Great news!

Went for a short 6 mile ride around a lake to celebrate.

Congratulations greatnews

No mention of option to get an "arterial body scan" which can refer to several different diagnostic tests, most commonly a CT angiography (CTA), which uses a CT scan and contrast dye to visualize blood vessels for blockages or aneurysms, or a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan, which specifically looks for calcified plaque in the heart's arteries. Both are non-invasive imaging techniques used to assess cardiovascular health.

Benbrook lake?
I ask since this would involve doing some hills and should push your cardio.

Marine Creek Lake. There is a lot of up and down but nothing big. What really slows you down are the 90° sharp turns right before bridges that have bollards at the entry and exit to arched bridges.

I has an angiogram heart cath earlier. That is where they found that my RCA was 100% occluded and I had grown my own bypass.

Ok thats good to read. Wish the CAC scans were covered for older adults so we could find out earlier if preventative actions are necessary before blockages happen.

I wish the cardiologist I had for 8 years would have noticed. My current cardiologist caught it immediately this summer. He estimates my RCA became blocked 7-8 years ago. I remember suddenly losing energy and stamina at that time.

Great News ! Great for You!

My suggestion is to now work on a full body base fitness program.
As I noted in my earlier post, spend the next few months improving your cycling 'efficiency' (which balances Muscle and Cardio loading).
'Periodization' - I Human body can't produce it's best ALL YEAR LONG, Every year. Allowing the body to work thru waves of intensity produces the best results.
Some 'periodize' for certain events, some for a particular part of a year or season...
Because my 'Winter' activity is quite intense - All forms of skiing and played Ice Hockey until my cancer diagnosis in '19, Late Spring was always a planned 'reccovery' and then periodized again for July, Aug & Sept.
Doesn't mean I did nothing. I rode a lot, hiked a lot, Skated alot - But 'fun' was as important as 'Focus'... These days it's mostly fun most of the time- inevitable at 76.
'Cycling Efficiency'
Is Muscle strength, which comes from Cardio systems suppling the needs of the muscles
AND
The muscle exertion coordination to maximize the power applied to the pedals.
This is the trading of muscle forces from one leg to the other, in the pedal stroke. 'SPIN'. Cadence.
The faster you can spin the pedals, the lower the power requirement in each pedal stroke - reducing muscle fatigue over time.
There are points where the 'Cadence' becomes in-efficient, becauses the muscles 'block' the quick, efficient effort of pedaling force exchange.
The point of 'spinning a lower gear' is to train the muscles to improve that force exchange.
'Base/Off season' riding is one time when that is best done.
'SLower' Riding, higher steady cadence (which you increase over weeks and months, not days).
Rode SLOWER, pedal faster, for a longer period of time... Maybe one day of the week (if you ride at least 5 days/wk), add a little 'Intensity' into a session - you'll start seeing a big difference.
Beating yourself up on most rides DOESN'T work...
https://usacycling.org/article/slowi...n-to-go-faster
'aerobic riding' in this article also refers to developing a good, broad cadence range - spin.

Ride On
Yuri

I’m on Omeprazole too. I didn’t know if can cause fatigue. I’m certainly not as lively as I once was.

I had a nuclear stress test back in 2020, near the peak of COVID, following an a-fib episode. It made me uncomfortable, but I prefer it slightly to the treadmill (which I had to do just last week). I stopped running decades ago because of knee pain. Now I have complex meniscal tears in both knees so I always dread having to run on the treadmill. My knees are fine on the bike, fortunately, but I've never been given the option to do a stress test on a stationary bike. For the record, I'm on metoprolol tartrate and I miss grapefruit.

My knee’s meniscus is torn too. My ortho told me to not run but cycling and swimming are allowed because there is no impact.

I have also wondered if that happens. Ihave the same diet for the last 50 ish years. I’m hoping it does me good. My dad had quadruple bypass at 82, but his lifelong diet was much worse than mine. I am currently 73 and have stable angina and arrhythmia only. So far.

Congrats pepperbelly

Good luck to us all.

Amen!
My grandparents lived to be 88 and 89. I lost dad at 77 due to some problems from removing a kidney but he had a heart attack at 50 from his diet. He grew up on a dairy farm and drank milk every day and ate fried fatty food all of his life. He got a stent that worked well for him.
My goal is to embarrass my doctor by being healthy and dying of absolutely nothing.

I had the calcium scan several times, and it should be stressed that a high score is not necessarily bad. The calcifications could be in the vessel wall (not bad) or within the vessel lumen (bad). That led to a lot of needless worry, sleepness nights and a stress test. The test was easier than a typical Saturday club ride.. Not remarkable, "go enjoy yourself."

I had a calcium study this past summer. The results were what triggered the following scans and tests.
My LAD- the widowmaker, had a calcium score over 500 but the angiogram showed minimal blockage that wasn’t enough to stent.

I just had a lipid panel. My ldl is 55, and it should be lower next time. I keep forgetting to take my statin in the evening so they said I can take it in the morning.
What’s the record for low ldl? 😄

Hmm, that's odd. I just underwent a nuclear stress test. Started with an MRI, then onto the treadmill until my heartrate hit a target number, then another MRI, this time with the nuclear stuff injected. Doc said they *can* get your HR up with a shot, but he would rather have his patients on the treadmill.

55 is great! The lower, the better—assuming you don't have one of the nasty cholesterol-lowering diseases.

My most recent LDL-c was 49, slightly down from 55 last year. I'm taking Lipitor (10mg).

We both have better numbers than masters 60 endurance athletes:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...80782b064c.png

I am supposed to take Crestor but I kept forgetting to take it in the evening. That score is just from modifying my diet.
I am taking the med in the morning now so it should get lower.
I could probably get it even lower if I gave up beer but I don’t want to get extreme.

Maybe he was refering to just my situation....:foo: