Bike to Breathe Day 1 - This Morning My Adventure Begins!
This morning my 2015 Bike to Breathe adventure begins! But, prior today, many, many hours of training were put into this. One old saying I've repeated in my head over and over has been "you have to get the start line before you can get to the finish line" – meaning I had to keep myself healthy to get to today! And, I as you can see, I made it! Pre and post-transplant training differs quite a bit and I seem to have adjusted after three years with these new lungs. Although I can breathe, my transplant has brought on some new challenges to deal with, including diabetes, which I never had before. In addition to monitoring my daily sugar levels, I have a daily regimen of anti-rejection pills and I need to deal with some of their side effects.
Today, my routine was no different than my training one, as I knocked put almost 70 miles with Em. Since it was raining, we delayed the start a little bit, knowing we'd still make it to Rockland, Maine in plenty of time. When I woke up at about 5 AM I immediately started drinking water – I drank roughly 2 bottles to be sure I was well hydrated. Then, I did some stretching for about a half hour, had a large breakfast that consisted of oatmeal with bananas, a bagel and some yogurt. Lastly, I made sure to take all of my necessary medications.
Even though the rain held up throughout the ride, the wind was relentless and the hills seemed endless. This year I was adamant about incorporating tons of hills in my training schedule, but the only thing I can say is that you can NEVER train enough for hills... Grrrr…
Em and I stopped about 25 miles into the 500 at Acadia National Park in Maine for a rest and this gave me some time to take a cocktail of pills – Cellcept (anti-rejection), Prograf (anti-rejection) and Prednisone (steroid). I also caught up with our team who's traveling with us the whole way – Rich, Mike H., Chris and "Lumberjack Mike" – and they showed me a picture of Boomer wearing his Bike to Breathe shirt today during the Boomer & Carton Show and also had me listen to some clips of the commercials Boomer did for NY Presbyterian and Bike to Breathe. It was cool. Even though I'm feeling kinda slow today, with this support, I was re-energized and hopped back on my bike to finish off the day!
The hills and wind continued, along with some fog and then the sun. I had to get off of my bike and get put some sun tan lotion on. Another side effect of my transplant is protecting everything from the possibility of infection since my immune system is impacted by the anti-rejection drugs and my skin is extremely vulnerable – being the biggest and most exposed organ. Otherwise, we met some great people along the way and we had a very pleasant supervise when Em's friend John spotted the van and us and followed us into the town of Belfast, Maine! Always good to see people we know along the way!
We finished the day at 67 miles in 5 hours and 18 minutes – it was a little slower than I anticipated, but not a bad day at all. Next up for me now is to rest, hydrate, eat and get ready for Day 2, when we'll take off to Portland, Maine!
Until tomorrow…
