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.

After a promising recovery from COVID most of December, I had a serious setback near the end of the month, and the decline of my health continued and intensified in January and February. I did three rides totaling 70 miles that first full week of January, then managed only 40 miles the next week. My breathing worsened to the point I could only do 1500 on the spirometer, and I didn’t ride at all the next week. I had a slight improvement and did a couple of 15 mile rides that last week of January, but after that last ride, it was obvious that I couldn’t continue, so I stopped riding again. I ended up with 160 miles for the month.

My body wasn’t lying when it told me to stop. On February 4th, I had a heart attack. It wasn’t a major heart attack. The blockage was in an obtuse marginal artery, and a single stent fixed it. But the cardiac surgeon discovered, and an echocardiogram the next day confirmed, that I have severe aortic stenosis. The cardiac doctor said I need an aortic valve replacement right away. I had been diagnosed with moderate aortic stenosis three and a half years ago, and had no clue it had become this severe. I was, after all, still averaging 100 miles a week on the bike in October, before I got COVID.

The degree of aortic stenosis is measured by the pressure difference between the two sides of the valve. 25 to 40 is moderate. Anything over 40 is severe. Mine is 65. 80 is critical, so I’m closer to critical than moderate. Severe aortic stenosis can cause fluid buildup in the lungs, so it may be contributing to my lung issues. I won’t know how much until I get that valve replaced. Strenuous exercise is a big NO with severe aortic stenosis, so I’m going to remain limited in what I can do until I get that valve replacement. I didn’t even have a cardiac doctor, so now I’m waiting for a referral from the VA for a cardiac doctor, who will then refer me to to the specialist who will do the valve replacement.

While all this was going on, the VA has put me on some new inhalers, and they seem to be slowly helping. With all the dire weather stuff here, I hadn’t even checked my lungs with the spirometer lately, and was surprised to find yesterday that I can once again do 2500 on it. That’s a big improvement. I still have a lot of wheezing. I’m hoping that may improve soon too. I decided that with my improved lung function, I should try riding again, so today, I did a 10 mile ride on the Xstream. I kept things at a very easy pace, keeping my heart rate under 130. That’s probably as much effort as I should be putting out until I get my valve replacement.

I’m exhausted now. After just a 10 mile ride. It’s a pretty safe bet that I’ll never get back to the state of fitness I was enjoying last October. All I can do is be as active as my present health will allow, then see what I can do after recovering from valve replacement. I’m looking at a long road to recovery ahead.

2020 has mercifully come to an end. I ended up with 4,492 miles ridden for the year. It was the first year since 2004 that I rode less than 5,000 miles (I started riding in September, 2004). Until mid October, I was on a pace to get the usual 5,200 miles that I’ve ridden annually in recent years, but COVID19 had other plans. 1,305 of those miles were trainer virtual miles, with the remainder being actual on the road miles.

My recovery had been going fairly well, and I rode 80 miles the third week of December, but I had a major setback on December 24th. I inhaled a pill. In all my years on earth, I’d never done that before. It was a magnesium supplement tablet. I put it in my mouth and took a drink of water, thinking I’d swallowed it. But I hadn’t. When I took a breath of air, it sucked the tablet into my left lung. That day ended up being the worst day of coughing of my life. The next day, I was sore all over from so much coughing. I hacked up grit the entire day. And, I became short of breath and got a terrible wheeze. When I tried to ride the next day, I gave up after 10 miles, then took four days off the bike.

By this week, I noticed my shortness of breath was getting better. I’m stil wheezing, but it’s not as bad as it was. So I did 20 mile rides on Wednesday, Thursday, and today. I still haven’t gotten back to where I was before I inhaled that pill, but I’m improving. Here’s to hoping for a better 2021.

My last ride of the year.