Caution, Bicycling may cause heart problems.

I had been riding now for several months. I had lost 20 pounds, and was down to like 2 or 3 cigs a day.

Jason (Brother-in-Law) and I signed up for this race called the Tour De Tucson. It was a ride around the perimeter of Tucson, 109 miles. When you read about it you find out that you can get different medals for different times. If you finish with in this time you get Gold, this time is Silver, and this time is Bronze. There is an elite category above all these it's called PLATINUM you have to ride 109 miles in 5hrs or less.

Jason and I were training one summer day in August, it was 116. We were riding around the McDowell Mountains, I felt a flutter in my heart, I remember thinking thats weird...it went away and I did not think about it too much more. A couple days after that ride I was still feeling the flutter, I got worried went to the hospital. It was a common pvc. A lot of people suffered from them. I went to a cardiologist to help monitor the situation. He suggested that we do a stress test, he found what he thought was a clogged artery. Crap, he suggested we do an angiography. They run a catheder up through your leg all the way to your heart. Doc said no riding, this was September, 2 months before the Tour De Tucson I ended up missing an entire month of riding.

I did not have a blocked artery, it's whats known as a myocardial bridge. Basically, one of my arteries dips into the heart muscle early, when the heart beats it cuts off blood. I need to be careful about getting my heart rate too high, which is difficult when riding a bike the way we do.

Jason and I came up with a term: Honking...its a Heart Bonk. This is what happens to me when I get my heart rate too high, I cut the blood flow and black out. I have done this 3 times in my life, two of the times I did not know what happened, the 3rd was after my angio, so I knew what caused it. While in the hospital, My lovely wife said that I could upgrade my bike, Yeah, nothing like a little heart scare to get what I want.

Upgrade bike,Specialized Tarmac...check. This was a significant upgrade from the Allez as Don informed me afterwards, He said the Allez is the Yugo and I just bought a Lexus. The scary thing is that they make Ferrari's and Lambo's as well. Out of my price range though.