Endurance Cycling

Hi Guys.
I am 56 and may have to have a pacemaker fitted due to low Heart beats in the early morning hours.
Has anyone out there done the PBP (Paris Brest Paris ) cycling event with a pacemaker?

6 Comments

An Audax Man ?

by Tattoo Man - 2012-02-27 07:02:24

Hi Chas, the answer will always be check with Your People...and then do as you jolly well please, because you want to in any case.
A friend did P-B-P a while back and realy enjoyed it..its about 1300 kilometres as I recall..I only did the Short 150 km ones..good fun stuff
Audax events are not about busting your gut so I personally see no reason why toddling round 800-odd miles over ,..what, 4 days or so is too bad. Said friend reckoned that eating well and, very importantly, getting some decent sleep..(not easy when bunked down with a gang of equally smelly riders...why is it that distance cyclists are always a bit pongy ? )

Chas, you would not be considering this event were you not in good shape...how about doing a decent length ride 60-80 miles, wear a Heart Monitor and just see how it looks.
Dont wear a metal PM Tag with an HRM because it skews the readout like crazy.

Paris-Brest-Paris should really be about enjoying the riding, the fellow riders, and not least of all, all those things that France does best...Food and Drink.

Bon chance Mon Ami

Monsieur le Tattoo

I'm With TM above...BUT...

by donr - 2012-02-27 08:02:04

...How soon after surgery do you want to do it? THAT is the key question! You want to be sure that you are fully recovered & in physical shape for the event.

Inasmuch as your shape is concerned - you need to check out your ability to perform at this level w/ a PM. If they don't have your settings right, it can be a nearly impossible struggle. IF they get them right the first time, it'll be a piece of cake. This may sound silly to an experienced cyclist - but start out w/ a RELAXED pace ONE Km ride. They could have your PM settings so badly out of correct adjustment for you that even such a short ride is impossible. At 56, the idiots that make the initial settings expect that you are what we YANKS call a "Couch potato." The key setting they mess up is your "Upper Limit." That is the HR where the PM ceases to be an active participant in your effort, stops pacing & just monitors your HR. They will set it too low, scoffing at the idea that you will ever do anything so athletic as to make your HR go above about 130 BPM. You need some idea going into the surgery as to what YOUR max HR is under exercise & ensure that is where they set your upper limit.

DO NOT expect your Cardio to smile & enthusiastically say "YES!!!". TM stole my line - w/ modifications; mine goes "Why should I tell you 'No," you'll just do it anyway." No cardio in his right mind is going to endorse anything so risky.

Root around in here for a couple posts on "Horseback riding." The risks are about the same. You get tangled up in a melee of angry bicycles that turns into a pile of extremely expensive scrap metal skittering downhill on a roughly paved road & your PM could take a whack it doesn't like.

It all depends on your physical condition & how long after surgery you choose to partake of this madness.

I did something in the same class of insanity - but about a yr later - took an 18 mile nighttime hike w/ a bunch of 18 year olds over an extremely rocky wilderness road. Hike? - it was more like a forced march! We started at about 2200 & were scheduled to finish at about 1000 next day. When walking, we went at about a 2 1/2 mile per hr clip. There were three long breaks in the hike. PM & I were doing just fine till we got to the bottom of the last LOOOOOONG uphill climb - about 4 miles to go. Jonah had more light in the belly of that whale - I accidentally veered off the "Road" & tripped over a boulder about 2 ft in diameter. Bruised my left thigh so badly I could no longer hike up hill. Was on crutches for a week. But that ended my hiking that night, except for the last 2 1/2 miles on smooth, paved road.

You want insanity? I'll give you insanity - I was 67 at the time.

Go for it! Sounds like fun.

Don

Mr Don..he wise man

by Tattoo Man - 2012-02-27 09:02:39

Chas, Don has made a very good point. I made the assumption that because you were considering P-B-P at all it was because you Pm had been in for a good while and that you had been "sorted"
When were you 'done' ?

A bienton Mon Ami

L'Homme aux Tattoos

So there you have it.

by Tattoo Man - 2012-02-28 06:02:54

Three years with a PM ,..ok this does not garuantee anything, but, if you have miles in your legs,..then just go steady.
Chas, there might be an Audax Forum....idea ?

Don is wise and informed, and I would never challenge his view, I am , simply not qualified to do so.

I come , and will, probably always, come from the 'feel' quarter

Ask those near to you..wife, partner, bezzie mate, mum , dad.. .bloke down the pub.................

How about the "Slowest P_B_P Ever" .record ??

BIke ride o f your life..who would wish for more ??

Tattoo Man

.

No but I would love to...

by COBradyBunch - 2012-03-14 02:03:11

But I have done a Triple Bypass (http://www.teamevergreen.org/triple) and a bunch of other rides. Was supposed to have two TBP's under my belt but I got hit by an SUV about 1 year after implant that cancelled that one for me (1 week was not enough time to heal from all the broken parts) but had no problems pacer wise with anything.

Dear All

by Chas W - 2012-09-27 06:09:07

A big thank you to Tattoo Man,Don and all that sent these kind thoughts and suggestions. After some 6 months or more of discussing the subject the doctors have decided to go ahead with the pacemaker. I don't plane on doing the PBP till I think 2015. It only comes around every 4 years. So after tomorrow and say about 3 weeks I will be in a better position to decide on the riding path for hear on.
Thanks once again for the advise and yes the Doctors a aware of my ambitions re sport and say and believe that all will be possible with the assistance of the pacemaker.
Cheers for now
Charlie

Aka Chas w

You know you're wired when...

You invested in the Energizer battery company.

Member Quotes

This is my second Christmas with my pacemaker and I am so happy to be with my family.