Old Git On A Bike battles with the wind (2000 miles ridden)

thekickingmule

Haven't been on BR in aaaaages so thought I would. Then remembered about this thread.
I'm impressed it's gone on this long! But where are you Old Git? Are you out on a REALLY long ride?
I looked at your opening logs right back from Jan, I hope you've looked at them recently and compared them to your latest (well, most recent) postings. Huge improvements!
Anywho's, hello everyone

Panter

I pm'd him a couple of weeks ago, no reply yet......

Neil Fat man on a bike

Still AWOL I see.
Come back oldgit, all is forgiven.

Old Git On A Bike

Hi all, I'm back , my riding had to take a back seat due to real life circumstances and changes, I'm now happy to say that is all done with and I can get back to riding again at last.

I have not been on my bike since my last log update on October 12th 2008, so I'm going to have to go through some pains again getting back in to it fully, hopefully the weather will start getting a bit better soon as well, I'll be keeping my log updated here and on my website as and when I do my rides.

My other half has packed in smoking, she hardly smoked anyway and is finding it easy, so I have decided to get some inhalers and nicotine chewing gum from the smoking clinic in my doctors, might as well give it a try, not sure how I'll get on with it, as I'm pretty hardcore when it comes to smoking, I can but try.

I have put a bit of weight back on since I last rode, nothing too drastic, only about 8 pounds in all, but I'll soo get that back off again, anyway, it's good to be back, and I have got plenty of reading on the forum to catch up on tomorrow.

dunker

nice to have you back m8y

maximus69

old git try easy way to stop smoking by allen carr- the author not the funny camp one!!
was working for a cardiologist and he said he knows loads of people that have given up by reading this book, no patches needed its all in your head and mine!!
just stuck my copy in my crib box, i just cant stop. although not a heavy smoker i`m at the stage now where i`m embarrassed to be smoking and its time to pack it it in- years ago!!

nice to see your back mate

Neil Fat man on a bike

Alright fella.
A belated happy new year to ya.
Good to see your still about.

landranger

Yeah, nice to have you back OGOAB

A few of us were getting mighty worried!

liveforever1982

hey glad your back, this is a really cracking post i really enjoyed reading your progress last year long may it continue. gareth

OwenB

I tried accupuncture when I was giving up, and it was a massive help to me, if you're struggling with your nicotine replacement stuff I'd definitely recommend it!

nealgs

Good to see you back OGOAB, as landranger say, 'Getting slightly worried' as it had been quite a while since your last posting.

Gary

mick851

nice to have you back OGOAB!!!

Old Git On A Bike

Ok, take 2, now I'm back, life's a bitch and then some.

Going out for a ride tonight, will try to do my usual 14 mile loop, I'll see how I feel at half way, I have the feeling this is going to be like starting from scratch again, I think I'll take it slowly tonight.

i did some leg extension on my weight bench about 3 days ago, just to get the muscles working again, but I've been aching like hell since then, just standing up and my thighs are killing me, the pains are only subsiding today.

Not much joy on the stopping smoking front, if anything, I have probably smoked more since trying to cut down again, but I have been really stressed lately, so that has not helped. I had my CO2 levels checked by a nurse the other day using a monitor that you breathe in to, I registered 52 on it, which is getting towards the top end of the heavy smoker scale :oops:

The doctor wants to try me on nicotine patches and an inhaler, but that stuff wont work with me, I'll still be smoking at the same time, I want a non smoking medication called Champix, which apparently blocks the receptors in the brain so there is no craving, I'm making an appointment to see the doc again this week to see what she says about giving me that instead.

I'm now very close to getting a new bike now, thinking along the lines of a Boardman 08 Team or 08 Pro if I can find one available, failing that, it will have to be the 2009 Boardmans, or a Cube LTD Race 2009, or at a long shot, the Cube Reaction K18 2009, that's if i can justify the price tag of the last one to myself.

Back later with tonights log

Old Git On A Bike

Had my ride tonight, my legs felt ok'ish, didn't feel as much strength in them as there used to be, but that will come back. Even though I took it fairly easy tonight, my lungs still feel absolutely shot, getting bad pains when I try to take a breath in, that's to be expected I suppose, it's going to take a little time getting my fitness back fully to where it was before, it just goes to show how much you can go to pot in such a short space of time without exercise.

My pulse is way up compared to after a ride a few months back. I had my blood pressure taken recently, it was 120/70 last time I had it taken some time back, but now it's 134/80, the doctor said that's still ok, but I did some Googling and got conflicting information, I mentioned that to her, but she assured me it was fine, log for tonight:

Mar 1st (on mountain bike)

Top speed 24.9 mph (cycle path hill)
Avg speed = 13.0 mph
Distance = 15.01 miles
Time 01:08:48

Pulse before ride = 72 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 108 bpm's 11:34pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 98 bpm's 11:44pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 92 bpm's 11:54pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 90 bpm's 12:34am

Miles on mountain bike = 2333.71
Miles on exercise bike = 538.50

Total miles ridden = 2872.21

woodywmb

People would die for such blood pressure readings. Remember that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/10400.html

neil_sheehan2000

Old Git On A Bike wrote:

The doctor wants to try me on nicotine patches and an inhaler, but that stuff wont work with me, I'll still be smoking at the same time, I want a non smoking medication called Champix, which apparently blocks the receptors in the brain so there is no craving, I'm making an appointment to see the doc again this week to see what she says about giving me that instead.

I thought Champix rang a bell- was sure I'd heard something about horrible side effects. Obviously most of the stuff to be found on Google about it is written by alternative therapy nutjobs with their own agendas, but thought you might want to check out this link before you try the no smoking pills Old Git- seems to be written by some sort of Champix survivors club and all sounds pretty grim.

Quitting is hard, so I'm told- I haven't tried yet. I always feel guilty lighting up at the top of Glentress though...

nicklouse

Giving up does take a certain mind frame. For me it was not to have another cigarette.

I found a non smoking alternative and then i had to ween my self off them.

Good to see you back.
Keep up the hard work.

Old Git On A Bike

Hi Woody, with regards to the blood pressure, I looked on medical sites where doctors/medical staff had written about it, some said it 134/80 was fine, other sites said it was pre-hypertension, and others said it was high blood pressure/hypertension, I was a bit puzzled by how people in that profession could have such varying opinions on the same thing, well, as long as I'm alive, that's the main thing

@ Neil, yeah, I have heard some stories about Champix, but I expect it's the same with any drug, some people are fine on a certain medication, and another person taking the same thing can have adverse side affects, luck of the draw really. I would like to give it a try just to see how i get on with it, if it doesn't suit me, I'll have to try something else.

@ Nick, what was the non smoking alternative you had to ween yourself off? I did quite well today, smoked 24 roll ups up to the time of this post, I'll have one more before I get my nut down and that's it for the night, it helps when I put my tobacco tin over the other side of the room instead of right in front of me, I'll try for less tomorrow.

There was a fairly strong headwind tonight, and I struggled straight away, I nearly jacked it in after just 1/2 a mile and again at a mile, my lungs were bursting, my legs were lifeless and I was going slower than a slow thing, at times I was struggling to keep up to about at 11mph, and any slight incline I was dropping down to about 8mph. The return leg was good, lungs were opened by then and the tail wind meant I was up around 18mph most of the way and not gasping for breath at any point.

Looks like wind and rain all day and night tomorrow, so I'll stay in and do some work on the exercise bike. Got some new weighing scales today as the old ones are playing up, I'm now bang on 13 stone, so I've put exactly a stone back on since october , log for tonight:

Mar 2nd (on mountain bike)

Top speed 26.1 mph (cycle path hill)
Avg speed = 12.8 mph
Distance = 15.28 miles
Time 01:11:36

Pulse before ride = 74 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 110 bpm's 11:29pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 90 bpm's 11:39pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 88 bpm's 11:49pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 84 bpm's 12:29am

Miles on mountain bike = 2348.99
Miles on exercise bike = 538.50

Total miles ridden = 2887.49

nicklouse

Old Git On A Bike
what I used is not available in the UK. the Swedish wet snuff. Snuz.

what i found hard was the actions that were associated with the smoking. Something to play with. once i had moved the actions away from the cigarettes i then worked on a non nicotine solution to the Snuz.

this is an Ex 20 year 20+ Marlbro a day smoker. Plus who often rolled his own with some nice Pipe backy.

It is head games. and TBH Since stopping the smoking In have cycled less!

but that will be changing this year.

neil_sheehan2000

Old Git On A Bike wrote:

I expect it's the same with any drug, some people are fine on a certain medication, and another person taking the same thing can have adverse side affects, luck of the draw really. I would like to give it a try just to see how i get on with it, if it doesn't suit me, I'll have to try something else.

Apparently about one in a thousand people trip balls on that Champix stuff, and report feelings of utter elation (unbelievably, one of the alternative therapists reported this as if it was a bad thing)! Talk about luck of the draw.

Anyway, if you take up quitting smoking with the same tenacity as you took up cycling I'm sure you'll be fine. Keep riding your inspirational road to fitness!

lesz42

HEY,, good to see you back!, old git!



i have had 8 weeks off, off riding due to bad weather and such like, bit hard on the legs, but loving it!

Old Git On A Bike

@ Nick, yeah, head games is about right, and what to do with the hands, maybe I could type more, bury myself in writing stuff to take my mind off it and give the hands something to do, or just twiddle a lighter in my hand, I don't know.

@ Neil, I hope I don't get a buzz off it if I do get put on Champix, I don't like anything like that, I can't even drink caffeine as it makes my heart miss beats a lot more than it normally does, decaf only for me.

@ Les, good you are back on your bike as well, make the most of it, looks like we are about to be hit with more sever rain, winds up to 60mph, snow, sleat and hail again very soon, poxy weather :evil:

I set off on the exercise bike tonight thinking I'll do 15 miles, and then another 10 miles on the second session, but I could only manage 7 miles and had to stop because I didn't feel right, I did around 18mph for the duration.

I checked my pulse when I got off and it was 96, it was 134 at one point whilst pedalling. Just after coming off the bike, I started getting strange sensations, very weird, it feels like my lungs are sticking together and heart is banging and missing beats when I take a deep breath in, head is going fuzzy and vision blurred for a second or two at a time, along with a weird feeling in the left side of my chest and my left side, a bit like pins and needles but without the actual pins and needles bit, it's hard to explain, left hand little finger and finger next to it are tingling.

It's now about an hour after I got off the bike, my pulse is now 80, the tingling in the hand has gone, but I still feel a slight bit dizzy headed and my heart is missing the occasional beat. The flat was quite warm when I was on the bike, I was drenched with sweat, maybe I was overheating/hyperventilating and going too fast for my own good, I'll try a few more miles on it tomorrow at a more sedate pace and see what happens, it did give me a bit of a fright, though. I've smoked 17 roll ups so far today, will try to only have 2 more before getting my head down, sad log for tonight:

Mar 3rd (session on exercise bike)

7.12 miles (time 00:23:47)
Total = 7.12

Miles on mountain bike = 2348.99
Miles on exercise bike = 545.62

Total miles ridden = 2894.61

Whytepeak

Stopping smoking will vastly improve your ability to keep your breath, as more of the blood going to your muscles and organs will be carrying oxygen, rather than the poisonous carbon monoxide. Around 20% of your blood is carrying carbon monoxide - so is having a negative effect on your muscles. Keep up the good work, and stop smoking and you'll get (give me a minute) 20% faster. That includes climbing the stairs aswell as riding your bike.

Keep up the progress.

Old Git On A Bike

@ Whytepeak,

I kick myself every time I ride, knowing I could do a lot more if I wasn't smoking, trust me, I really beat myself up over it, but still I continued smoking :?

That includes climbing the stairs aswell as riding your bike

Funny you should mention stairs, back in October I could fly up my stairs even after a long ride, I live on the 3rd floor and it wasn't a problem lugging the bike up on my shoulder, but after my night ride the other night, I actually had to stop on the second floor, couldn't breathe and my legs couldn't go up another step, it really annoyed me that I had got so unfit again by being off the bike for the past few months, and let the smoking take over again GRRRRRRR

Around 20% of your blood is carrying carbon monoxide - so is having a negative effect on your muscles.

Yep, I think that's exactly why my legs feel lifeless, I've got plenty of muscle on them now from the past year, but the reason those muscles are not working to anywhere near their maximum capacity is the lack of oxygen being served to them, same with my heart and any other muscles I need to use.

I must admit I did get a fright tonight on the exercise bike, that might be the extra kick in the backside that I need. I'm just smoking my last roll up of the night now, that's only 19 I have smoked today, I'll try and get it down further tomorrow, no, need to be more positive, I wont TRY and get it down, I WILL get it down!

Whytepeak

Good attitude - every week, smoke one less a day, you'll get rid of smoking in 20 weeks. Don't try to do too much at once - take it easy and you'll make progress. Good luck

OwenB

Hi, not sure if you saw my last post in this thread Old Git, but I used acupuncture to help me give up smoking, took me 6 weeks and i found it incredibly easy, I'd highly recommend it, as well as easing my cravings it really helped with my stress levels at the time.

maximus69

dont bother trying to cut down and then quit, it wont work.

i used champix in the end. no side effects. 2 weeks and quit!! well happy.

i know three people quitting this way.
one of them got really bad nightmares and felt sick when he smoked, but the other two were ok.

what have you got to lose trying it for 2 weeks

cant tell you how nice it is not having to smoke anymore. its not until you stop you realise how horrible it smells, how food tastes better blah blah blah everything you already know.

Alan Carr`s book is good but i just couldnt grasp it. puts some anti smoking thoughts in your head though so recommended

Whytepeak

Succesful ways to quit -

Effectiveness of method

---

Method
30%

---

Hypnosis
25%

---

Smoke aversion therapy
24%

---

Group withdrawal clinics
24%

---

Acupuncture
18%

---

Education
10%

---

Nicotine gum
1%

---

Doctor's advise

Old Git On A Bike

Hi all,

No riding today, when I got up I still felt a bit weird like I did last night, and it lasted throughout the day, my other half told me to stay off the bike and give it a rest, no point taking chances if I don't feel right.

On the plus side, I have just had my 11th roll up all day and that's my last one of the day, that's a bloody big difference for me if I can keep it at that level and get it down further, If I ever managed to get down to around 5 a day, I reckon I would have the willpower to just stop unaided from there.

Effectiveness of method

---

Method
30%

---

Hypnosis
25%

---

Smoke aversion therapy
24%

---

Group withdrawal clinics
24%

---

Acupuncture
18%

---

Education
10%

---

Nicotine gum
1%

---

Doctor's advise

I used acupuncture to help me give up smoking, took me 6 weeks and i found it incredibly easy, I'd highly recommend it

@ Owen and Whytepeak, accupuncture and hypnosis wouldn't work for me, I have a fear of needles, so there's no chance of anyone sticking them in me, hypnosis would also cost £, but stuff like that wont work on me. Talking about it in a group withdrawal therapy is not something I could do, I don't like having people around me due to something I suffer from, about the only thing from that list I would use is nicotine gum.

dont bother trying to cut down and then quit, it wont work. i used champix in the end. no side effects. 2 weeks and quit!! well happy.

@ Maximus, in much the same way as the methods above wouldn't help me, reading Alan Carr's book would have no effect on me either, I can't see how reading something would do anything, I'm immune to psychological stuff, I've seen many psychologists and psychiatrists over the years to do with my other health problems, none of them have had any effect on me.

Cutting down, keeping it down and quitting is probably going to be my best option if my doctor wont put me on Champix.

Old Git On A Bike

I'm still having problems with my breathing etc, phoned the doctor this morning about it to make an appointment by they are fully booked for the day, explained to the secretary about it and she phoned back to say the doctor will phone me when she finishes surgery.

At the moment I can only take a few breaths through my nose before I have gasp and breathe through my mouth, can't quite put my finger on what's wrong to describe it, feels like something blocked between my nose and lungs, because when I take a breath through the nose, it feels like the ariway is narrowed, when breathing through the mouth it doesn't feel as bad, but still not getting the air in to my lungs properly. Still getting heart missing beats and bad dizziness etc, I feel very shaky right, both hands are tingling and it feels like I'm tripping a bit, my partner is not here, she's at the dentist, only my little boy here, have told him to knock on all the doors in our block if anything happens before my other half gets back. I'll update after I have spoken to the doctor.

[edit]

That scared the crap out of me, tingling, shakes and tripping like feelings have stopped now, I'm dreading this as I know it's going to have to be a hospital visit and I don't want to know what's on my lungs, due to all the smoking and all the asbestos I breathed in at work years ago, but I can't get my head round why my lungs are suddenly doing this.

[edit]

Now after 6:00pm and no call back from the doctor, gotta love the NHS :roll:, going to have to phone the out of hours number and get a doctor out or whatever.