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Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
As an aside, I post my miles on bikejournal.com under the tag "pugotis". I am in a local biking club and many of our members also post their miles. It is a fun way to keep track of how your biking friends and associates are doing and adds a little competitive spirit.
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Ron Harvot - Name: Ron Harvot
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2009
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Just got caught up on the thread. I ride with a Garmin 510 that syncs to Strava. I utilize Strava Premium and it gives me good feedback on my rides.
I am slowly building my strength and endurance through a good balance of moderate and tempo riding. I will start putting more threshold into the equation, which for me is not a problem particularly where hills are involved. Not planning any events, just wanting to get a good strong base with early season rides. The fact that we are not anywhere south and on a beach this February / March means that I can build my base earlier in the year with the extra km/miles that I normally would not be getting.
As an update, I am relapsing from my stem cell transplant in 2013. My protein numbers are where I was on diagnosis and last bone marrow biopsy shows changes. Discussed with my hematologist last week and will likely start on a Revlimid / dex treatment after next blood test in April/May. Not looking forward to it but need to keep this sucker at bay.
Keep riding and keep the rubber side down.
I am slowly building my strength and endurance through a good balance of moderate and tempo riding. I will start putting more threshold into the equation, which for me is not a problem particularly where hills are involved. Not planning any events, just wanting to get a good strong base with early season rides. The fact that we are not anywhere south and on a beach this February / March means that I can build my base earlier in the year with the extra km/miles that I normally would not be getting.
As an update, I am relapsing from my stem cell transplant in 2013. My protein numbers are where I was on diagnosis and last bone marrow biopsy shows changes. Discussed with my hematologist last week and will likely start on a Revlimid / dex treatment after next blood test in April/May. Not looking forward to it but need to keep this sucker at bay.
Keep riding and keep the rubber side down.
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Wayne W - Name: Wayne W
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 65
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Wayne,
Sorry to hear about your relapse. I hope the Revlimid / dex will push the multiple myeloma back down and keep it bay. I too am seeing a change in my condition, as my serum free light chain (sFLC) number has been on a slow rise. My oncologist is taking a minimalist approach. I have been on a Velcade shot accompanied by 8 mg of dex every two weeks. He has left the Velcade shot as is and merely increase the dex to 40 mg. I go in tomorrow and find out if that small tweak pushed the numbers back down. If not, he will also likely add back in Revlimid.
On the biking front, I am preparing for my first race to be held the first weekend of April. My partner and I do Ultra Races which are in time trial formats. This first race is on a flat 21 mile course at a location just west of Houston. I have done this race before with Aero bars on my roadbike. This year I had a time trial bike built up with some spare components I have accumulated over the years. The foundation is an older Look 576 frame. The components are a combination of DuraAce 7800 and Ultegra 6600 parts (10 speed two generations ago - early 2000s.) I am running a 53-39 crank with 11-25 cassette on it.
I did my first ride with it yesterday logging in 55 miles. The course had a few rollers so not totally flat. This is the first time I road a TT bike with the shifters way forward on the bar ends. It is different and you don't feel like you are in as much control. I will need to ride it more to get comfortable. I will likely only use this in 2 or 3 events this year so I did not want to spend a bunch of money. It does have 60 millimeter carbon wheels but I bought knock offs from China as opposed to name brand wheels which cost a small fortune. I will loan it out to other of my club members who are about my size if they need it for a triathlon or Time Trial Race.
I have a attached a picture of it.
Sorry to hear about your relapse. I hope the Revlimid / dex will push the multiple myeloma back down and keep it bay. I too am seeing a change in my condition, as my serum free light chain (sFLC) number has been on a slow rise. My oncologist is taking a minimalist approach. I have been on a Velcade shot accompanied by 8 mg of dex every two weeks. He has left the Velcade shot as is and merely increase the dex to 40 mg. I go in tomorrow and find out if that small tweak pushed the numbers back down. If not, he will also likely add back in Revlimid.
On the biking front, I am preparing for my first race to be held the first weekend of April. My partner and I do Ultra Races which are in time trial formats. This first race is on a flat 21 mile course at a location just west of Houston. I have done this race before with Aero bars on my roadbike. This year I had a time trial bike built up with some spare components I have accumulated over the years. The foundation is an older Look 576 frame. The components are a combination of DuraAce 7800 and Ultegra 6600 parts (10 speed two generations ago - early 2000s.) I am running a 53-39 crank with 11-25 cassette on it.
I did my first ride with it yesterday logging in 55 miles. The course had a few rollers so not totally flat. This is the first time I road a TT bike with the shifters way forward on the bar ends. It is different and you don't feel like you are in as much control. I will need to ride it more to get comfortable. I will likely only use this in 2 or 3 events this year so I did not want to spend a bunch of money. It does have 60 millimeter carbon wheels but I bought knock offs from China as opposed to name brand wheels which cost a small fortune. I will loan it out to other of my club members who are about my size if they need it for a triathlon or Time Trial Race.
I have a attached a picture of it.
- Time Trial Bike.JPG (101.37 KiB) Viewed 1095 times
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Ron Harvot - Name: Ron Harvot
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2009
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Ron,
Hoping your tests come out on good side.
Quite a stealthy ride ... very nice. TT bikes are notoriously twitchy and difficult to control in corners, so please be careful out on the road.
Hoping your tests come out on good side.
Quite a stealthy ride ... very nice. TT bikes are notoriously twitchy and difficult to control in corners, so please be careful out on the road.
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goldmine848 - Name: Andrew
- When were you/they diagnosed?: June 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Race report:
This past Saturday a teammate of mine, also with the first name of Ron, and I did the Bessie's Creek 12 hour 2 man team Ultra Race. We did this race last year and this time, wanted to better our times and take the first step to winning the Texas Ultra Cup Challenge. The race started at 7:00 am. It was located in Brookshire, treatment, about 40 miles SE of Houston. The race was on a 21.3 mile course that generally is flat but was impacted by winds coming off the Gulf of Mexico. I used my Time Trial (TT) bike for the first time. I am happy to report that we won our category and did better than last year. In fact, I did about 1 mph better than a year ago, with an 18.3 mph avg. over the 5 plus laps. My best split was 1:06 min at an avg. speed of 19.57 mph. We covered a total of 225 miles as a team at an overall avg. speed of 18.75 mph. There was a stiff 20 mph wind out of the SE that made the first 8 1/2 miles tough. With the TT bike I was able to get low and plow through that section much more efficiently than I could have on my road bike.
We have our second race at the end of April. That one is called the Texas Ultra Spirit. It is on an 18.9 mile course that is more hilly, so I will leave the time trial bike at home. That race follows a similar format and is also for 12 hours. I will be doing mostly hill climbing rides the next couple of weeks to get prepared.
This past Saturday a teammate of mine, also with the first name of Ron, and I did the Bessie's Creek 12 hour 2 man team Ultra Race. We did this race last year and this time, wanted to better our times and take the first step to winning the Texas Ultra Cup Challenge. The race started at 7:00 am. It was located in Brookshire, treatment, about 40 miles SE of Houston. The race was on a 21.3 mile course that generally is flat but was impacted by winds coming off the Gulf of Mexico. I used my Time Trial (TT) bike for the first time. I am happy to report that we won our category and did better than last year. In fact, I did about 1 mph better than a year ago, with an 18.3 mph avg. over the 5 plus laps. My best split was 1:06 min at an avg. speed of 19.57 mph. We covered a total of 225 miles as a team at an overall avg. speed of 18.75 mph. There was a stiff 20 mph wind out of the SE that made the first 8 1/2 miles tough. With the TT bike I was able to get low and plow through that section much more efficiently than I could have on my road bike.
We have our second race at the end of April. That one is called the Texas Ultra Spirit. It is on an 18.9 mile course that is more hilly, so I will leave the time trial bike at home. That race follows a similar format and is also for 12 hours. I will be doing mostly hill climbing rides the next couple of weeks to get prepared.
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Ron Harvot - Name: Ron Harvot
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2009
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Ron,
Impressive! Haven't heard from you in a while, so I was worried. Glad that you are in top shape and able to meet such a challenge.
Impressive! Haven't heard from you in a while, so I was worried. Glad that you are in top shape and able to meet such a challenge.
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goldmine848 - Name: Andrew
- When were you/they diagnosed?: June 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Andrew,
If I recall one of your goals was to go back riding into the high hills/mountains of Pennsylvania. The weather in the Northeast has been a bit challenging this early spring, but wanted to know if you tried that yet?
If I recall one of your goals was to go back riding into the high hills/mountains of Pennsylvania. The weather in the Northeast has been a bit challenging this early spring, but wanted to know if you tried that yet?
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Ron Harvot - Name: Ron Harvot
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2009
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Ron,
Not yet. It's a bit early in season for that, especially since they all are pretty long rides – in the 80 mile + range. I am only up to about 65 at a crack now. But thanks for reminding me of that goal that I have been trying to forget.
Not yet. It's a bit early in season for that, especially since they all are pretty long rides – in the 80 mile + range. I am only up to about 65 at a crack now. But thanks for reminding me of that goal that I have been trying to forget.
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goldmine848 - Name: Andrew
- When were you/they diagnosed?: June 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Way to go, Ron!
And good for you, Andrew! 65 miles this time of the season in the Northeast is nothing to sneeze at.
On the running front, I ran my 1st 5K race of the season on March 20 and surprised myself by running 1 minute faster than my best 5K last year. My next race will be a 5K on April 23.
Keep on trucking!
Mike
And good for you, Andrew! 65 miles this time of the season in the Northeast is nothing to sneeze at.
On the running front, I ran my 1st 5K race of the season on March 20 and surprised myself by running 1 minute faster than my best 5K last year. My next race will be a 5K on April 23.
Keep on trucking!
Mike
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mikeb - Name: mikeb
- Who do you know with myeloma?: self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2009 (MGUS at that time)
- Age at diagnosis: 55
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Wow, Mike that is great. Ever think about trying a Sprint Tri? I think it has about a 500m swim, 20k bike ride, and a 5k run.
I have a bad right knee (2 former knee surgeries), so running is out for me.
I have a bad right knee (2 former knee surgeries), so running is out for me.
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Ron Harvot - Name: Ron Harvot
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2009
- Age at diagnosis: 56