Scary!

Don't ignore your gall bladder

It seems like everyone is having gall bladder issues these days. I know of three right now. Anyway, I thought I'd post my story again as a cautionary tale.

It all came to a head on Oct. 19, 2010. I collapsed in my doctor's office and MAST gave me a ride to KU Medical Center. They thought I might be having a heart attack. My blood pressure was crazy low and I was weak. The EMT popped four or five aspirin in my mouth on the way. A team of cardiologists was waiting for me in Emergency. They quickly determined my heart was fine, but my blood sugar was 980. Normal blood sugar is about 100. I was also experiencing liver and kidney failure. There was something wrong with my pancreas.

I would spend the next eight days in ICU, two weeks in the hospital and four months in bed, most of the time with a drain in my abdomen due to a cyst that had formed on my damaged pancreas.

All because of something the size of a few grains of sand. A gall stone had lodged in my common bile duct - the tube that carries insulin and other good stuff from your pancreas and the excess bile stored in your gall bladder, both of which aide in digestion and keep your blood sugars on an even keel. My gall bladder needed to be removed and I had a nasty case of pancreatitis, which would ultimately scar about 80 percent of that organ and make me insulin dependent, likely for life.

The kicker is that I had years of warning. For about seven years I thought I had acid reflux. I would sometimes have horrible indigestion after eating certain meals. Usually on Sunday nights, after a weekend of binge eating all the stuff you shouldn't eat. But, instead of going to the doctor I would just eat better for a few days and I would be fine. About three or four times in the year prior to this I had had severe bouts of pain right in the center of my chest along with vomiting and nausea. Still, it would be better by the next morning. These are classic symptoms of gall stones.

In reality I was passing gall stones, only this time the stone did not pass, instead backing up my pancreas, causing the cyst, which in turn caused a hole in my stomach where the cyst and stomach met. The cyst was infected, so I had heavy duty IV antibiotics twice a day for three months. The antibiotics were so good they killed all the bacteria in my digestive tract that Jami Lee Curtis talks about in those yogurt commercials. Not a good time, let me tell you. And, the cure for that is to take pill twice a day that leaves a constant aspirin taste in your mouth.

A lot of pain, a lot of trouble and a lot of worry for me and my wife, which could have all been avoided by going to the doctor.

So, be warned.

LIFESTYLE: The vintage bike trend - "Anjou Vélo Vintage" race

I was looking for some vintage Paris-Roubaix footage and I cam across this story from France about a vintage bike meet. Kind of interesting. I have to admit, every time I see a penny farthing, I want to push the rider over. I suppose it's the same reaction most people have about mimes.

Crash Paris Roubaix 2012 Trouée d´Arenberg

Another angle of that same crash.

Paris Roubaix 2012 Arenberg Tom Boonen / Broken Wheel Argos / Radioshack...

This video gives you a good idea of what it is like to spectate at Paris Roubaix. I think the fact that some of the course marshals use moto-cross bikes to ride the course says a lot about how rough the pave is.

Ouch!

62nd annual Little 500 sees unique, rowdy racing

This is the race the cutters win at the end of Breaking Away. Good article from VeloNews.
62nd annual Little 500 sees unique, rowdy racing

A Great Place to Ride

Road bikes are best ridden on the road, but I know a lot of riders (particularly beginners) are intimidated by city streets. I still don't like riding in traffic. I suppose nobody does. Besides, the bike path is pretty fun, but it is limiting in that it's just not safe to pour it on and ride fast. Too many obstacles such as strollers, inattentive walkers (damn cell phones), rollerbladers and unicyclists. I'm not making that up. I once had to pass a guy on a unicycle and it he almost took me out. If you have ever seen someone riding a unicycle, you know what I mean. Plus, there is typically little or no elevation change on these manicured bike paths.

Most large cities have at least one mega park. There are several in our area. In fact, Swope Park in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. I live across the state line in Johnson County, Kan., and there are a few large parks over here too. The biggest and best is Shawnee Mission Park, which is located west of Interstate 435 at about 79th Street.

Inside the park is a 4.5 mile loop that includes nearly 200 feet of climbing, including a Cat 5 climb. It's just enough climbing to get a good workout, but still be doable by just about everyone. If you want to increase your workout, just do more laps or go faster. Couldn't be more simple.

I mapped the course in case anyone wants to try it.

Map My Ride Shawnee Mission Park Loop.

The residual effect of exercise

I have this new schedule where I work in the mornings. Again, I work as a CNA while I'm going back to school, which is not easy work.

Three times this week I had a low in middle of my shift. This is a new issue for me. I've rarely had a low at work. I am beginning to think it's not the new schedule, but the residual effect of exercise.

I don't eat the healthiest breakfast, but I do eat the prescribed number of carbs and take the proper amount of fast-acting insulin to cover. I have already cut my lantus back four units a day. I'm thinking of cutting back another four.

While none of us would want to be diabetic, I do find it a great motivator that I can prick my finger and get an objective measure of my workout. If you ever doubt that the exercise you are doing is helping you, test your blood sugar before and after. My blood sugars drop significantly during a workout unless I take on carbs while I am exercising.

For me it's almost as good as insulin.

More Exercise = Less Depression

The Archives of Internal Medicine says researchers analyzing 90 studies involving more than 10,000 depressed people with chronic illness found participants who were part of an exercise program became 22 percent less overall.

I can see why. Since I began cycling 30 to 50 miles and working out at the gym a few times each week I find a number of benefits, and increased health is just one of them. I am more relaxed and have not had a full-blown panic attack since I don't know when. Nothing seems to get me down.

I also have tons of energy. My typical day includes working a four hour shift as a CNA (not easy work), getting in a workout, going to class or studying, and spending time with my family. I would have been able to do none of this before starting to exercise regularly. My wife would tell you that it means I'm more likely to take the trash, do the dishes or a few loads of laundry (okay, the dishes part might be a lie).

I am ready to go when the alarm clock goes off at 5:30. Six hours seems to be plenty of sleep and I rarely need to nap during the day any more.

Weight update

Since starting at the gym about six weeks ago I've lost seven pounds. I'd say I've lost even more fat and built up some muscle. At my weight, seven pounds should not be noticable, but I've had a few people tell me it looks like I have lost weight. They are probably being nice, but I'll take it. More importantly, I feel better. They probably think I've lost weight because I am standing a bit taller.

A few more observations about this topic:

• It's a marathon, not a sprint. I'm losing about one pound a week, which doesn't seem like a lot, but that's 52 pounds a year. Think about the opposite of that.
• Changing one's lifestyle is the key. I have developed the habit of going to the gym or going out on the bike. I do it without thinking or prodding myself.

An area where I still need work is nutrition. I am a big believer in baby steps. So many people fail when they make New Year's Resolutions because it's just too much change at once. The things that make you successful are walking the dog on Tuesday mornings or going for an afternoon run. Then do it again. Then again.

Tweed Ride

Saturday I rode with the group that does the regular Saturday morning Clocktower Ride from downtown Overland Park. It was my first ride with this group and they are a lot of fun. They seem to be an easy-going diverse group of people who just enjoy riding. They do what one of the organizers calls "a touring pace." Perfect for me.

We rode down to a grocery store downtown then on to the annual Tweed Ride over in the historic Northeast section of Kansas City, Mo. There were lots of cool bikes - old and new - and it was prime for people watching. I would love to put together a cool little fixie and find some tweed knickers to wear for next year's event.

Here are some photos.

A milestone

Today I filled the Moleskine journal I keep of my rides and other notes. This paper journal was the basis for this blog. I started it June 22, 2011. I had ridden a few times on my Electra Townie one-speed before I thought to start keeping the journal, but I was basically just starting to ride again.

• First Entry: 3.6 miles in 22 minutes - all flat bike path. I was gassed after that ride, man. I could barely hang the bike on the back of my car and had to hold on to the car as I walked back to the driver's door.
• Last Entry: 17.13 miles in 1 hour 19 minutes - a mix of hills and flat on side streets, main roads and bike path. I got off the bike 20 minutes ago and am fully recovered. I could have done another 17 miles. This is on top of an eight hour CNA shift yesterday evening and a four-hour shift this morning.

Since I took up cycling, I have:

• Lost an additional 10 pounds. This might not seem like a lot, but remember when I first started cycling I was still gaining back weight after my illness. I was flat on my back for four months before this. There is more to that ten pounds, too, I have added muscle to my legs and arms and lost fat around my midsection.
• I sold my one-speed town bike and bought a true road bike. I'll never regret buying a bike with drop handlebars.
• I have developed a healthy habit - cycling - that effects my sense of well being in all aspects of my life. I could not do the job I do and balance school and home life if I was not putting miles on that bike.
• I have stopped having debilitating panic attacks. I would get panic attacks so bad I would have to pull over the car and calm myself down. I could not drive on the freeway. Now, I might have a bit of nervousness in a stressful situation, but I can't remember the last time I had a full blown panic attack.
• I have lowered my A1C level (the long-germ gauge of blood sugar control) and as of yet have no complications from my diabetes.
• In fact, I'm healthier than I have been in a long, long time - probably since collage.
• I can get down on the floor and play with my children, kick around a soccer ball with my son and have the energy to read read a bedtime story at the end of the day.
• I have joined a gym. I have a lot of work to do - a long way to go - and working out off the bike and combining it with proper nutrition is going to be a key for me going forward.
• I'm starting a running program this week. No, I have no desire to run a marathon, but I'm planning on doing a 5K and using running to increase my endurance for cycling.
• I'm thinking about doing a triathlon. Sounds crazy right? A sprint triathlon is about 500 yards of swimming, 16 miles of riding and 3.1 miles of running. When the trainer at the gym told me I should think about doing one, I laughed at her. "It's not the Ironman," she said. I thought about it, and I agree. It's a long-term goal, but I want to do one to say I did it.
• I am serving as Team Red captain for the American Diabetes Association Kansas City Tour de Cure. As of this writing, we are the top team, having raised more than $1,500.

I have changed my life - I have a new lifestyle that revolves around family, work, school and cycling.

All of this because I made the decision to get on the bike.

Training Ride Rainout

Amy and I were excited for today, which was scheduled to be the first Tour de Cure training ride at Epic Cycle in Parkville. Well, it didn't quite workout that way.

The guys at Epic Cycle called the ride about 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. They had been out that morning on their regular Saturday morning ride and the streets were pretty slippery. More rain was forecast and from the looks of it the weatherman was right.

On the way back, we drove around the downtown airport and were just considering getting out and taking a lap when the rain began in earnest.

Well, at least we got out of bed.

A Cyclist Can Own A Ferrari F1 Car

When people ask me why I enjoy cycling, one of the things I usually finish with is: "And I will never be able to drive a Formula One car, but I can own the bicycle equivalent."

It is possible to go down to the local bike shop and buy the exact bike that wins the Tour de France. And the cost would be south of $10,000. That's less than most Harley-Davidson motorcycles. You can usually even buy one in the team colors of the winning racer.

As I've stated before, I'm a big fan of Specialized's race bikes. The Tarmac SL4 is the latest things, and a S-Works SL4 with the SRAM Red setup most racers prefer costs around $8k.

I ran across this article on Peloton Magazine's Web site. The writer was given the chance to ride one of Tour of Flanders winner Tom Boonen's S-Works SL4 bikes in full race trim. What an experience.

Peloton

Making small changes

Joe Friel in The Cyclist's Training Bible makes a good point about incorporating small lifestyle changes in order to create a long-term improvement.

"Balance can be hard to achieve, but remolding daily activities by 10 percent in the direction of better cycling doesn't take much and can bring noticeable improvement," he writes.

You could substitute "cycling" with just about anything. So many people fail at good health because they try to make too many changes at once. We've all done it. That's why I don't make New Year's resolutions. You get off plan the middle of the first week and those big promises are soon forgotten.

I've been able to improve my health by making a simple change. I started cycling a few days a week. Eventually I got to the point that I was itching to ride and that grew month-by-month into 40 to 50 miles a week.

Recently I joined a gym and started adding regular workouts to my routine. I'm not there yet, but going to the gym is becoming a habit.

My next hurdle is nutrition. I've begun to at least think about eating the right things. I limit my carbs because of my diabetes, but one quickly learns how to cheat. After all, bacon has zero carbs.

The nutrition component will probably be the hardest for me.

The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook

I picked up a pretty good book called "The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook" by Sheri R. Colberg. This is a very thorough treatment of the subject and has specific chapters on type of activity. For example, the book covers running, swimming and cycling in the Endurance Sports chapter.

Most sports have a few diabetic athletes at the highest level. Cycling is certainly no exception. It's safe and beneficial to participate in these sports as a diabetic, but there are a lot of pitfalls to avoid and a lot of techniques one can employ to optimize performance. These endurance sports are ones that diabetics must be particularly attuned to their body's needs.

As diabetes becomes more prevalent in our society we'll become accustomed to seeing just what diabetics can accomplish. For example, the United States is one of the few countries that allow diabetics to obtain pilots licenses. Think about that for a second. Those who make the rules for the most highly-regulated sporting activity one can participate in understand the ability to manage this disease safely. Charlie Kimball races in IndyCar as a Type 1 diabetic. The possibilities are endless.

The book also does a good job of answering questions about the disease and how it effects the body. It is money well spent.

Tour of Flanders 2012 - Last 1km

Tour Of Flanders 2012 Crash Langeveld Ronde van Vlaanderen

fabian cancellara falls in Tour of Flanders 2012

Video: Flanders analysis; Boonen thought for certain someone else would win

This is a nice Tour of Flanders recap. I'm trying to find good video of the two big crashes. Omega Pharma Quickstep is going to be the team to beat this season.

Video: Flanders analysis; Boonen thought for certain someone else would win

Leipheimer: ‘I could be dead, for sure’

It was a bad weekend for cyclists over in Europe. My favorite rider got creamed and he wasn't even racing at the time. And, after reading this article I hope I never have to go the hospital in Spain. I hope Leipheimer can make it out to next month's Tour of California.

Leipheimer: ‘I could be dead, for sure’

My own pave

They call Paris-Roubaix "The Hell of The North," but watching the Tour of Flanders this weekend, the Belgian race seems pretty Hellish too. It's because of the pave, of course, those ancient cobblestone country roads that tear your backside and wrists apart when dry and is slick as ice when wet.

I've stated before that I enjoy riding our county's bike and hike trail system. There is a lot to like. You don't have to watch out for traffic, though a mother with a stroller can easily ruin your day. The trails follow streams so they are flat, wooded and cool on warm days. Like most cities west of the Mississippi, ours is laid out on a grid system, but the streamways don't follow this pattern, thus effectively shortening the distance between many points A and points B.

There are a few things I don't particularly enjoy. Indignant walkers is one of them. Hey, I give warning with my girly little bell and I tolerate you, so you can tolerate me. I also feel a bit silly on my road bike among the flat-bar comfort bikes that many people seem favor. If there are two things I don't understand about the bike and hike path they would be one - why do people think hybrid and comfort bikes are more comfortable - and two - why would anyone run more than enough miles to train for a sprint triathlon? Of course I used to wonder what would possess someone to run more than a mile, so I'm educating myself on this.

Another thing I'm coming to appreciate more is the pavement - the pave. Bike paths are not roads. Sure, you might find a stretch of concrete slab that's smooth as silk, but for the most part the bike path consists of ancient asphalt laid down many moons ago and promptly forgotten. It is riddled with potholes, just plain falling apart in places and can somehow be moist enough, long enough, to grow moss in a drought. In the fall it's covered with leaves that hide baseball-sized seed pods that fall off of God knows what kind of tree. Parts of the path are riddled with the leavings of Canada goose, which can be quite slick, let me tell you. Many of the paths are old enough that they were engineered in an era when they were an afterthought - namely when you come to an overpass you must climb a hill as steep as any staircase, then just as you are feeling good about yourself for selecting the right gear so as to not have to put a foot down on the climb, you must descend a similar staircase and then make a hairpin turn at the bottom. The newer ones are wider, flatter and every so often have pre-fab (albeit nice) bridges that never seem to exactly meet the pathway quite right at either end.

Into this environment you are introducing a road bike that has 23mm tires and, because it was designed to go, not stop, brakes that stop your bike about as well as you can stop your car by opening the door and dragging your foot on the pavement.

It is a recipe for disaster. It is also a recipe for fun. Today I figured that's exactly why I like the bike path so much: It makes me a better rider. I have learned to navigate those hairpin turns, find the right gear and climb those steep hills and avoid cell-phone-talking moms pushing twins in a stroller down the center of the path. I've also learned how to be comfortable after long periods in the saddle of an otherwise uncomfortable contraption. I've learned not to hold the bars in a deathgrip. I've learned to lift out of the saddle just enough to absorb the particularly bumpy bits. I've also learned how to place my hands in several different positions so as to not fatigue my wrists and forearms.

It's fun to go fast, but you have to remember that it can also be fun to go not so fast.

What it takes to lose one pound a week

I read somewhere that 3,500 calories make up a pound.

I've been most successful at losing weight when I concentrate on losing just one or two pounds a week instead of trying to lose a lot of weight quickly, which just leads to yo-yo-ing.

At my weight I burn about 1,000 calories an hour cycling at my pace. So, all else being equal, I need to ride 3.5 hours a week to lose one pound. That's about 50 miles a week.

Anyway, here's a good calculator for calories burned according to activity. Click here.