January 20, 2019, Sick Again
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ
It looks like 2019 will be another disastrous season for me regarding bicycle racing in Arizona.
One week before the first race of the very abbreviated season, I came down with an illness again, making it impossible to race the first race(s) of the season.
This will make the fourth season in a row of not being able to fully participate in my racing.
2015 was my last good season. Usually I never get sick, going for years without any problems and the occasional cold would be mild and gone within 48 hours.
This all changed on March 6, 2016. While at a Senior Olympics race, there was someone sneezing in the registration area and I apparently picked up his virus.
I was disabled for the next two months and after the AZ season, began to make a recovery and although I had to skip the regular National Track Championships, rain forced a makeup day in November which I was able to win.
One week before the first race of 2017 I tripped, falling on my ribs and bruising my abdomen, making it impossible to race for the next 6 months.
In late summer I was able to regain enough fitness to have some success in MN on the track, but caught another bug on the flight home.
Although I had registered for the World Masters Track Championships that were being held for the first time in the U.S., I had no lungs and pulled out after 14 laps gasping for air after being dropped.
Although I eventually recovered, I made another trip to MN in December and caught the flu on the flight home (fourth illness for the year).
2018 had me coming off the flu and feeling well enough to try the first race in late January.
I was able to hang in the pack, without making any grand efforts, but had no speed for the sprint and finished out of the money in 4th.
However, my fitness never improved, where I entered the next two races and was not able to finish.
Subsequent weeks and months saw no improvement.
I felt weak, moved slowly, had running sinuses, and mild headaches.
Finally at the end of May I took a course of Azithromycin and within a week was feeling half way normal.
But half way was not enough to get race ready and I slowly slipped into feeling more like I was 90 years old again.
I decided to try another shot of Azithromycin in late October and within 10 days felt normal again, a feeling I had long forgotten.
I was able begin working out with my weights again and my sprint speed finally got back over 30 mph.
I then had several months to get back into top shape for the 2019 season and was very much looking forward to being able to race again.
However, a Thanksgiving get together with the neighbors introduced me to another bought of illness, which took several weeks to overcome.
As January approached, I slowly made some gains, although not enough to feel confident in winning all my races.
Yet with one week before the first race, a visit to a home show transferred another virus to me and I was sick the entire week before the first race, missing many days of riding.
As I was still not 100% recovered a week later, the 2nd race of the weekend would also not be doable and my fitness had suffered to the point that the next several races were also in doubt.
I entered the San Tan race on 2/10, a 40 minute flat, 60+ race, which I had won handily in 2016 when I had last raced it.
After 10 minutes I was gasping for air; hung in there another 10 minutes, wheezing, then had to drop out and head home.
It's beginning to feel like my racing days may be over.
If indeed the bout of illnesses I suffered since 2016 have damaged my lungs, my research indicates that it is not irreversible.
Although I knew I was not in top form, on April 13 the State Championship criterium race only had one other competitor.
My sprint was not at it's best, but I was hoping maybe I could get lucky.
However, four minutes into the race there was an acceleration and I was dropped and doomed to second.
I was able to sit on another rider from an older class and maintain 22 mph, which was good enough to only get lapped twice in the 30 minute race.
I had been training every day and in the second week of July, my lungs finally cleared up.
In March, any speed over 16 mph and my lungs would be working at maximum, but now the speeds were mostly limited to the reduced strength in my legs.
Most training rides were a struggle and not fun.
Once in a while I could do a one hour ride, but usually I'd lose all strength after half an hour and some rides were forced to be much shorter than that.
By September 18th I felt like maybe I could actually start making progress, rather than struggling just to maintain any fitness.
However a plane trip on the 19th gave me another cold and I was off the bike for 3 weeks and didn't shed it until October 17th where I could finally feel my legs again and not be dizzy half an hour into the ride.
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