I haven’t written in a while, not because I’ve not ridden my mountain bike, but rather because it hasn’t given me the kind of excitement which riding has traditionally done. I’ve used the electrically assisted bike for utilitarian purposes, such has foraging for fire wood (hence solving the energy crisis), in addition to the odd leisure ride. The problem really is that excitement on a mountain bike comes from two forms of speed. One is the speed of taking corners and other trail obstacles, jumps, log hops etc. The other form of speed is from the physical exertion of working yourself and the bike hard. Since my heart valve problem, which showed itself around 6 months ago, I’ve been unable to push myself. I now need to avoid raising my heart rate and breathing to beyond what I would experience when walking, so any attempt at speed is out. I’ve found that by working too hard I have, on I think 3 occasions, caused my heart to fibrillate, where the heart beat becomes irregular. This is a bad situation, with a risk of blood clots and stroke, which hasn’t happened for a good few months. I’ve learnt to keep my activity level low enough to avoid it and I continue to be diligent.
On a brighter note I do seem to be making progress along the pathway towards a heart valve fix. Tomorrow I am being assessed in detail, after which a decision will be made on whether I can have a repair to the valve or its replacement. A repair is preferable and should be accomplished via some form of keyhole surgery. The recovery time for keyhole is much shorter than if you need to be unzipped completely, which could have me back on the bike much sooner. Either way I’d hope to be operated on by the autumn or earlier. A loss of over a year of riding is a big thing for me but surely better than the alternative!
Mountainbiker 