I rode a lot this week including in some rainy weather. With the weather improving, I was planning on doing longer rides Friday and Saturday. But my body went on strike Thursday night- I got some cold symptoms and a really bad case of the chills, including chattering teeth. I had to crank my electric blanket to high, and had a fistful night’s sleep. But sometimes around 4:00 AM the chills got better. I still had symptoms like headache and runny nose so I took yesterday and today off. Tomorrow is scheduled to be a short easy ride which I may do if I’m feeling better by then. This kind of thing has happened before when I got over enthused.You’re 72 Rich, not 27!
I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
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I’m on antibiotics for a bacterial infection since yesterday noon, and from previous experience this should make me feel better quickly. I’m referring to the symptoms I reported in my last post. It turned out that I was not feeling better by last Monday, but by then was pretty sure what it was so I messaged my doctor. He sent me for a test the same day and we got the results on Wednesday. This is brisk for the medical system nowadays, it can take weeks to get into see a specialist, but fortunately I did not need to see him in person, and he’s very quick responding to messages.
/* TMI ALERT
The next paragraph may be TMI about medical issues for some, so feel free to skip it.
This turned out to be a recurrence of urinary tract infection I had back in 2021. I’ve had no problems with that area of my anatomy since then because of a procedure I underwent in 2022. After this round of infection is kicked out in a few days, I’ll follow up with my doctor (Urologist) to find out what went wrong. It’s possible one or more the clips installed in the Urolift procedure came undone, which can be fixed in a follow-up minimally invasive procedure. Alternatively I could undergo a slightly more involved procedure like Turp could be done which would be more permanent. We’ll see what my urologist thinks. Que Sera, Sera.
/* END TMI ALERT
It’s been a week of not feeling 100% now. During that time I was able to do easy 30 minute rides most days, with one short session each of strength training for the lower and upper bodies, which is fine for maintaining strength through a short period like this. I’ll soon be feeling well enough to start ramping up the time. But going through things like this always makes me rethink things. I’ve been making too much of my training hard. I’ve talked about polarized training in the past, but my favorite interpretation of it is Clarence Bass’s rule of thumb “I walk and I sprint, I don’t do anything in between”. For him this translates to brisk walks most days, short but intense strength training 1 day, and short but intense cardio another. In my case that should be I ride easy for a bit longer most days, supplemented with infrequent short intense training days (with strength training and intervals and sprints on the bike). That’s what I always start out with. But over time I stray from it, by being tempted to push the pace on easy days or lengthen what should be the short intense days. Time for a reset.
I especially have to keep in mind that the main purpose of the longer easier rides is relaxation. This is illustrated in a fun way in this Youtube video I found on the channel “A Bike To Escape”:
The discussion about easy cycling for relaxation is fun, and the scenery in the Netherlands is beautiful, and the Dutch cycling infrastructure amazing. But “bloom where your planted”, I can find similar relaxation on bike paths or quieter roads near me.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
I recently viewed an inspiring video series on Global Cycling Network about the journey of self-transformation of one of their presenters, Dan. He is a retired professional cyclist and at 43 he has been enjoying retirement a bit too much and has felt the first intimation of father time breathing down his neck, so wants to turn it around. This results in a series of 8 videos of before, during, and after. Dan is an entertaining guy and presents technical info in a fun way.
The transformation process include relatively little cycling (because at the beginning Dan was burned out about it). Instead the exercise part emphasizes a solid but not excessive regime of strength training and walking. Giving up alcohol for the duration, for a guy who enjoys his pint, also helps. And the results are great, especially health wise.
Click here to see a playlist of individual episodes or click the video below for a “super compilation” of all episodes.
I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
On Friday I was out for a long ride on my recumbent and I happened to look down at my front wheel and noticed a broken spoke. The wheel appeared in good enough shape, not too badly “out of true”, and was still ride-able. So I headed home and switched bikes, completing the ride on my upright. I later took a good look at the wheel and found it actually had 5 broken spokes. All broke at the J-bend where the spoke comes out of the hub. I was surprised because I’d never broken more than one spoke before and also usually there is an audible ping. This is my front wheel with the electric motor, so the spokes are subjected to torque from the motor as well as impact, e.g. from potholes. It had performed just fine for well over a year so I assume I must have hit something fairly big recently. I ordered replacement spokes on Amazon, being pleased to find out they come in custom lengths so I could order the right size. I’ll fix the wheel when they come in and get it back on the road. I will strive to stay on smoother roads in the future.
In the meantime I can still ride my upright if I want electric assist, and I have the original wheel back on the recumbent. The timing is fortuitous. I hadn’t been riding my upright enough since I recovered from my last bout of sciatica. So my butt was getting sore on longer rides on the upright. A came across an amusing term for this on an ultramarathon cycling website: “marshmallow butt”. I need to toughen my butt back up, from “marshmallow” to “iron”, because in May I’m going in a friend’s van down to Paso Robles for a few days of cycling, and my recumbent won’t fit so I’ll be taking my upright. I’ll make sure to get more saddle time in on the upright before them.
El Toro From a Different Angle on the Coyote Creek Trail. This was on my recumbent without electric assist yesterday. I can still go for nice long rides, it just takes longer
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
Now that my antibiotics have done their job I’m back to riding full tilt. Yesterday was my hard day. But something I read recently made we realize I was doing something wrong. I was doing long (2 hour+) rides for my hard one, with the intervals and sprints tacked on at the end after hours of brisk cruising. That meant my legs were always already tired when I started the hardest part. If instead I did the sprints and intervals on fresh legs after a short warm-up, I’d be able to push harder and get more benefits. I’ve done that for my last couple of hard rides and it feels great. Too soon to tell if it will lead to better results, but I enjoy it more. The long brisk cruising is now reserved for other days.
Metcalf Natural Gas Power Plant, About 10 miles from home, was working hard this morning. When it is cold the steam sometimes hangs out near the ground instead of rising in a plume.
Pretty Park in the neighborhood across the street from my house. Through the Lombardy Poplars is a view of Villa Miramonte, also known colloquially as “Morgan Hill House”. This historic former residence of our town’s namesake is now a nice museum.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
I did a two-hour plus easy cruise yesterday, in pleasant weather. Out and back on Coyote Creek trail to where it is flooded out from the recent rains, then South towards Gilroy on the lightly traveled country roads on the east side of the valley. During my warm-up I had a mental lapse and almost rode into the back of a parked trailer because I was daydreaming instead of watching where I was going. I swerved and came to a panic stop, but lost my balance and did a slow-motion fall. No harm done. The cool part was that two separate drivers in pickup trucks stopped to make sure I was OK. It’s nice to be reminded there are plenty of nice people in the world.
When I leave for my rides my wife always say “have fun, be extra careful” and I promise I will. I think we’ll have to change It to “extra extra careful”. No more daydreaming at 15 mph!
The flooded ford on Coyote Creek trail. If this season is typical, it probably won’t clear until May. Fortunately there are detours if you want to go further North.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
I was feeling great last week doing some long brisk rides. But after a particularly hard ride last Wednesday, my sciatica flared up again badly, this time on the left side. For a couple of days it kept me awake act night because I could not find a sleeping position without severe pain radiating down the left leg. Fortunately after a couple of days of resting and no riding, it calmed down enough so since last Saturday onward I could sleep. On Saturday I did some easy arm cycling, and from then till now I’ve been able to do easy riding for 30 minutes, without any pain referring down the leg. So I think the inflammation is going down and the sciatic nerve is not being compressed much. I am also doing all the PT I know to open up the area. Over the next few days I’ll continue to slowly and easily ramp up my riding as tolerated. I know the drill from past experience, it can take up to two weeks of taking it easy for this to clear up. This episode was well timed because it’s been pretty rainy here lately so I didn’t miss as much by curtailing my riding.
Fortunately It had been several months since my last bout of this. I intend to keep my average daily training down to 90 minutes or less to avoid another recurrence. It had drifted up over two hours a day last week when the relapse hit. I will also try to do a better job doing PT to strengthen the muscles that stabilize the hip and lower back area.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
I am back to being able to do longer rides as long as long as I don’t overdo the intensity. I think what went wrong that led to my recent sciatica flare-up was that I had combined long rides with hard riding, including sprints and intervals on the same day. Now I’m keeping the pace “brisk but comfortable” for the longer rides, and only doing more intense riding on shorter rides. So far so good!
I went for over three hours relatively easy paced last Saturday and yesterday and it felt great. Yesterday was my group ride, we went around Chesbro and Uvas reservoirs West of Morgan Hill. This involved some steep climbs, but I was able to control the effort with electric assist on my recumbent. Recently I’ve been keeping to shorter rides on my upright but I think my back is recovered enough to go further on that bike also.
It was cloudy and a bit cold the first part of yesterday’s ride but the sun came out to stay when we were taking a break at Uvas reservoir.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
The inflammation that has flared up my sciatica seems to be clearing up. The discomfort is no longer interfering with sleep at night, and I am carefully ramping my training back up, so far with no ill-effects. On Wednesday I was able to ride for an hour and even threw in some shorter intervals and some on-bike strength training. I was prepared to back off if there had been any pain referring down my left leg from the sciatica, but fortunately didn’t have to. On Thursday I was able to resume my upper-body strength training which was also well tolerated. Yesterday I went on an enjoyable brisk 90 minute ride. Now I just have to continue improving but watch out for the temptation to go too hard which could lead to a backslide.
Beautiful Green hills East of Morgan Hill on WednesdayLooking Northwest from Watsonville road ThursdayView Towards El Toro from Coyote Creek Trail yesterday
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
I just read the book Ultra-processed People, by Chris van Tulleken, about the large amount of highly processed food in our modern diets, which I recommend. I’d always known about obvious kinds of processing like turning wheat into white flour by removing the germ and bran and then grinding up the rest. But the author is further emphasizing things in our food that sound more like they came out of a test tube than a garden, like xanthan gum or monoglycerides. Highly processed food has three main effects, the first is the removal of nutritious components like wheat germ, the second is “predigestion”, for example grinding up fruit in a smoothie which breaks down the cell walls. The third is the additives. I’ve always thought the first two were the more important, which is why brown rice is preferred over white or an apple over apple juice. But the author gives convincing evidence that the additives are not good for us either. He also traces the history of how large food companies like Nestle fairly recently opened up a new market for their products in Brazil, and how this led to a significant increase in obesity in the population.
It is difficult to rid your diet completely of Ultra-processed food unless you are a good cook and can prepare most of your meals from scratch. But it is definitely possible to cut back. A large contributor of overly processed food in my diet is “treats” like cookies or candy, and it I can definitely try to be more disciplined about eating those less often. Also, there are “boutique” brands of commercial foods like soups and chili that have higher quality ingredients and fewer additives. These can be eaten directly or used as the start of stews or casseroles. Boutique brands are more expensive but the money I save on eating fewer treats can make up the difference. Reading this book has motivated me to try harder on measures like these.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
