back to a group ride

 I led a ride today for the club; my first in about six weeks. The ride was about 32 miles; with my trips to and from home, I went about 38 miles.

 To regular riders, that won't sound like much. To me, though, it was huge.

 If you read my last post, you may remember that I was having trouble due to a hypertension medication that was slowing me down. I could barely finish the 30-mile ride I did that day; I was dropping off the back of the group and had to stop and rest often after the stop. 

Subsequently, I saw my doctor again. I tried to get him to take me off the medication that slowed my heart, but he did not agree to that (my blood pressure numbers are still problematic). He did cut that medication in half, and added another medication, a centrally acting alpha-2 adrenergic agonist, to go along with the angiotensin II receptor blocker I've been on for some time with no complaint. I was to split the beta blocker morning and evening, and take the other two medications once a day.

The medication he added is called clonidine. I took one dose, and it sorely and severely affected me. I had all of the symptoms of a bad flu except the respiratory effects - but I did have bone aches, arthralgia, weakness throughout my body, poor focus (I surely should not have been driving that day!), and insomnia. 

Clonidine was a drug we used in the 1980's and 90's to treat opiate withdrawal, because the reported side effects sounded like they would ease opiate-withdrawal symptoms. Clonidine was famously ineffective for withdrawal, though. And if it did to the poor opiate patients what it did to me... we should never stop apologizing to them.

I stopped the clonidine immediately. And I moved both doses of the beta blocker to nighttime, figuring that if I'm trying to sleep, slowing my heart might actually be beneficial. And I started doing short rides four or five times a week. 

I slowly started getting stronger, until I could do my short rides at a pace that was as fast as I could do them before. And even though they were short, this week I felt like I had enough stamina to complete a group ride.  So I posted a 32-mile group ride, at a pace I thought I could manage for today.

I limited the ride to fifteen, and it filled up; I had a club member contact me to see if he could drag along! And then I had five or six cancellations. Still, I wound up with eleven to start.

When I got to the planned start, though, the park was closed! There was a firetruck rally, of all things.

 

My riders found their way to one of the available lots, though, and we left from there.

 

 I like this route, although some of it is traffic-y: it goes over roads with which I'm familiar, and it's not too hilly. a couple of the riders said they liked it, too.

We stopped at the Bagel Bazaar in Dayton (which used to have other names...):

 And from there back to the start, including fighting a headwind on which I had not counted.

For me, it was quite a good ride. It was a good mix of people I knew well,  and people I did not. They were friendly with one another, and rode together well.

And it was a personal victory. For much of the time, I was leading from the front; I never fell far behind; and while I was tired at the end, I was able to take care of my usual other responsibilities today...

...including writing this post. Thanks for checking in. You can check out the ride page.