Hi, I'm new to the forum. I am 36 years old ('of advanced maternal age,' they tell me) and have not had any children yet. One reason for putting off starting a family is that I am still working on a dissertation that I hope to finish by the end of this calendar year. In the past year, I have really gotten into road cycling. I got a new bike in Feb. 2004, which I love (my previous one never fit me right and made my neck/shoulders hurt almost invariably). Over the summer I started doing more group rides, mainly charity-type rides. At the end of the summer I hooked up with some women who ride and have been gung-ho ever since (I could never keep up with my husband and usually rode solo prior to that). We have ridden all through the winter (off-season?? what off-season?), thanks to relatively warm SC weather. I'm currently training for the Assault on Mt. Mitchell (crazy century with 30-mile climb at the end) in May and l'Etape du Tour (a stage of the Tour de France that goes into the Pyrenees) in July. My husband and I plan to try to get pregnant after that.
So here's my question: if we are lucky enough to get pregnant, how is this going to affect my riding? How long can I ride though pregnancy? How safe/unsafe is it? How long after giving birth will it be before I even want to get on a bike? Of course I will discuss it with my doctor, but I am afraid of hearing that I shouldn't ride at all. I hate to think of losing all this fitness that I have gained.
Thanks for your thoughts/advice.
