So now what?

Home to Guy West Bridge to Discovery Park & back 23.3mi in 1:50

Today I experimented once again with albuterol and a spacer to see if it would help my breathing. It did, but it also jacked up my heartrate and made me a little shaky, so I think that’s the last of the albuterol for a long while. My doctor just authorized allergy (scratch) testing, so I’m kind of pinning my hopes on allergy shots to correct the shortness of breath issues.

It’s been three months since lab tests confirmed nothing wrong with my heart or with my lungs, but I started getting disheartened at the difficulty I had breathing when I was cycling and at getting dropped from group rides, so I pretty much stopped riding in December. Then I got caught up in moving/unpacking/getting settled in the new house. The weather was crappy and I couldn’t breathe well the few times I did venture out on bicycle.

I got a cheap tandem so that I could keep up with group rides with a partner, but the bike is a challenge to ride and the cheap-ass rims bent. So, the new rear rim is on order along with slimmer/higher pressure Continental City Contact tires. In the meantime, the weather is still cold, but my lungs aren’t quite as unhappy as they were in December.

A couple weekends ago on a tandem ride, I went to drool over my latest dream bike, an Orbea Diva, and realized how far I am from feeling I deserve that bike. It’s a racing bike; not a tootle around the bike path bike. I have managed to gain back 25 pounds that I lost last year, and am about where I was at this time last year when I was riding the Schwinn Traveler and the Electra Townie. I suspect a good portion of my issues biking recently are from the extra weight I’m pushing around.

The new plan is to ride a minimum of 20 miles 5 days a week in addition to walking the dogs, stretching exercises and yoga. I haven’t been able to convince myself yet to commute to/from work by bike, even though it would add another 12-14 miles a day. I just don’t like the thought of traveling through downtown by bicycle at midnight. I know weight isn’t supposed to be as important as muscle to fat ratio, etc, but I started weighing myself daily. I’m recording the results and watching the overall trend rather than day-to-day changes, but it’s just the easiest tangible measurement I have available. My hope is to set aside $100 per pound lost and put it towards an Orbea Diva. A $5000 bike equals 50 pounds lost, by which time I will definitely feel I deserve that bike!