#11
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Race Report
Now that's a race report worth reading! Good stuff.
rms "Bob Schwartz" wrote in message ... We are the only tandem entered so we win our division. |
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#12
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Race Report
On May 2, 8:46*pm, Bob Schwartz
wrote: There is a local time trial that has been part of my early season program for many years. 16 miles, gentle rollers, always windy. When my daughter was 7 it became her first non-kids race. We have an mtb tandem that dates to the 1980s. It's a real beast but it was fairly simple to adapt it to a stokid, all it took was a pair of crank shorteners. We didn't produce a great time, but she had fun. We rode the tandem for many years, but a couple of years ago she decided she wanted to ride solo. One of those land- marks of parenting. I rode my race and then turned around to reverse the course back to her. I remember finding her at the half way point. She rode it in, and was very pleased with her age category winning time. Even though she was the only one entered in it. Last year she had a new road bike, and was discovering the fun and efficiency of narrow tires on pavement. She came into the race with pretty good form. She had had a decent ski season. She was in the middle of the Middle School results at the state championships, better at freestyle than diagonal stride. She won her division at the Rib Lake (I am not making this up) Hinder Binder, so named because of it's date just before the American Birkebeiner. The time trial's traditional date was in late April. Looking back that would have been the time we first went to the clinic to get the swelling in her neck looked at. They ran some tests that didn't show anything. The swelling was her lymphatic system, but that by itself didn't mean anything. This year we were back on the tandem. She hasn't ridden on her own since June of last year. Her balance isn't that good and her leg strength is still coming back. So we've been riding the tandem. A couple of days ago I asked if she wanted to do the race. We've been doing it for years, she wanted to go. She hasn't ridden since June. There are things that you might think are obvious, but they didn't figure it out until they pulled out a lymph node and looked at it. By then she was showing some fatigue. Not obviously, but I noticed. We would ride trails and I suspected her energy was dropping. She's lost a lot of weight in the last year. Steroids will do that. Not all steroids make you bigger. Cortico steroids have the opposite effect, they break down muscles and make you smaller. So she's smaller this year, and has lost a lot of muscle mass. She tells me she doesn't really care about our time. It's windy. It's always windy at this race. We start with a head wind and it's slow going. We make the first turn and at about the 5 mile mark she asks me if we can coast on the downhills. "My butt hurts" is what she tells me. This is no idle complaint. Like I said, she's lost a lot of muscle mass. One of the jokes we tell is that her gluteous maximus is now a minimus. As a practical matter this means she doesn't sit on a bicycle the same way she used to. Like years ago with the crank shorteners I've adapted the bike. Bumps are a very real problem, and I added a shock fork and a gel seat cover. The bike is old enough that it has a 1 inch steerer, and the fork could have only happened through ebay. It helps some, but it isn't made for a tandem. So it doesn't have a lot of travel left, especially once the fat guy gets on the front. But it helps some. The gel seat cover helps more. But even so it isn't enough and I coast on the downhills. Eventually we hit the tail wind and I alternate between winding it up and coasting. Because of the tail wind there are spots where we can coast downhill and not lose so much speed. At one point I ask her how her butt is doing, there's nothing we can do about it is what she tells me. There are many times when I've wished I could suffer through whatever she was suffering through and save her the discomfort. It doesn't work that way though. But today I can do what I can to make the finish line happen faster. There was a 7 month period where she hit the emergency room a whole bunch of times, and maybe 2 of those 7 months were spent in the hospital. A lot of the time there isn't a hell of a lot you can do except drive her to the ER and be the information portal about all the **** that is going on with her and who they need to consult with at Mayo about it. I remember when she had been in the hospital for two weeks and they suggested a transfer to Mayo because her immune system had flatlined and they suspected some stuff that I googled and thought, holy ****. So in a sense it felt comforting in this case to be able to do something involving intense physical effort that would help. When we finish I know she wants off the bike right away, so I drop her off at the registration area. I'm thinking she'll head inside where the tables and chairs are, but she ambles over to a patch of grass and that's where she lands. I head over to the car and load everything up. When I get back she hasn't moved. I grab her under her armpits and heave and she is able to head inside where the food is. She says we need to go out later and look for her butt, she thinks it fell off. We are the only tandem entered so we win our division. She has some peculiarities to her gait and as she walks up to get her award the presenter asks if her legs are sore. It isn't really the time to explain about neurological side effects from the treatment, so she just nods yes, sore legs. Her hair started growing back and while it is still quite short it is long enough to pass as something intentional. This race is full of people we see once a year so most don't see anything amiss. Just short hair and sore legs. But it's been an eventful year and sometimes courage shows up in ways that aren't very obvious. Bob Schwartz Bob, Bon courage to you and your daughter. Keep on keeping on. |
#13
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Race Report
Bob Schwartz wrote:
Bumps are a very real problem, and I added a shock fork and a gel seat cover. The bike is old enough that it has a 1 inch steerer, and the fork could have only happened through ebay. It helps some, but it isn't made for a tandem. So it doesn't have a lot of travel left, especially once the fat guy gets on the front. But it helps some. The gel seat cover helps more. 1. Try a suspension seat post for your stoker. They're very popular items and available for a wide variety of seat tube sizes. It's an affordable solution for you. For lots more money, consider also a softride beam stoker compartment - here's one: http://www.sandsmachine.com/a_cot_t1.htm 2. There are tandem-specific suspension forks although I don't know about the 1" steerer. The folks who made our tandem excel at solving bike fit issues, here's their web site: http://www.bilenky.com We own a custom single, a custom triplet, and a production tandem from Stephen Bilenky - the single was my "dream bike" and, a decade later, it still is - rides and fits me like nothing else, and I cannot recommend these folks highly enough. You might consider a Viewpoint, which has a front, recumbent stoker and an upright, rear captain, see http://www.bilenky.com/viewpnt.html 3. Consider subscribing to the tandem email list, here's a link http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/home-pages/wade/tandem.html The list subscribers include several tandem dealers and manufacturers as well as a bunch of us who just ride the things. Like any such group, it has its share of nonsense but the overall signal-to-noise ratio is very high. Hope that helps. -S- |
#14
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Race Report
"Bob Schwartz" wrote in message ... snip Good luck to you and your family. |
#15
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Race Report
Steve Freides wrote:
Bob Schwartz wrote: Bumps are a very real problem, and I added a shock fork and a gel seat cover. The bike is old enough that it has a 1 inch steerer, and the fork could have only happened through ebay. It helps some, but it isn't made for a tandem. So it doesn't have a lot of travel left, especially once the fat guy gets on the front. But it helps some. The gel seat cover helps more. 1. Try a suspension seat post for your stoker. They're very popular items and available for a wide variety of seat tube sizes. It's an affordable solution for you. For lots more money, consider also a softride beam stoker compartment - here's one: http://www.sandsmachine.com/a_cot_t1.htm 2. There are tandem-specific suspension forks although I don't know about the 1" steerer. The folks who made our tandem excel at solving bike fit issues, here's their web site: http://www.bilenky.com We own a custom single, a custom triplet, and a production tandem from Stephen Bilenky - the single was my "dream bike" and, a decade later, it still is - rides and fits me like nothing else, and I cannot recommend these folks highly enough. You might consider a Viewpoint, which has a front, recumbent stoker and an upright, rear captain, see http://www.bilenky.com/viewpnt.html 3. Consider subscribing to the tandem email list, here's a link http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/home-pages/wade/tandem.html The list subscribers include several tandem dealers and manufacturers as well as a bunch of us who just ride the things. Like any such group, it has its share of nonsense but the overall signal-to-noise ratio is very high. Hope that helps. -S- Thanks. The obstacle that cannot be overcome is that the bike isn't worth much to begin with. The other is that much is only temporary. The neurological problems will go away and as her recovery progresses her willingness to ride in the rear admiral's seat will wane as well. I am totally hosed on the fork. Suspension forks with 1" steerers are obsolete and very hard to come by. If I were to pursue that it would be to replace the stock springs with something beefier. But even that would be a lot of blind investigation since obsolete forks tend not to come with documentation. I've thought about the seat post. If we rode more distance I think I'd do it. Most rides are just back and forth to school. I had one once, and having a variable seat to pedal distance really bugged me. Bob Schwartz |
#16
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Race Report
Bob Schwartz wrote:
Steve Freides wrote: Bob Schwartz wrote: Bumps are a very real problem, and I added a shock fork and a gel seat cover. The bike is old enough that it has a 1 inch steerer, and the fork could have only happened through ebay. It helps some, but it isn't made for a tandem. So it doesn't have a lot of travel left, especially once the fat guy gets on the front. But it helps some. The gel seat cover helps more. 1. Try a suspension seat post for your stoker. They're very popular items and available for a wide variety of seat tube sizes. It's an affordable solution for you. For lots more money, consider also a softride beam stoker compartment - here's one: http://www.sandsmachine.com/a_cot_t1.htm 2. There are tandem-specific suspension forks although I don't know about the 1" steerer. The folks who made our tandem excel at solving bike fit issues, here's their web site: http://www.bilenky.com We own a custom single, a custom triplet, and a production tandem from Stephen Bilenky - the single was my "dream bike" and, a decade later, it still is - rides and fits me like nothing else, and I cannot recommend these folks highly enough. You might consider a Viewpoint, which has a front, recumbent stoker and an upright, rear captain, see http://www.bilenky.com/viewpnt.html 3. Consider subscribing to the tandem email list, here's a link http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/home-pages/wade/tandem.html The list subscribers include several tandem dealers and manufacturers as well as a bunch of us who just ride the things. Like any such group, it has its share of nonsense but the overall signal-to-noise ratio is very high. Hope that helps. -S- Thanks. The obstacle that cannot be overcome is that the bike isn't worth much to begin with. The other is that much is only temporary. The neurological problems will go away and as her recovery progresses her willingness to ride in the rear admiral's seat will wane as well. I am totally hosed on the fork. Suspension forks with 1" steerers are obsolete and very hard to come by. If I were to pursue that it would be to replace the stock springs with something beefier. But even that would be a lot of blind investigation since obsolete forks tend not to come with documentation. I've thought about the seat post. If we rode more distance I think I'd do it. Most rides are just back and forth to school. I had one once, and having a variable seat to pedal distance really bugged me. Bob Schwartz Still, suspension seat posts are a no-brainer. T@H will undoubtedly have someone looking to get rid of something suitable for your bike and your budget if you ask. I'm happy to ask for you, btw, if you just give me the seat tube diameter and tell me if it's got any sort of weird clamping mechanism. There are plenty of perfectly healthy stokers who won't ride anything else. -S- |
#17
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Race Report
Bob Schwartz wrote:
But it's been an eventful year and sometimes courage shows up in ways that aren't very obvious. Thanks for sharing and best of luck. |
#18
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Race Report
Bob Schwartz wrote:
I am totally hosed on the fork. Suspension forks with 1" steerers are obsolete and very hard to come by. By a weird coincidence, I was outbid on a used Suntour suspension fork with a 1 inch steerer a month or so ago. I'd like to think it was you that did that! |
#19
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Race Report
K. Fred Gauss wrote:
Bob Schwartz wrote: I am totally hosed on the fork. Suspension forks with 1" steerers are obsolete and very hard to come by. By a weird coincidence, I was outbid on a used Suntour suspension fork with a 1 inch steerer a month or so ago. I'd like to think it was you that did that! Nope, not me. Mine was a Buy It Now. 1" threaded steerer, and I needed it the full length. Bob Schwartz |
#20
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Race Report
Bob Schwartz wrote:
There is a local time trial that has been part of my early season program for many years. 16 miles, gentle rollers, always windy. When my daughter was 7 it became her first non-kids race. We have an mtb tandem that dates to the 1980s. It's a real beast but it was fairly simple to adapt it to a stokid, all it took was a pair of crank shorteners. We didn't produce a great time, but she had fun. We rode the tandem for many years, but a couple of years ago she decided she wanted to ride solo. One of those land- marks of parenting. I rode my race and then turned around to reverse the course back to her. I remember finding her at the half way point. She rode it in, and was very pleased with her age category winning time. Even though she was the only one entered in it. Last year she had a new road bike, and was discovering the fun and efficiency of narrow tires on pavement. She came into the race with pretty good form. She had had a decent ski season. She was in the middle of the Middle School results at the state championships, better at freestyle than diagonal stride. She won her division at the Rib Lake (I am not making this up) Hinder Binder, so named because of it's date just before the American Birkebeiner. The time trial's traditional date was in late April. Looking back that would have been the time we first went to the clinic to get the swelling in her neck looked at. They ran some tests that didn't show anything. The swelling was her lymphatic system, but that by itself didn't mean anything. This year we were back on the tandem. She hasn't ridden on her own since June of last year. Her balance isn't that good and her leg strength is still coming back. So we've been riding the tandem. A couple of days ago I asked if she wanted to do the race. We've been doing it for years, she wanted to go. She hasn't ridden since June. There are things that you might think are obvious, but they didn't figure it out until they pulled out a lymph node and looked at it. By then she was showing some fatigue. Not obviously, but I noticed. We would ride trails and I suspected her energy was dropping. She's lost a lot of weight in the last year. Steroids will do that. Not all steroids make you bigger. Cortico steroids have the opposite effect, they break down muscles and make you smaller. So she's smaller this year, and has lost a lot of muscle mass. She tells me she doesn't really care about our time. It's windy. It's always windy at this race. We start with a head wind and it's slow going. We make the first turn and at about the 5 mile mark she asks me if we can coast on the downhills. "My butt hurts" is what she tells me. This is no idle complaint. Like I said, she's lost a lot of muscle mass. One of the jokes we tell is that her gluteous maximus is now a minimus. As a practical matter this means she doesn't sit on a bicycle the same way she used to. Like years ago with the crank shorteners I've adapted the bike. Bumps are a very real problem, and I added a shock fork and a gel seat cover. The bike is old enough that it has a 1 inch steerer, and the fork could have only happened through ebay. It helps some, but it isn't made for a tandem. So it doesn't have a lot of travel left, especially once the fat guy gets on the front. But it helps some. The gel seat cover helps more. But even so it isn't enough and I coast on the downhills. Eventually we hit the tail wind and I alternate between winding it up and coasting. Because of the tail wind there are spots where we can coast downhill and not lose so much speed. At one point I ask her how her butt is doing, there's nothing we can do about it is what she tells me. There are many times when I've wished I could suffer through whatever she was suffering through and save her the discomfort. It doesn't work that way though. But today I can do what I can to make the finish line happen faster. There was a 7 month period where she hit the emergency room a whole bunch of times, and maybe 2 of those 7 months were spent in the hospital. A lot of the time there isn't a hell of a lot you can do except drive her to the ER and be the information portal about all the **** that is going on with her and who they need to consult with at Mayo about it. I remember when she had been in the hospital for two weeks and they suggested a transfer to Mayo because her immune system had flatlined and they suspected some stuff that I googled and thought, holy ****. So in a sense it felt comforting in this case to be able to do something involving intense physical effort that would help. When we finish I know she wants off the bike right away, so I drop her off at the registration area. I'm thinking she'll head inside where the tables and chairs are, but she ambles over to a patch of grass and that's where she lands. I head over to the car and load everything up. When I get back she hasn't moved. I grab her under her armpits and heave and she is able to head inside where the food is. She says we need to go out later and look for her butt, she thinks it fell off. We are the only tandem entered so we win our division. She has some peculiarities to her gait and as she walks up to get her award the presenter asks if her legs are sore. It isn't really the time to explain about neurological side effects from the treatment, so she just nods yes, sore legs. Her hair started growing back and while it is still quite short it is long enough to pass as something intentional. This race is full of people we see once a year so most don't see anything amiss. Just short hair and sore legs. But it's been an eventful year and sometimes courage shows up in ways that aren't very obvious. Bob Schwartz Best wishes for your whole family Bob. |
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