I am 45, have been road biking for 6 years, and am (was) in great shape. My average speed on my group's weekly rides was 18-20 mph here in hilly NC on a Trek 5200. I was also training for a TT this October. In July I was dusting everyone up a long hill when - BOOM - outta nowhere I had a major MI that required a coronary bypass that night. It was caused by the dissection of my LAD artery within a myocardial bridge (part of my LAD dipped into my heart muscle). I am on 25mg Toprol, 2.5mg Altace, and Aspirin. My recovery has been slow and difficult because I am a small guy, so they had to open me up a long way compared to most people they get.
A few questions for any other cyclists out there with bypasses. I realize I will never race now, and no TTs are in my future (and I had just bought a new set of Easton Tempest IIs too that are still in the box!), but what are my chances of being able to hang with my buds next year? What are your experiences with this? Are you still on medications (my normal BP was 110/65 and I have no artery disease, but I'm on these meds "to heal my heart" as the Cardio Doc put it)? I guess I'm just looking for a pep talk as I'm pretty bummed about this whole thing. Cycling, and cycling hard was a real passion of mine and my major stress relief in life.
I start cardio rehab next week. I'm not sure how that will go as these meds really sap my energy, but I'm hoping it will give me a better outlook on life. I also have an echo stress test coming up in November.
Oh yeah, word to the wise. If you're an older rider and thinking of stepping up your training (that's what I did), please see your doc first. If I had done that, they may have found that myocardial bridge that I didn't know about (and 25% of the population may have this). All my life I was always told I had a benign heart murmur, when in fact I had a time bomb in my chest.
A few questions for any other cyclists out there with bypasses. I realize I will never race now, and no TTs are in my future (and I had just bought a new set of Easton Tempest IIs too that are still in the box!), but what are my chances of being able to hang with my buds next year? What are your experiences with this? Are you still on medications (my normal BP was 110/65 and I have no artery disease, but I'm on these meds "to heal my heart" as the Cardio Doc put it)? I guess I'm just looking for a pep talk as I'm pretty bummed about this whole thing. Cycling, and cycling hard was a real passion of mine and my major stress relief in life.
I start cardio rehab next week. I'm not sure how that will go as these meds really sap my energy, but I'm hoping it will give me a better outlook on life. I also have an echo stress test coming up in November.
Oh yeah, word to the wise. If you're an older rider and thinking of stepping up your training (that's what I did), please see your doc first. If I had done that, they may have found that myocardial bridge that I didn't know about (and 25% of the population may have this). All my life I was always told I had a benign heart murmur, when in fact I had a time bomb in my chest.