Hi Van,
I did a 40 mile ride on Saturday and that put me at 4,100 for the year. That is down from 4,800 a year ago but I was happy with the results. This past year I raced in the Texas Senior Olympics, did the MS 150, Muenster Bike Rally 100k and competed in the Texas Time Trials. The later was the highight for me as my team finshed first in a 24 hour race. The Texas Time Trials are held on a 26.5 mile course and you ride around the clock. We did that the last weekend in September and it was held in Glen Rose, Texas about a 2 hour drive southwest of Dallas. (north end of the Texas hill country.) It rained that entire weekend so racing at night in the rain when the temps were in the Mid 50s and being sleep deprived was a challenge. It was also great fun. My team (3 if us) completed 318 miles (each of us doing 4 laps or106 miles) in about 20 1/2 hours. I was ready, if needed to do a 5th lap as I was the leadoff rider on the team. Fortunetly we did not need to as the team we were competing against was far enough behind. I averaged about 15.8 mph for the 106 miles. It was a hilly course.
A week after the race, I joined a group from my bike club (13 in all) and traveled to Belgium. We went to Ghent, Bugge, Antwerp and Brussels and stayed a total of 10 days. While we were there we road on some of the same roads taken by the racers who do the annual Tour of Flanders. We also road to the North Sea and passed briefly into the Netherlands. This was done on rented "commuter bikes" that we took out into the country. Most of trip we just walked and I bet we put in 70 miles of walking while we were there.
I did all of that after recovering from a bout of menengitis in which I was hospitalized for 4 days in early July. I bounced back fairly quickly as you can tell.
This year my goal is 5,000 miles, weather and health permitting.
Ron
Forums
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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
Hi,
Its great to hear of more fellows "myelomers" who find bike riding as a source of joy and comfort.
I'm myself a Myeloma warrior and an avid road cyclist for the past five years. I think that biking, especially through and during my treatments periods gave me so much, both physically and mentally and I hope to be able to ride as much a possible along the road. Few weeks ago I did 180Km charity ride and next July I plan to join my cycling club for a trip to the Pyrénées in conjunction with the 2013 TDF.
Life can be good
Happy New Year,
Shay
Its great to hear of more fellows "myelomers" who find bike riding as a source of joy and comfort.
I'm myself a Myeloma warrior and an avid road cyclist for the past five years. I think that biking, especially through and during my treatments periods gave me so much, both physically and mentally and I hope to be able to ride as much a possible along the road. Few weeks ago I did 180Km charity ride and next July I plan to join my cycling club for a trip to the Pyrénées in conjunction with the 2013 TDF.
Life can be good
Happy New Year,
Shay
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shay
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Shay,
Great to hear from you. There are quite a few that us that use biking as a way to focus on things other than this disease. We appear to be scattered around but perhaps we can all join together someplace for a ride.
Ron
Great to hear from you. There are quite a few that us that use biking as a way to focus on things other than this disease. We appear to be scattered around but perhaps we can all join together someplace for a ride.
Ron
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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
Happy New Year's everyone!! Hope that 2013 is a good year for all.
On the topic of exercising, which is not only biking, I also like to keep track of distances. I walked XXXX km last year (about 540 miles), mostly in my neighbourhood, and a lot of it with our 'grand puppy'! Just finished it off yesterday with a 3 km walk in the snowy streets, and started up again today. Since it is a holiday time, my husband walked with me too. Any other walkers out there?? (I am quite sure that there must be a lot of you too.)
On the topic of exercising, which is not only biking, I also like to keep track of distances. I walked XXXX km last year (about 540 miles), mostly in my neighbourhood, and a lot of it with our 'grand puppy'! Just finished it off yesterday with a 3 km walk in the snowy streets, and started up again today. Since it is a holiday time, my husband walked with me too. Any other walkers out there?? (I am quite sure that there must be a lot of you too.)
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Nancy Shamanna - Name: Nancy Shamanna
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Self and others too
- When were you/they diagnosed?: July 2009
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Yes, walking is my main form of exercise. I do 1 1/2 mile, trying to go up to 2 miles.
I used to be so active, after the compression fracture, my back never really let me do too much. But I'm very happy to do the little I do.
I used to be so active, after the compression fracture, my back never really let me do too much. But I'm very happy to do the little I do.
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Christina - Name: Christina
- When were you/they diagnosed?: June2005
- Age at diagnosis: 52
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Well... I was being all cocky about taking risks, and results have been less than pleasant. Did a half marathon end of Nov and first couple weeks of Dec. was doing long training runs on back to back days in prep for a back to back half Dec 21 and 22... and... seven miles into a 12 mile training run... things went very bad.
After new skeletal survey and MRI turns out have compression fractures. Was told to not run, not bike... do not go past go.... etc.
Pain had diminished to point where back to walking right before xmas (and ignored doc's for a casual pace 30 miler in the sun this past Saturday).
ASCT process begins week after next.. Meeting with neurologist day after tomorrow. Hoping that between the two, I'll be ready to join you all for a ride late this summer! As for going for a run. . . . we shall see. Have not had stellar response to induction therapy (about 50% repsonse), but doc says she can make up for it with ASCT.
Andy
After new skeletal survey and MRI turns out have compression fractures. Was told to not run, not bike... do not go past go.... etc.
Pain had diminished to point where back to walking right before xmas (and ignored doc's for a casual pace 30 miler in the sun this past Saturday).
ASCT process begins week after next.. Meeting with neurologist day after tomorrow. Hoping that between the two, I'll be ready to join you all for a ride late this summer! As for going for a run. . . . we shall see. Have not had stellar response to induction therapy (about 50% repsonse), but doc says she can make up for it with ASCT.
Andy
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Andy D - Name: Andy D
- Who do you know with myeloma?: myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 51
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
Here is an inpirational story of - marathoner Don Wright. He was diagnosed in 2003. Since then he has competed a marathon in each of the 50 states. He is now 71 years old and is currently on a trail using pomalidomide which has kept his multiple myeloma in check.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2013/01/09/human-factor-don-wright.cnn
Ron
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2013/01/09/human-factor-don-wright.cnn
Ron
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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
How is everybody doing? Do any or all of you find that Dex (which turns muscle cells into fat cells) weakens your strength on the bike? Pisses me off.
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Van
Re: Biking with multiple myeloma
An update: Goals for 2013
The main point of this topic was to set goals that are outside of our day to day struggle with multiple myeloma. My passion in biking and because of that I focus on doing things and setting goals related to that passion.
This year I dediced to compete in 4 different ultra cup team races. Ultra Cycling is long distance. It is racing but it is more about endurance than speed.
I have been training for these races since the begining of the year and have logged in just over 1,100 miles so far.
My first race is called BessiesCreek 24. I and a partner will be teaming to do a 12 hour race. There is a 21 mile loop that each of us will take alternating turns to complete trying to do as many laps as we can in 12 hours. We are shooting a total of 8-10 laps total or 4-5 each cover 84-105 miles each in the alloted time. The race is this coming Saturday and is located west of Houston. My partner Dale is a spry 70 yr old who has logged in over 1300 miles so far this year.
The second race is held in June and is called the Race in the Canyon It is held in the second largest canyon in the US located near Amarillo Texas, up in the Panhandle.
The thrid race is in July in Waco, Texas and the final is the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose, Texas in late September.
All of these follow the same concept 12 hour two man team races on looped courses.
The overall winner of all of the races will be declared the Ultra Cup Champion. There are several catagories and some of the riders will be doing solo efforts up to 48 hours. Thus the term Ultra Cycling.
All of the courses are different some are flat some very hilly so there is a wide variety. The summers in Texas are hot so these 12 hour events will push me to withstand some tough conditions.
So my overall goal is to complete all of these races, be competitive and see where I stand against others.
Keeps me training and shooting for something.
Ron
The main point of this topic was to set goals that are outside of our day to day struggle with multiple myeloma. My passion in biking and because of that I focus on doing things and setting goals related to that passion.
This year I dediced to compete in 4 different ultra cup team races. Ultra Cycling is long distance. It is racing but it is more about endurance than speed.
I have been training for these races since the begining of the year and have logged in just over 1,100 miles so far.
My first race is called BessiesCreek 24. I and a partner will be teaming to do a 12 hour race. There is a 21 mile loop that each of us will take alternating turns to complete trying to do as many laps as we can in 12 hours. We are shooting a total of 8-10 laps total or 4-5 each cover 84-105 miles each in the alloted time. The race is this coming Saturday and is located west of Houston. My partner Dale is a spry 70 yr old who has logged in over 1300 miles so far this year.
The second race is held in June and is called the Race in the Canyon It is held in the second largest canyon in the US located near Amarillo Texas, up in the Panhandle.
The thrid race is in July in Waco, Texas and the final is the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose, Texas in late September.
All of these follow the same concept 12 hour two man team races on looped courses.
The overall winner of all of the races will be declared the Ultra Cup Champion. There are several catagories and some of the riders will be doing solo efforts up to 48 hours. Thus the term Ultra Cycling.
All of the courses are different some are flat some very hilly so there is a wide variety. The summers in Texas are hot so these 12 hour events will push me to withstand some tough conditions.
So my overall goal is to complete all of these races, be competitive and see where I stand against others.
Keeps me training and shooting for something.
Ron
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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,
Good luck with your 2013 goals.
its great to be able to set goals and meet them.
I'm myself not a competitive guy but I do respect personal goals. for one it's to win a race, for another is just to be able to climb the infamous Col du-Tourmalet in the Pyrénées this summer.
Have fun, safe rides and keep us posted
Shay
Good luck with your 2013 goals.
its great to be able to set goals and meet them.
I'm myself not a competitive guy but I do respect personal goals. for one it's to win a race, for another is just to be able to climb the infamous Col du-Tourmalet in the Pyrénées this summer.
Have fun, safe rides and keep us posted
Shay
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shay