Tomorrow is my 71st birthday. Riding your age in miles on or near your birthday is a thing for many cyclists. I did it for quite a few years. With all the long rides I was doing, it wasn’t a particularly hard challenge. Of course, the older you get, the more of a challenge it becomes. I had written in this blog that I wasn’t so sure about 80 miles at 80, but that 70 miles at 70 would be easy. Of course I was wrong. 70 miles at 70 last year not only wasn’t easy, it was impossible. I had a severely cratered heart valve, and was waiting to get it replaced. The valve was so bad that my doctors had advised against exercise until I got it replaced, and I wasn’t riding at all. And I still had such severe shortness of breath from the severe COVID I’d had, that even without heart valve problems, I don’t think I could have managed 70 miles. So there was no birthday “Ride my age” ride last year.

And it’s been one health problem after another since. I’ve mostly recovered from the pneumonia I had in January, but the left knee problems that have limited me since December are still here. My knee has gotten a little better in the last few weeks, so I thought maybe it was time to start trying some longer rides. I had not done a ride over 40 miles since my severe COVID in October, 2020. I had built up to some 40 mile rides last fall, but limited myself to 30 mile rides or less ever since my knee problems in December. I decided I wanted to try a 50 mile ride last week, and that Tuesday, I took off and rode 50 miles. I was thinking about the possibility of riding my age this week, so wanted to see how my body handled a 50 mile ride. I had a lot of knee pain the last half of that ride, and decided there was no way I could ride my age this week.

But I reconsidered after I thought about it. That Tuesday, I rode my usual 50 mile route out to near Athens. It’s not a super hilly route, but it’s much hillier than my closer to home Mabank route. And the wind was terrible that day. I rode against it while it howled out of the southeast going out, then it changed to the southwest as I rode back, and I was still riding against it. I thought that if I rode a flatter route, on a less windy day, and took my time doing it, I might be able to ride the 71 miles. So that’s what I did today. I rode my Mabank route as a loop. It’s not completely flat by any means, but the inclines aren’t steep at all, more suited for a balky knee than my Athens route. I loaded the bike on the rack on my pickup and drove to a starting point near the loop. That way, I could start earlier than usual (I knew it was going to take me a bunch of hours to finish this ride at the easy pace my knee required), without fighting the bad morning traffic near my house, plus if I needed to bail out of the ride, my truck would be nearby.

I started right at 8:00 am, and did my ride. I hate riding at such a slow pace, but after soft pedaling for so many months, even if my knee suddenly improved, the rest of my body is now de-trained to the point that it wouldn’t be capable of much more speed than that anyway. So, I took my time, babied my knee, and finished the ride shortly before 2:00 in the afternoon. That’s a terrible time for a 71 mile ride, but considering that I wasn’t even able to ride my age last year, I’m just going to raise my clenched fist and celebrate completing today’s ride.

I ended up riding 390 miles in March. 250 miles of that was on the trainer indoors. Now that milder weather is here, I’d like to do most of my riding outdoors for the next few months. Next month is my annual checkup with my primary care doctor, and considering how long the pain in my left knee has lasted, I think that will be the time to get a referral and see what I can get done for it. Hopefully, I won’t lose too much time off the bike. I’d sure like to get stronger on it again.

Today’s route.

Yesterday afternoon, I took off on the F5, and rode 30 miles. It was my first outdoor ride since December 23rd. My left knee is still hurting, so I just did my closer to home flatter route. I got in nine online rides in February, for a total of just 200 miles. I ended up being off the bike for three weeks because of my pneumonia. I stuck with the nice flat Cozumel online route for all the virtual rides.

Pneumonia and my knee weren’t the only things that made it hard for me to get in my miles in February. On February 14th, one day before my 36th wedding anniversary, my wife passed away. She’d had more than her share of health issues the past few years, but this was still sudden and unexpected. I am now a widower, and there were so many things to handle the last half of the month. I’m hoping for a better mileage month in March. I’m planning on another outdoor ride this afternoon, but rain is coming, followed by colder weather, so I’ll likely be back on the Xstream, doing indoor rides, soon.

Yesterday’s 30 mile route.

I had ended the year not riding the last week because of pain and swelling in my left knee. It seemed to be improving slightly by New Year’s Day, so I decided to pick some very flat virtual routes, and try to start riding again on the trainer set up Xstream. I started off with just a five mile ride on New Year’s Day, and slowly increased my distance as the month went. I still had a lot of knee pain, but even with my riding, it was slowly improving. There were days when it got warm enough I could have ridden outdoors in the afternoon, but I thought it best to just keep soft pedaling the flat routes on my trainer. I knew real road riding wouldn’t be as easy on my knee. I actually got in 90 miles each of two weeks in the middle of the month. But before the end of the month, I was off the bike for a completely different reason.

The week of the 15th, I had a sore throat and cough. I wasn’t very sick, and didn’t think much of it until a household member tested positive for COVID. I had planned to go dancing that night, and decided I better get tested myself before I did any such thing. I tested positive, so stayed home. I continued to not feel bad, and got in another 90 miles on the bike that following week. I am vaxxed and boosted, and figured that’s why I didn’t get very sick. I tested again on the 21st, and was negative. But by then, I had started to have some chest congestion, and by the next Monday, the 24th, it had gotten a lot worse, and I developed a low grade fever, my reminder that, even vaxxed and boosted, I still have the same cratered lungs. I went to the VA hospital, and sure enough, pneumonia. I brought home antibiotics and steroids, and just rested that week, no riding. But by the following Monday, it was worse again, and this time, the VA hospital admitted me, and kept me for two days. I was released on Feb 2nd, just before the ice storm hit, and brought home antibiotics and steroids again. It’s now been two weeks since my last ride. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another these days, it seems. I ended up with 260 miles on the bike in January, all on the indoor Xstream.

I have begun a new blog update. I’ve tackled a few of these over the years, the most significant of which was replacing all of my old photo links when photo bucket quit working. This is a pretty big update too, dating all the way back to the beginning of my blog, and also involves fixing the photos. Word Press makes it pretty easy to create and keep up a nice looking blog. But one of the things about its narrow page format is that it automatically resizes photos to fit within that format, and some photos can get reduced to the point that you can’t see all the details you want. That’s not a big deal if it’s just a photo of scenery or me or friends on bikes. But my routes tend to run mostly east and west, and some of the wider map images can get narrowed too much for good details. And now that I’m posting fossil photos, there are a lot of them that don’t show the detail I’d like. So, I’ve changed how I’m posting photos. There will be the same downsized Word Press photos, but if you now left click those photos, the link will take you to the full size photo, and you can zoom in for better detail. I’ve already started doing this with all new photos, and I’m in the process of going back and changing all the old photos to work the same way. I’ve made it a point in all my fossil posts to note that you should click the photos to be able to zoom in, but all the photos on other posts will work the same way. I’ve already changed everything back to August, 2013, and I’m working on the rest of it.

The flat Cozumel virtual route I mostly rode in January, to go easy on my left knee.

I ended up with 10 rides on the bike in December for 280 miles. The weather was mild much of the month, and 6 of those rides were outdoors. My left knee cratered in the middle of the month, and so did my mileage the rest of the month. I wasn’t able to ride at all the last week of the month. I’ve had problems with both knees in recent years. They both pop so loudly that you can hear it across a room. It’s pretty obvious there isn’t much cartilage left, and they are both going to need to be replaced. I’m hoping that still a ways down the road. But it was frustrating, finally being healthy enough otherwise to ride, but having my knee preventing me from doing it. I’m hoping for a better riding year in 2022. I ended up with 2,857 total miles ridden in 2021, easily my lowest total annual mileage since I started riding in 2004.

My last ride of the year, on December 23rd.

December has arrived, so it’s time to start riding the trainer, rather than actual road miles. But I’m hoping to get in a couple of road rides later in the week, while the weather stays mild. All of my rides in September, October, and November were on the road, except for a single trainer ride on November 15th.

I had a good mileage month in September, with 12 rides for 390 miles. October wasn’t bad, either, with 10 rides for 300 miles. I made more fossil hunting trips in October. In November, I only ended up with 7 rides for 220 miles. Trips to the dentist, fossil hunting, Cancun, and buying a new truck all took their toll on my mileage.

But my health has been much better. My COPD seems to be well controlled by inhalers; I’m not wheezing at all now. I’m still over one mph slower on the bike than I was in 2020. Perhaps I can gain some of that back next year. I hope to tackle some longer rides as I get stronger, but probably nothing too long. I’m just doing rides of up to 40 miles right now.

Last Friday’s 40 mile route.

I took off on the F-5 this morning and rode out to Big Rock Road. But I didn’t just come back the same route. Just as I got back into Mabank, I split off and rode CR4001 to FM3080, and then a couple of miles east on FM3080 before turning around. That gives me 40 miles. I’m still doing mostly 30 mile rides, but I’ve started throwing in one 40 mile ride each week to give me 100 miles each week.

I ended up with 12 rides for 390 miles on the bike in August. That’s the most miles I’ve done in a month this year. And I once again finished the month with no medical drama, so I’m continuing my march toward regaining fitness.

Today’s route.

I ended up doing 12 rides for 380 miles in the month of June. That’s the most miles I’ve had in a month since last September, but the month ended the same way last month did, with me in the hospital and off the bike for days. It was pneumonia this time, found after I had a fever of 101.7 Saturday night. I’ll rest a few days then go back to riding.

Last Wednesday’s ride.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode out to Big Rock Road, for 40 miles. That gives me 100 miles this week. For many years, I averaged 100+ miles a week, but between severe COVID in October, a heart attack in February, heart valve replacement in April, and a car crash in May, this was the first time in eight months that I’ve gotten 100 miles in a week. It felt good.

I’m still slow on the bike, but I’m seeing progress in improving. Today was the first time since I got back on the bike that I managed to do the entire ride without using the small chainring. It was also the first time I’ve averaged over 14 mph for the ride. I don’t know how close I’ll get to the level I was at last year, but I’ll take what improvements I can get.

I ended up with a total of 240 miles ridden in May. I had managed a couple of 80 mile weeks in a row, but a May 22nd car crash kept me off the bike for the rest of the month.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode out to FM2938 and back for a 20 mile ride. It was my first time on a bike since Marth 10th, and my first outdoor ride since October. I had taken time off the bike after my heart attack and didn’t ride again until February 20th. By early March my aortic heart valve had gotten really bad, plus my heart doctors were advising against riding until after it was replaced, so I quit riding after March 10th, until today. I ended up with just 65 miles ridden in February and 82 miles in March.

I am now eight days past aortic heart valve replacement. Today’s ride made it obvious that my fitness level is completely shot. Nothing to do but go to work on that.

Today’s route.