F
Fast Eddie
Hi all
Again it's been a while since I posted, but I thought I needed to get on and give a trip report for my charity ride on Aug. 2&3.
I had my ascending aortic aneurysm fixed in May of 2007, and at that time my surgeon implanted an On-X valve in the aortic position.
Now, in Massachusetts, there is a BIG charity ride that happens the first weekend in August, and has done so for the past 29 years. I had done the ride five times previously. There are several routes, but I always do the ride that begins in Wellesley, MA and ends either in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod or ends back in Wellesly. So the ride for me is a two day ride that covers between 150 and 165 miles (give or take) over the two days.
I was in fact signed up to do the ride in August of 2007, even though my cardiologist was not happy about it. As events turned out I could not do the ride as my cousin's 34 year old dauughter succumbed to adrenal gland cancer and we went to Pittsburgh that weekend for the memorial service.
So I was determined to do the ride this year for her and all the others our family have lost to cancer.
So the ride just happened this last weekend.
I have to say that I have never felt better at the fininsh of this ride than I did this time around. Before my surgery the doc said that this would make a difference even though I had told him that I had never had any symptoms that indicated I had an aneurysm or any aortic insufficiency.
But after this weekend I guess I believe him!
Now this is not a REAL hilly ride. It's sure not like cycling in the mountains. But doing back to back 80 mile rides is still a bit challenging, and at 62 years of age it's even MORE challenging.
But I found the miles whizzing on by. The hills that we did encounter seemed largely effortless. And Cape Cod is NOT flat. While there are no long climbs, out in the dunes near Provincetown there are a lot of rolling hills.
I found them to be no problem whatsoever.
The only REAL problem on the weekend was on Saturday in the town of Bourne where all two day riders spent the night. We got in at 2 PM and went to the main tent to start chowing down. Now this tent is HUGE! Considering that 5400 people rode in this event it HAD to be big.
About 5 PM a really nasty thunderstorm arrived. The wind was so strong that it literally lifted the top of the tent enough that several of the large poles supporting it came loose and fell over, slightly injuring one rider. The police came and told us all to evacuate the tent. They eventually shut down about one half of the space. But the fantastic volunteers kept on cooking for the riders that were still coming in.
When we got back to our tent site, the good news was that the tent was still there! The bad news was that we had left the flap open, the rain fly was gone and my bug was open. So the evening was damp, to say the least.
I slept about 2 hours that Saturday night. Reville sounded at 4:15 AM. And we were then off again on the second 80 mile segment.
So all in all it was an adventure!
Me and my On-X came through in fine style.
Now I have to think about doing it again next year which is the 30th anniversary of the Pan Mass Challenge ride.
Check out the web site: www.pmc.org for more info on this great charity.
And my thanks to the On-X folks for their great product. And to my surgeon, Dr Ralph de la Torre for doing such a good job on me.
Again it's been a while since I posted, but I thought I needed to get on and give a trip report for my charity ride on Aug. 2&3.
I had my ascending aortic aneurysm fixed in May of 2007, and at that time my surgeon implanted an On-X valve in the aortic position.
Now, in Massachusetts, there is a BIG charity ride that happens the first weekend in August, and has done so for the past 29 years. I had done the ride five times previously. There are several routes, but I always do the ride that begins in Wellesley, MA and ends either in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod or ends back in Wellesly. So the ride for me is a two day ride that covers between 150 and 165 miles (give or take) over the two days.
I was in fact signed up to do the ride in August of 2007, even though my cardiologist was not happy about it. As events turned out I could not do the ride as my cousin's 34 year old dauughter succumbed to adrenal gland cancer and we went to Pittsburgh that weekend for the memorial service.
So I was determined to do the ride this year for her and all the others our family have lost to cancer.
So the ride just happened this last weekend.
I have to say that I have never felt better at the fininsh of this ride than I did this time around. Before my surgery the doc said that this would make a difference even though I had told him that I had never had any symptoms that indicated I had an aneurysm or any aortic insufficiency.
But after this weekend I guess I believe him!
Now this is not a REAL hilly ride. It's sure not like cycling in the mountains. But doing back to back 80 mile rides is still a bit challenging, and at 62 years of age it's even MORE challenging.
But I found the miles whizzing on by. The hills that we did encounter seemed largely effortless. And Cape Cod is NOT flat. While there are no long climbs, out in the dunes near Provincetown there are a lot of rolling hills.
I found them to be no problem whatsoever.
The only REAL problem on the weekend was on Saturday in the town of Bourne where all two day riders spent the night. We got in at 2 PM and went to the main tent to start chowing down. Now this tent is HUGE! Considering that 5400 people rode in this event it HAD to be big.
About 5 PM a really nasty thunderstorm arrived. The wind was so strong that it literally lifted the top of the tent enough that several of the large poles supporting it came loose and fell over, slightly injuring one rider. The police came and told us all to evacuate the tent. They eventually shut down about one half of the space. But the fantastic volunteers kept on cooking for the riders that were still coming in.
When we got back to our tent site, the good news was that the tent was still there! The bad news was that we had left the flap open, the rain fly was gone and my bug was open. So the evening was damp, to say the least.
I slept about 2 hours that Saturday night. Reville sounded at 4:15 AM. And we were then off again on the second 80 mile segment.
So all in all it was an adventure!
Me and my On-X came through in fine style.
Now I have to think about doing it again next year which is the 30th anniversary of the Pan Mass Challenge ride.
Check out the web site: www.pmc.org for more info on this great charity.
And my thanks to the On-X folks for their great product. And to my surgeon, Dr Ralph de la Torre for doing such a good job on me.
