Hi - My name is Jim and I just signed up. I’m 50 yrs old and I’m in the middle of a comeback from chronic illness. I’ve never been a triathlete but I used to do quite a bit of endurance riding in 1994 and 1995. But due to a hormonal disorder (pituitary failure) I went from 180 lbs in 1995 until I maxed out at 330 lbs last November. I am now at 209 lbs and still losing weight…
I have a Softride Rocketwing that I bought in 1999 hoping that before long I would finally be well enough and light enough to ride it. But my illness went mis-diagnosed for years and the Rocketwing sat in my living room year-after-year unridden - collecting dust…
Friends told me I should just sell it because I hadn’t ridden a bike in years. But I told them countless times that someday I would finally ride that bright red racing bike collecting dust in my living room…
I finally began to get effective treatment in September 2004. I started out riding my Trek around the block last November. I set a goal of riding the Rocketwing in the local 4th of July 50-mile ride. But that would require dropping at least 120 lbs in 8 months…
Well, after several months of rebuilding my muscles and cardiovascular conditioning - and dropping 120 lbs - I completed the Scripps Ranch Old Pros 4th of July 50-miler…and I rode my Rocketwing. Finally after all these years of being sick, I’m beginning to return to being the REAL me…
My interest now is to compete in the time-trials at Fiesta Island here in San Diego. I just started my time-trial training by doing a 10-mile baseline ride a few days ago and averaged 22mph in 10-12mph winds. My hope is that after a few more months of training and dropping another 30 lbs or so that I can improve my speed. But frankly, just being ABLE to train is like a dream come true…
I’ve been picking up some good tips from this forum and I’m really excited about taking my fitness to the highest level possible! I have HED3 wheels on my Rocketwing and will buy a disk before too long.
I have been following the Body-For-Life program and created a slideshow in Windows Media Player that shows my progress photos. Here’s the link http://jimsplace.typepad.com/BFL_2005.wmv
I look forward to being a ‘real endurance athlete’ that can contribute to the forum…
"I look forward to being a ‘real endurance athlete’ that can contribute to the forum… "
Sir, really- you must see the irony in your last sentence. Considering what you have been through and what you have accomplished, you are one of the toughest, most determined and dedicated endurance athletes on this forum.
It is interesting to read your post- you speak of “the real you” and returning to it. You are an endurance athlete- to your core. The fact that you were able to meet the challenges you have with the strength, courage and determination that you have and acheive what you have so far is much more impressive than any triathlon finish.
There was no T-shirt, no finisher’s medal, no crowd waiting at the finish for you as you slogged away through the drudgery of illness and health challenges. You did that on your own, against the odds and never gave in.
That Sir, is a true endurance athlete. And you are already there.
Some people have the fortune of abundant genetic gifts and the blessing of good health and good parents. Some don’t. It is the person who’s soul and character carry the banner of athleticism and perserverance high that is the real endurance athlete, regardless of finish tmes and podium places.
What you’ve acheived is incredible, make no mistake about it. I admire it. When I read about people like you I often ownder if I could muster 1/10th the courage and determination given the same circumstances.
Amazing. Thanks for puttig that story up here. It was the first thing I read today, this morning, and your determination and fortitude are infectious.
Stick around my friend. We need folks like you, and there are precious few.
Welcome. I can’t even fathom having the discipline to lose 120 pounds. You are way ahead of the game for “just” accomplishing that. If you can do that, you can do almost anything.
By the way, I think the seat is likely too high on your Softride.
My kudos to you! Keep pedaling and keep posting. You will find lots of folks here who are dealing with health issues who are always willing to give words of encouragement if you start feeling down.
Thanks Tom for your kind and supportive reply. It really helps me put things in perspective…
Frankly, I felt a real lump in my throat and tears in my eyes… I know that there is still a lot of pent-up emotion inside… You are so right. The reality is that I’ve been in a form of endurance training for a very long time. How painful it is to live in a body that is so inconsistent with who you are as a person. Over the years I’m sure I appeared to be out of touch with reality being over 300 lbs and telling friends that I was actually an athlete at heart. Often, I was told to ‘be more realistic’, ‘grow up’,‘quit living in the past’ and in many ways to just settle for less… But I refused to let go of my ‘unrealistic’ dreams… In the whole scheme of things it is just a bike, but the Rocketwing was symbolic of my belief that someday this long winter season would end and spring would finally blossom… In my book, if you lose your dreams, you lose your life…
Doctors pushed me to have bariatric surgery to drop the weight but my reply was always “Just get me well-enough to ride my bike…and I’ll do the rest…” And even well-intentioned friends implied for years that the illness was all in my head and that I just needed to be tougher…they had no idea how much effort it took for me just to get through the day…
As difficult and frustrating as it has been coping with the illness, I feel that perhaps the experience gives me an advantage from a mental toughness and determination perspective. A friend of mine commented yesterday that it must have taken tremendous effort and determination to have completed the 50-mile 4th of July ride… “Yeah, about as much effort as it used to take me just to go to the store and get groceries…”
Thank you all for your kind replies. I can’t express how great it feels to be hanging out with you guys after years of simply feeling isolated.
Don’t get me wrong - I have some good friends that I enjoy spending time with but none of them are athletic and most are overweight. They have never understood or supported my passion for fitness. And the last 10 years of being sick they have treated me as if I was just foolish to talk about riding in time-trials - when I weighed over 300 lbs and hadn’t ridden a bike in years. I suppose they were just trying to help me by encouraging me to ‘face reality’ but it made me feel pretty darn isolated!
I hope that my example also inspires others who may be sitting on the sidelines to dare to dream again… and to realize that it is never too late to give it one more try…
My dad had a tumor removed from his pituitary, they went in through his nose, cut through the back of his sinuses to get to it. I thought it all very odd.
The tumor changed the profile of hormones getting into the blood and the effects were profound but not overnight so it took a while to figure out. I guess since the tumor grew slowly, but when they removed it the change was very quickly close to his old self.
Kevin – It’s very individual. The treatment normally is to replace the hormones that the pituitary is no longer instructing the relevant glands to produce. Since I have complete pituitary failure, I take all the hormones.
This condition is one of the hardest to diagnose. I was told for years that my fatigue, exhaustion and weight gain were due to depression, aging, attitude, blah, blah, blah!
My guess is that your Dad will at some point need to take at least one hormone.
