craigyboy

@TEAM-ROBOT: I agree,bikes are great but seeing your kids grow up is more important than any amount of bike riding could ever be.

I used to ride a lot and by a lot I mean 3 years in a row I was close to doing 1,000,000 feet of climbing each year. During that time I started having problems where my heart would stop for a few seconds and then start again but the beats would be random, it could last 5 mins or 5 days sometimes. It left me feeling out of breath, light headed and on a few occasions I did faint. I knew deep down really this was being caused by putting so much strain on my body alongside quite a physical job as a carpenter but instead of just taking it easier I went to see my doctor. He reffered me to cardiology who got me to wear a proper HR monitor for a week to track and they where able to tell from the data that I had artrial fribulation. AFib is very dangerous as it creates a high risk of stroke due to the heart not being able to clear de oxygenated blood and potentially causing clots. My options where beta blockers and when they could get me in for surgery a catheter ablation which is a way of entering the heart through the inner thigh and burning off the damaged tissue in the heart causing the AFib. Being quite stubborn and not liking hospitals or medicine I decided maybe I would take it easier and see how it goes. 3 years later and I am riding probably just over half as much and my heart is fine, it took about a year to settle down but I haven’t had a bout of AFib in about a year. The link between heart problems and endurance sports especially is so obvious I’m amazed more of these high level athletes aren’t having problems, the human body can do amazing things but it’s just not meant to be pushed to these levels.

Me and my brother dug those first trails in rostrevor ourselves about a decade ago, still ride and look great after all these years, no place I’d rather ride.

@bhowl: people like you are the reason I only post once every couple of year or so on this website, I need to be reminded why I shouldnt bother posting anything. It says in maybe the 5/6th paragraph “test track near Vitus HQ” I was merely stating in my own funny kinda way that in a country as wee as this one 35 mile isn’t considered near. Not trying to be negative or awkward. Great to see Kyle strait riding trails me and my brother built. That’s my pinkbike posting quota used up until at least 2024

In Belfast? More like Rostrevor 35 miles up the road on tracks me and my brother hand dug a decade or more ago, still great tracks all this time later.