strength back but endurance was definitely lagging. This year I was fine, although my mileage is down due to other factors. My advice would be to just listen to your body and don't overdo it. It's OK to be tired but not OK to be exhausted.

IcySwan1 

Timely thread. 72 years old and just tested positive on Saturday. Started Paxlovid but only 2 pills morning and evening instead of 3 because of low liver numbers on blood work. Aches and chills for me; wife is completed her meds 3 days ago but still feels rough.

I have tracked heart rate and oxygen levels through Garmin devices. Oxygen levels were initially down but have returned to normal. Resting heart rate remains slightly elevated. Once I am symptom free and cleared to travel, I will be away from the bike for 2 weeks. I think that should work out nicely. It is all Zwift stuff this time of year and I should be able to ease into it without being stranded somewhere if I poop out.

Godspeed and quick recovery to us and those like us.

Mike

Road Fan

My doc has figured out my COVID, contracted in the first half or middle of August, was most likely a recent mutation. Wife and I are fully vaxxed up through last May, so we have good resistance for them (49 out of 52 spikes should be covered in our cases). So in August we had pretty good resistance to everything but the newer mutations. We were given current-issue antivirals (Paxlovid in her case and a different one for me due to statins). These meds took out the COVID disease in the requisite 5 days, and we were both testing Negative after about 11 days, so we started being a little more lax with masking.

Lingering fatigue is abating now after 3 weeks and other symptoms are gone except for my usual slight congestion. We've walked 6000 to 10000 steps 5 times last week with a 90 minute Yoga class and have not felt wasted afterwards, so basic endurance is improving. Having lost between 15 and 20# due to reduced appetite helps as well.

So I'm becoming eager to get up on 2 wheels! Right now I have one road bike and my road 650b on which I'm tuning the saddle on the stand, but the one I'd prefer to ride needs its new 30 mm tubulars installed. I went through one cycle of gluing and mounting the tires, but I pulled them off because of not getting the base tapes aligned well while the glue was still soft. This time I'm going to put them back on over the dry glue, then dilute some glue with toluene and brush it in-between the tire and rim bed by lifting the tire about 6 inches at a time, working around both sides. This will re-activate the existing glue and will cure to a good bond to the rim. It's getting cooler outside, but I should be able to do this on the back or front porch this morning.

I'm 70, btw. I guess next year will be my chance to go out on tour. My repainted 1980-ish Woodrup should be delivered this week, and then I can start making it back into a light tourer! If these Vittoria 30 mm tubulars work out, I think the Woodrup will become a tubular tourer.

ehcoplex 

I tested negative for two days a couple days after finishing the Paxlovid course, but then woke up with a scratchy throat and was back to testing positive. "Paxlovid rebound" I guess. 3 or 4 days of feeling crappy again, though not as bad as how I felt initially. About a week later and I've finally got 2 days of negative tests. Well, sorta..... The first one was negative at 15-20 minutes, but when I looked at it again a couple hours later there was a very, very faint line. Unclear exactly what that means- one can basically find any answer to that question you want to find- It's a false positive, it's picking up 'residual virus material', it counts as a positive- act accordingly......

As far as getting back on the bike.... I've now read enough things suggesting really taking it easy post-CoV that I think I'm writing off riding this fall (which is absolutely killin' me!). Doesn't seem worth the potential long-term risk to heart-health.

For anyone who may be interested-

https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve...-good-for-you/

Yeah, Wired Magazine may not be the pinnacle of health-related 'news', but it's not exactly a fringe publication either.

Stay safe, stay healthy out there.

Random11

The article in your link is three years old, and COVID is a different disease now than it was then. I'm not a doctor and not offering anyone medical or cycling advice, but when I had COVID in August 2022, I took only one day off from riding. Felt pretty bad for one day but rapidly recovered. I likely had a mild case and I know different people are affected differently, so I'm not telling you (or anyone) what they should do. But I did not err on the side of caution, got right back on the bike, and to quote Monty Python, "Not dead yet.!"

Skullo 

I could not read much of the article because of the cookie preference pop up on my phone that was to big for me to use the toggle buttons of to the right lol.
But I can see the date is Sept 2020 . I would seek out more recent info. Our doctors have had three more years to learn about COVID treatments .
I was in ICU for three days in early May and received remidisvir antiviral and it worked well.
Two weeks later I saw my GP in his office and he was totally on board with riding but did not want me to exceed 135 BPM. I have been in the 140 s lately but don’t stay up there . I am predominately zone 2 and low zone 3. I am not a fast pace rider but an intermediate. Post Covid it is more slow paced and I don’t like it much.
Four months later I have not yet returned to pre Covid form. My body tells me if I have pushed to hard.
You should talk to you doctor. Get current info. He will listen to your heart and lungs.
I stayed on a trainer slow spinning and found my way outside soon.
Doctors and pulmonary folks at the hospital told me six months minimum in my case. Since you were not hospitalized I would expect you will fair better. I had confirmed Covid Pneumonia.You probably did not.
Weather is turning here so I will be on trainer more than outside soon.
Good luck

Jtmav

Well I’m on day 5 after 3 years of being COVID free. Will be 72 in Nov. Fully vaxed and boosted but like most almost a year since the last boost. First three days were pretty miserable, fever, chills, sore throat and hacking cough. My doc is with Mass General and they have a proprietary checklist for prescribing Paxlovid and I didn’t have any qualifying answers except age. He thought I didn’t need it and said if I wanted it he’d be ok with it. I decided to not take it. My wife had COVID last year and did take it without any issue. I’m feeling much better now but will take another week or so before I get back on my bike. I ride 25 miles two maybe three times a week.

Biker395 

Got my pneumonia, flu and latest C19 vaxxes last week. Hope it all helps.

This might be of interest:

https://covid19.nih.gov/news-and-sto...isk-long-covid