Back on my Bike

Almost all of September was written off for me as far as cycling went. I was recovering from a hernia operation in August which meant six long weeks off the bike. It nearly killed me to lose that time, my fitness went down and I put on weight that has proved hard to shift. Finally it was time to get back on the bike and oh how I enjoyed it! The exhilaration, speed and freedom. I started with a lunch-time ride in North Melbourne followed up by a couple of solid weekend rides.

Then came the Challenge, the Strava September Challenge. I needed to do a ride of 130km on a single day and I had a grand total of 3 rides in my legs when I fronted up to Don Sitlington’s place to ride down the Bay and back. For me it was an incredibly hard ride given the disappearance of my fitness in the proceeding weeks. The wind howled and the road loomed large in front of me. Don put up with my tiredness as we pressed into the return journey, sheltering me from the wind and keeping my spirit up. Lunch in Middle Park eventuated around 1:30PM and I was famished. It was then just a matter of getting back to North Melbourne to pick my car and get home. Nature wasn’t quite finished with me at that point and whipped up an enormous storm that gusted across Melbourne bringing some rain and hail in the last 2 kilometres or so.

I was never so happy to complete a ride. I got there!

Throughout October my form started to come back with small rides and moving on to some longer more elevated excursions. Back into the GreenWEDGE I found the hills hard as my heart rate seemed to rise up to meet the hills but didn’t come down as I dropped back down again. It was hard work. I was puffing and my legs were screaming as I tried to keep up with the others on the October GreenWEDGE ride. The companionship helped me through it though.Thanks everyone.

I lined up a ride with James Stratford over to the Dandenongs to have a crack those foreign hills. It was fantastic that’s when I became aware that my heart was starting to work the way it used to again. It was rising up quickly to meet the hills and then the beats coming off fast as I descended the climbs. It was great to watch that on the heart meter.

James and I enjoyed getting over to the Devils Elbow and spinning back down the Burwood Highway before heading off beyond Boronia and discovering the Donut Van Man. A very good day with a proper lunch back at Karen’s Roundabout Cafe in Warrandyte.

I pushed on with my target to get around 250km a week during this recovery stage and the km stats were coming along well. The one thing I had not counted on was how hard it would be to get my weight and my blood sugar levels down*. I hadn’t realised how dependent I’d become on cycling and how good it is for my health. Its truly is a miraculous thing and I don’t know where I’d be without it. There were more rides throughout October that were a buzz too including a Ride 2 Work special and the Australian Cycling Executives ride.

I needed to get the October Challenge done and time was running out fast. I set up a route that would mean some climbing and get the distance in too. It was out to Flowerdale via Kinglake and Glenburn. I gave myself sufficient food and coffee stops to get through it. It was cold and how the wind blew! A bit of a repeat of the September Challenge without the sea as a backdrop.

My Strava October Challenge

Health improvements. The revelation I’ve had about my cycling is how good it is for my health. My weight has dropped from 83.kgs to 79.8kgs currently and my blood glucose from levels 6.7 to a mean of 5.2. Both of those are going the right direction but its slower than I want. I want to get my weight down to 75kg and an avg blood sugar levels in the 4.2 – 4.8 range. My avg speed up in the Warrandyte hills of 23kph. I’ll see what happens through November and December.

*Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder of the pancreas that occurs when the body stops producing the hormone insulin. Insulin is used by the body to extract glucose from the bloodstream and carry it to the muscles. Without insulin, glucose can accumulate in the bloodstream, and untreated diabetes can lead to blindness, amputation, organ failure and death. 

IF YOU DON’T RIDE A BIKE YOU SHOULD!

October ended well.