Racing
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My racing days are probably permanently behind me.
The illnesses beginning in 2017 have left me in an unhealthy state of post-viral syndrome, ME/CFS, and Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
The condition began after the Flu at the end of 2017, where the fever and nasal congestion dissipated, but the other debilitating effects never fully subsided.
2020: Although I continued to ride almost every day, I could never improve my fitness; my only goal was to try to hold on to whatever was left.
Rides got shorter and slower.
My lungs were at about 50% at best of what I had just a few years ago; I even got out of breath just getting my cycling clothing on before I rode.
Most days I struggled with just basic strength, sometimes taking all my strength just to stand up from a toilet seat.
My concentration was severely impacted and short term memory was a slippery slope that lasted for less than a minute for most tasks.
After several years of struggling, I had to concede that this was my new normal and my athletic career is over.
I have seen many reports with similar long lasting conditions from Covid-19 survivors.
Even if you don't die from it, your life may never be the same, especially if you have any athletic endeavors.
Do your best to avoid ever catching the virus.
I have many of the same long term effects as Covid-19 survivors long-haulers.
April of 2021 was my lowest point of physical capability.
Walking up stairs was extremely slow, with a lack of balance and lack of strength making it barely possible.
Muscular strength overall felt below 50% of what a normal person should have.
Brain fog, short term memory loss, inability to concentrate, needing lots of naps, became the norm.
I continued to ride the bike for about half an hour a day, but some days I could barely manage 12 mph and a few times wondered if I would make it home.
It was impossible to make improvements and riding was a required struggle rather than something to look forward to.
Weight workouts would result in pain lasting days, even with somewhat small loads due to weakness and pain in my hands to hold the dumb bells,
so not many workouts were performed.
My back was so stiff and had so much pain, I could not easily put socks on and had to buy a shoehorn to get shoes on.
I considered installing a wall handle to help me get out of bed due to lack of strength to easily raise myself.
I moved at the speed of an 80 year old around the house.
Starting in January of 2022, I made a concerted effort to lose some of the weight I had gained over the last 4 years of reduced activity.
I had been keeping a journal of anything that could impact my health and many days my lungs were maxed out just riding at an average of only 13 mph.
By mid-March I could get some days in at 15 mph and my lungs were only 50% between normal and maxed.
Then all of a sudden beginning on April 2, my lungs were no longer a problem and the limiter became the strength of my legs.
I was able to do my half hour rides without a concern of making it home, but kept the low gear (48x22) and could occasionally average over 16 mph on a ride.
I started doing some bigger gear workouts in October.
But that didn't last long and in 2023 I'm basically at the same point as most of 2022, even though I train every day, feeling like I'm firing 4 out of 8 cylinders.
2019 Schedule and Results
AZ only had 9 days of crit racing for the year.
As I slowly tried to get more training in for the 2019 season, I caught a cold from a home show in early January and was once again side lined.
Knowing I was not very fit, I tried one race in February and the lungs gave out completely before we were half way into the race at a moderate pace and I was forced to abandon.
The last crit in AZ for the season was mid-April and I had started to feel a little more normal, so I gave it a try;
however with only one other competitor in my class, I was out of breath 3 minutes into the race, dropped at 4 minutes and lapped twice before finishing.
Training continued to be a constant struggle rather than a joy, though I rode every day.
2018 Schedule and Results
AZ only had 8 days of Masters crit racing for the year, a drastic reduction.
Unfortunately, my health took a down turn after having the flu over Christmas in 2017 and continued to decline during all of the AZ season;
I was getting weaker everywhere, lacking concentration, loss of balance, and needing lots of naps.
In April I had blood tests done, with nothing irregular coming up and the doctors could only suggest more tests.
On May 1 I started a program of Azithromycin to see if that would clear things up.
By early June I no longer felt like I only had a month to live, but with about half a year of no intensity training, it would take a while to get back to racing shape;
after 3 months more, I had not been able to make any improvements and felt like my racing days may be over.
Finally in late October, I tried another round of Azithromycin and soon felt better than I had in almost a year.
I started getting some strength back, but right after a Thanksgiving get-together, I caught another cold and was back to feeling miserable for a long time.
2017 Results
The National Championships for Criterium and Track, along with the Masters World Track Championships in California at the end of the year were to be the big goals.
The normal early season Criteriums start the season and I hoped to get to more California races.
After getting sick in March the previous season and missing full fitness until the fall of 2016, I was lucky to have one event in the fall to attend (and win).
I was eager to get some racing in again, with the first planned race of the 2017 season to be on January 22.
As luck would have it, on Sunday January 15th, I tripped and fell on my left side, bruising my left ribs where my 2010 injury was.
I couldn't get low on my bike, every bump created pain like getting stabbed, and I skipped half the days of the first week off of the trainer in hopes that the bruising below the rib might heal faster.
So I missed most of the Arizona racing season and impaired my fitness as well.
I tried the 2017 State Criterium championships on 2/12, but could only watch the riders pull away in the sprint, totally lacking the ability to apply maximum power.
As of mid-March, I still could not do any out-of-the-saddle intensity efforts.
At the end of March I was off the bike for four days while in Minnesota, attending my mother's funeral.
I returned home with a sinus infection which lasted several weeks.
So the first three months of the season were spent on forced medical leave, with only easy riding.
The National Criterium Championships were in early June and I booked flights and registered for the event in hopes that I would be adequately fit to be competitive.
A week before the event I got sick again, with the peak of the illness on 6/4, the day of the Nationals.
Thus I did not go to the event and spent the day sleeping and clearing my sinuses.
I would not be recovered adequately to contest the Track Nationals a month later, so that was also abandoned.
I was starting to return to normal while racing mid-August on the track in MN, so I upgraded my license and paid my entry for the Masters Worlds for mid-October (only early pre-registrations accepted).
As luck would have it, I got a sinus infection (third time sick for the year, whereas I typically never get sick) two and a half weeks before my event.
With one week to go, I could not even complete an easy training ride, so at Worlds I was wheezing after we got ramped up and dropped out after 14 of the 40 laps.
I then got sick for the 4th time of the year on 12/23 with the flu, which will impact the short 2 month 2018 season in AZ starting 4 weeks later.
Although I got diagnosed immediately and took Tamiflu, I was wiped out and congested for 2 weeks.
2016 Results
The Criterium National Championships were scheduled for May for 2016, rather than September.
Since AZ has most of it's season finished before this and the rest of the country is just climbing out of bed,
the scheduling would have been in my favor.
However, illness in March put a crimp in my spring fitness and I felt I would not be able to win.
Although up to that point I felt I was at my strongest, there were no more wins after the illness for the rest of the season.
This year the Track Nationals would be the final year before Kurt Sato moves into my age group and takes the spoils.
Unfortunately I would not be in top form after the decline due to the illness and decided it would not be worth the expense to get frustrated.
I decided not to contest the AZ Copper Cup this year.
In 2015 they drastically changed the rules, giving as many points to a one entry time trial as a hotly contested large criterium,
eliminating points from multiple races on the same day,
eliminating points from track results,
and never consistently applying their new points format.
It was just too frustrating and confining, so by ignoring it I could race the races I wanted to without prejudice.
After the state championships I joined a club that would allow me to get to more races in California.
Continued illness cut out a bunch, but I was able to attend a couple, but not feeling at my best.
I caught a lucky break with the National Track Championships getting rained out in the summer and a makeup event in November dove tailed well with my travels and fitness, winning my first individual Nationals in the Points race.
2015 Results
There were fewer criteriums in AZ this year compared to last year (12 instead of 18).
Copper Cup rules got decimated, where not only would I have fewer races to get points in,
but they eliminated points from multiple races on the same day,
eliminated double points for state championships,
eliminated points from track races,
and gave the same points to the winner of a small race (e.g. one entry) as a large, competitive race.
Thus, the best way to win the Copper Cup in 2015 would be to just go to lots of races, especially time trials where only a handful of racers enter.
Although I led substantially at the beginning of the season, with 11 wins (only 8 going towards CC points), I was surpassed by a rider with the majority of his points in 11 time trials, none of which he won.
If I were motivated to win the Copper Cup, I only would have needed to enter one more time trial on a beach cruiser and sneakers to take the victory; but I don't enjoy time trials and race for fun.
The primary goal was for wins at the Nationals in both Track and Criterium.
I came close at Track again, with 3 second places and a third, but no National Championship.
I did not have the funds to attend the National Criterium Championships, although I would have been a favorite.
I joined a new club, Arizona Faster Cycling Club, so I was dressed a little differently than my usual solid black.
Even though the club had some substantial funding, all that did was provide us with free uniforms.
I was promised some support for going to out of state races, but that never materialized.
2014 Results
I focused on Criteriums in the early part of the season and then on Track races, hoping to win a National Championship at Marymoor in Washington state in August.
I had the chance to win 4 individual National track events and the National Criterium championships, but was unsuccessful at all attempts.
I won the Arizona Bicycle Racing Association "Copper Cup" series for the Masters 60-64 category.
2013 Results
The goal was to do well in Criteriums and Track races, similar to last year.
The season started off with 10 wins in the first 3 months and I won the Arizona Bicycle Racing Association "Copper Cup" series for the Masters 55-59 category.
2012 Results
Another crash in December slowed down my expectations for a fit start in January.
I was back in the U.S. and living in Phoenix, so the usual criteriums were available in the early half of the year.
I had a fairly successful criterium campaign, taking the Arizona Bicycle Racing Association "Copper Cup" series for the Masters 55-59 category.
I won the State Criterium Championship and all the State Track races in my category.
I went to all three AZ track events in Encino CA, but a lack of finances prevented attending any other out of state or country events.
2011 Results
This year was a whole new learning experience, with the goal to be able to race again.
My fitness declined after the March 2010 accident with a car, continued to be disrupted by a move to Canada, and further deteriorated by a totally different winter environment to adapt to.
I started the year feeling like I was starting over.
Nothing was working right, no strength in the legs, a lack of solid winter training severely crippled my endurance, and the lingering injury always throws itself in the way.
Living on Vancouver Island in Canada made velodrome racing geographically challenging, even if I could get fit enough to warrant the effort.
Thus there were no major goals going into the year and hoped to achieve enough fitness to race and thus keep the motivation to keep in shape.
Racing in BC begins in April.
Boxwood course, Nanaimo, BC
2010 Results
I switched my focus to trying to improve my 500 meter TT and the top end of my sprint.
I made some positional changes with my bike and have a weekly training partner, Rick Giordano, who helped me push my limits.
The ultimate goal was to compete at the Masters World Track Championships in Portugal in October, if finances, time, and fitness provided the opportunity.
Unfortunately a training crash with a car in early March created injuries that persisted for the remainder of the year.
Those injuries and a move to Canada in the middle of the summer terminated the season prematurely.
2009 Results
I joined an Arizona club this season: Strada Racing based in Scottsdale.
They have many novice members that are eager to improve and I was looking forward to working with them; unfortunately politics prevented that.
I was in good shape at the beginning of the season, hoping to have success in the early Criterium season in AZ.
The summer saw some Track racing, at Blaine MN in the early and late part of the Season and the State Championships at the beginning of August in San Diego.
2008 Results
The year was interrupted by a house purchase in Casa Grande, AZ.
I had planned on a slow build up, hitting the early criterium races and then peak for the Master's Track Nationals in San Jose in September,
with some time in Blaine during the summer at their wonderful velodrome.
Unfortunately April brought a strange soreness to my legs that I couldn't shake until fall, so the middle of the season was shot.
I did get to ride Blaine a couple of times, but it was embarrassing.
2007 Results
This year I planned on doing more track riding, spending a good part of the summer racing on the 250 m wood track in Blaine Minnesota.
The primary goal was the Masters National Track Championships in Trexlertown Pennsylvania at the end of August.
I did lots of criteriums as well.
2006 Results
This year I had planned on doing more track riding, with a major goal at the Master's National Championships in Colorado Springs, CO in August.
I did lots of criteriums as well, but shied away from other races that wouldn't steer me towards track fitness.
Due to some weight training, my upper body was in the best shape of my life.
2005 Results
Just prior to the 2005 season I felt stronger than ever. However two colds at Christmas and then just after New Year's reduced my fitness and I need to build it back again as well as rid myself of the congestion still lingering in my lungs.
Goals this year were to move up to Category 3 (a requirement to ride in the Nationals Masters championship mass start races) in both the road and track.
2004 Results
2004 was used as a feeler to see if I could get my legs, heart, and lungs back. Getting a new bike helped a lot and I had some success in the Masters categories.
2004 Colossal Cave road race, First place.
2004 Washington State Championships, Omnium stage race.
2003
I considered racing in 2003, but the broken collar bone in October of 2002 (where a dog knocked me down while riding) and a hernia surgery in late March of 2003, put some brakes on my development.
On the plus side, I've lost 40 pounds in less than a year and my resting heart rate is in the low 40's and a maximum heart rate in the 190's.
After a good foundation of miles in 2003, I began racing in 2004 and was able to feel competitive, but not yet at my full potential.
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