mschwett
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
trigger warning, this is a personal post and while ebikes are central, it's not really about ebikes.
i was always a pretty athletic person; i swam competitively as a child and young adult, ran track, and did long distance running in my early 30s for fun. while i rode bikes for convenience i never was a cyclist.
in my early 30s i was diagnosed with a fairly rare heart rhythm condition, typically genetic, which often manifests as young athletes dropping dead from sudden cardiac death. the condition, for those who are genetically predisposed, is actually progressed or caused by extreme exercise. so, doctors orders - no more extreme cardio. i struggled through two years of medication, procedures, surgeries, complications, mishaps, including months of hospitalization, two open heart surgeries, multiple defibrillation shocks, and much more. the idea of running or cycling was far from my mind. i also had a 1 year old at the time.
eventually, we figured things out, my condition stabilized and there was a long period of relative calm. the occasional glitch, but generally a normal life. a second daughter arrived. there is quite a bit of medical debate about "how much" exercise is too much for my condition (especially considering that i do NOT have the most common genetic mutations associated with it) and so, several years ago, looking for something healthy and fun and also useful, i got an ebike. i started with a front hub commuter, and really enjoyed riding it. within a month or two i purchased a specialized turbo creo, a mid-drive carbon road bike, and began riding it... a lot. i kept my heart rate at around 100bpm average, with perhaps 95% of the time between 80 and 110bpm. i did short rides, i rode it to work, i rode it up mountains, i did 100 mile plus rides, i did gravel rides and road rides. i rode it more and more with the motor turned off, realizing that it was - frankly - more fun to do the work myself, while keeping my heart rate in those parameters. i upgraded the bike extensively. carbon wheels, cranks, titanium speedplay pedals, one piece carbon cockpit, rear cassette, tubeless tires of course, etc etc.
so then i realized, why ride a relatively heavy (around 28lb at this point) ebike with the motor turned off? why not just ride a really light regular bike! so i got an "acoustic" road bike, a specialized s-works aethos. 12 speed dura ace di2 electronic shifting, the almost-lightest of everything, dual sided power meter, etc etc. it rides like a dream, a truly incredible machine. i kept riding at around the same pace, 500-600 miles a month, the same rides, 3 to 5 a week, i rode it to work and on rides from work, long weekend rides, all over the city and surrounding hills, mountains, coastal roads, forests, valleys, MUPs, etc. it rode most all the transit systems in the area, boats, trains, buses. loved it. kept my heart rate in that same range.
3 months ago i felt the familiar flurry of a cardiac arrythmia while riding. no big deal, i hadn't taken my meds for the morning and was stressed out. i rolled to the side of the road, got off the bike. sat down. unfortunately the rhythm persisted, and after a short period i lost consciousness and was shocked back to a normal rhythm. an unpleasant experience, waking up face down in the dirt with many fellow cyclists and joggers stopped to help me out. i took it easy for a while, talked to my doc, increased my meds. but now i noted that every couple rides i'd feel a little blip here or there. lowered my exertion quite a bit, now with all of the ride in the 70-100bpm range. only let it over 100 very rarely. adjusted medications further. two weeks ago this friday i was on a very mellow lunchtime ride. felt the now familiar feeling. stopped. this time, it did not go away. my implanted device tried to break the rhythm, without success. took the bike home in an uber, feeling very unwell. anxious about getting shocked. an hour or so later, sent my doctors a remote transmission, after which they immediately called and said "go to the ER right now, do not drive yourself."
so, the usual excitement of the ER, arriving with ventricular tachycardia and the subsequent flurry of activity, but just before they got to do anything exciting the rhythm broke and i was back to normal, if exhausted. however, the doctors were concerned enough to trigger two procedures/surgeries in the following days, more medication changes, and a number of discussions about the cause of the progression and what is now, somewhat confusingly given my ability to do a very large amount of cardiovascular work, not just a rhythm problem but actually the early phases of heart failure. the two possible outcomes at this point are 1) it stops getting worse, meds and recent procedures help, and another long period of stability ensues. 2) heart transplant. the doctors are frankly divided on this, it's an unusual situation, and there really aren't many precedents. the doctors also continue to be divided on how much exercise is too much, ranging from "absolutely nothing other than walking to get somewhere" to "as long as you can have a conversation and aren't out of breath it's ok." at this point, of course, it's entirely possible the latter approach, and all the joyous, satisfying, wonderful cycling, created this new re-emergence of the problem as well as the heart failure symptoms.
so i have some hard choices. i have two kids. i can live without cycling. or, i can try to find a new happy medium, perhaps going back to riding with the motor actually turned on, and keeping my own input to the ride even lower still. for years i was sustaining around 200 watts of human power for 1-5 hours. lately i had been keeping it to 160. perhaps 120 would be below the threshold, and i could simply use the bike to make up the difference, doing the same rides at the same speed. better than nothing, but, the risk is not insignificant, and it's certainly less satisfying than what i've been doing. the third option is to throw caution to the wind, if it gets worse, it gets worse, i get a heart transplant, which completely cures the disease in question but of course brings with it numerous other risks and complications. if i was a single man, that's probably what i would do, to be honest. but i'm not.
on the bike front, i'll sell the aethos, sell the creo, and get a true electric road bike. the temptation of riding the aethos is too great and the creo is a great hybrid of a gravel and road bike, but i want a road bike. if i ride at all, other than to and from work and with my daughter on the back for errands and outings.
i was always a pretty athletic person; i swam competitively as a child and young adult, ran track, and did long distance running in my early 30s for fun. while i rode bikes for convenience i never was a cyclist.
in my early 30s i was diagnosed with a fairly rare heart rhythm condition, typically genetic, which often manifests as young athletes dropping dead from sudden cardiac death. the condition, for those who are genetically predisposed, is actually progressed or caused by extreme exercise. so, doctors orders - no more extreme cardio. i struggled through two years of medication, procedures, surgeries, complications, mishaps, including months of hospitalization, two open heart surgeries, multiple defibrillation shocks, and much more. the idea of running or cycling was far from my mind. i also had a 1 year old at the time.
eventually, we figured things out, my condition stabilized and there was a long period of relative calm. the occasional glitch, but generally a normal life. a second daughter arrived. there is quite a bit of medical debate about "how much" exercise is too much for my condition (especially considering that i do NOT have the most common genetic mutations associated with it) and so, several years ago, looking for something healthy and fun and also useful, i got an ebike. i started with a front hub commuter, and really enjoyed riding it. within a month or two i purchased a specialized turbo creo, a mid-drive carbon road bike, and began riding it... a lot. i kept my heart rate at around 100bpm average, with perhaps 95% of the time between 80 and 110bpm. i did short rides, i rode it to work, i rode it up mountains, i did 100 mile plus rides, i did gravel rides and road rides. i rode it more and more with the motor turned off, realizing that it was - frankly - more fun to do the work myself, while keeping my heart rate in those parameters. i upgraded the bike extensively. carbon wheels, cranks, titanium speedplay pedals, one piece carbon cockpit, rear cassette, tubeless tires of course, etc etc.
so then i realized, why ride a relatively heavy (around 28lb at this point) ebike with the motor turned off? why not just ride a really light regular bike! so i got an "acoustic" road bike, a specialized s-works aethos. 12 speed dura ace di2 electronic shifting, the almost-lightest of everything, dual sided power meter, etc etc. it rides like a dream, a truly incredible machine. i kept riding at around the same pace, 500-600 miles a month, the same rides, 3 to 5 a week, i rode it to work and on rides from work, long weekend rides, all over the city and surrounding hills, mountains, coastal roads, forests, valleys, MUPs, etc. it rode most all the transit systems in the area, boats, trains, buses. loved it. kept my heart rate in that same range.
3 months ago i felt the familiar flurry of a cardiac arrythmia while riding. no big deal, i hadn't taken my meds for the morning and was stressed out. i rolled to the side of the road, got off the bike. sat down. unfortunately the rhythm persisted, and after a short period i lost consciousness and was shocked back to a normal rhythm. an unpleasant experience, waking up face down in the dirt with many fellow cyclists and joggers stopped to help me out. i took it easy for a while, talked to my doc, increased my meds. but now i noted that every couple rides i'd feel a little blip here or there. lowered my exertion quite a bit, now with all of the ride in the 70-100bpm range. only let it over 100 very rarely. adjusted medications further. two weeks ago this friday i was on a very mellow lunchtime ride. felt the now familiar feeling. stopped. this time, it did not go away. my implanted device tried to break the rhythm, without success. took the bike home in an uber, feeling very unwell. anxious about getting shocked. an hour or so later, sent my doctors a remote transmission, after which they immediately called and said "go to the ER right now, do not drive yourself."
so, the usual excitement of the ER, arriving with ventricular tachycardia and the subsequent flurry of activity, but just before they got to do anything exciting the rhythm broke and i was back to normal, if exhausted. however, the doctors were concerned enough to trigger two procedures/surgeries in the following days, more medication changes, and a number of discussions about the cause of the progression and what is now, somewhat confusingly given my ability to do a very large amount of cardiovascular work, not just a rhythm problem but actually the early phases of heart failure. the two possible outcomes at this point are 1) it stops getting worse, meds and recent procedures help, and another long period of stability ensues. 2) heart transplant. the doctors are frankly divided on this, it's an unusual situation, and there really aren't many precedents. the doctors also continue to be divided on how much exercise is too much, ranging from "absolutely nothing other than walking to get somewhere" to "as long as you can have a conversation and aren't out of breath it's ok." at this point, of course, it's entirely possible the latter approach, and all the joyous, satisfying, wonderful cycling, created this new re-emergence of the problem as well as the heart failure symptoms.
so i have some hard choices. i have two kids. i can live without cycling. or, i can try to find a new happy medium, perhaps going back to riding with the motor actually turned on, and keeping my own input to the ride even lower still. for years i was sustaining around 200 watts of human power for 1-5 hours. lately i had been keeping it to 160. perhaps 120 would be below the threshold, and i could simply use the bike to make up the difference, doing the same rides at the same speed. better than nothing, but, the risk is not insignificant, and it's certainly less satisfying than what i've been doing. the third option is to throw caution to the wind, if it gets worse, it gets worse, i get a heart transplant, which completely cures the disease in question but of course brings with it numerous other risks and complications. if i was a single man, that's probably what i would do, to be honest. but i'm not.
on the bike front, i'll sell the aethos, sell the creo, and get a true electric road bike. the temptation of riding the aethos is too great and the creo is a great hybrid of a gravel and road bike, but i want a road bike. if i ride at all, other than to and from work and with my daughter on the back for errands and outings.
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