Desperado Dual

[Tater]

Wow! Well done! Hope the various aches and pains heal soon.

[spokewench]

Here's another one I will never do - 200 miles in one day !!!

I can already feel the pain. Way to go that is quite an accomplishment!

[yellow]

I'm a rebel? Really?

Well, today I can feel my pinky (it's still a little tingly) and I think I can feel that area of my back that's numb a wee bit. I sat in the cruel seat in the jacuzzi this a.m. and by gosh I could feel a jet hitting the left side.

MP, interesting about the contacts thing and endurance cycling. No amount of drops seemed to help during that latter part of the ride or even afterwards. It might have been a combination of the wind and contacts. In any case, it was a pretty big deal problem. Not being able to see is not good. Thankfully I could see enough to focus on the wheel/bike in front of me. My eyes are fine now though a little "gummy" still.

I woke up feeling pretty good today, and after the jacuzzi and about 40 minutes of stretching, I decided to go for an easy mountain bike spin on the singletrack here by my house. Did the climb up, legs felt strong, and I wasn't really tired. Rode across the top and got to the part where you have to ride down into the canyon. There is a section there that has gotten pretty loose and dusty and it has big round rocks/boulders about 6-10" in diameter strung about. Next thing I know I'm flying off the side of the bike and hit the ground--on my feet. But in the process I twisted my left ankle, though not badly. I was able to finish the ride OK and now I'm sitting here with it elevated and wrapped in ice. This is the exact same spot where a gal I know broke her hand about a month ago.

Good thing that didn't happen last week!

[maillotpois]

Hey Yellow, what sort of contacts do you use?? Are they disposable? Lenses you generally sleep in at night?

Mine are disposable, one month lenses, and I sleep in them every night. Maybe one night total per month I will take them out - but most of the time I do not remove them EVER (don't tell my eye doc would not be happy.)

Anyway, I seem to recall having an issue like that come up on some ride - where everything got sort of white-ish and I really couldn't see. For the life of me, I can't remember what ride that was (I don't think it was a double or the 600k). I generally dispose of my lenses after a double or super long ride because it does seem to take something extra out of them. I generally wear my one month lenses for 5 - 6 week (don't tell), but then after a double or whatever, they may not last a month.

[yellow]

Hey Yellow, what sort of contacts do you use?? Are they disposable? Lenses you generally sleep in at night?

They are disposable something-or-other. I take them out every night and usually wear them for 4 weeks. I put in a new pair for this ride as I was at week 3.5 or something close to that and I figured it wouldn't hurt to have shiny new lenses.

I was never able to get used to glasses even for everyday wear and don't see myself going that route. I'd do Lasik in a heartbeat if I had the $$ to have it done at some place like UC Davis. Guess I need to start sending you California girls $10 a week to invest in the lottery for me!

[maillotpois]

I'm with you on the glasses. I scratched my cornea last year while coaching a group for the Tucson ride. I couldn't wear my contacts for a few weeks - it was hell riding in a pace line in glasses. No peripheral vision. I couldn't look back for cars, felt like I was going off the side of the road. I really felt like a liability, so I put myself at the rear of the pace line, off to the side, for all the rides.

Maybe ask your eye person if there's a lens with a higher water content or something that may be a better interim alternative.

FWIW, I use Focus night & day lenses.

[jobob]

I wear the one-day disposable lenses. My eyes gunk up very easily and these have worked out great for me.

After a long ride ("long" for me being, oh, 60-ish miles cough cough ) I'll often have that gunky film over my contacts so it's really great to be able to pop them out and put in a fresh pair.

They're kind of pricey, but maybe you can use them just for your long rides, and your 30-day contacts the rest of the time?

[Shiraz]

You are amazing!! What an accomplishment!! Glad you are feeing better! Thanks for sharing your story and pictures.

[downhilldiva]

Hi Yellow! I talked to a couple of people without contacts that said they had the halo thing last year on Lotoja but they thought it was because of the snow. I asked one of my doctors here. He said "you rode your bike 206 miles and you want to know what is wrong with you?" Ha ha. One real theory is that dehydration can cause swelling and if they eye swells enough it can cause weird vision things.

BTW I'm glad you are okay from your mountain bike fall. I spent a lot of the summer avoiding the mountain bike just for that reason. Now I miss it!

[8bit]

Congrats on your first double- I'm pretty sure it won't be your last. About the contacts issue, it might be less fuss to just go with glasses and prescription sunglasses. I have a pair of sunglasses with the curved Oakley lenses and they're absolutely amazing. They're pricey and take a few weeks to get made, but it's like putting on a pair of 3-D glasses. I've always had problems with depth perception so it took me a few hours in the sunglasses to get used to being able to place things in space without bobbing my head around like an idiot. They can make lenses in just about any color with a whole bunch of coatings to fit most of the Oakley frames, the work is top-notch and my sunglasses one of the things I wouldn't imagine going anywhere without.

The issues that you encounter with using glasses instead of contacts mainly occur when it's wet, you get speckles and sometimes the insides fog. The best way I've found to counter this is using a no-fog cloth and some vigorous rubbing or the little tins of 'Cat Crap' that you can find at REI or similar places. I find the prep and care involved in avoiding the fog issue on glasses preferable to the chance of losing a contact on a fast descent. I had that happen once and barely avoided crashing at 40+ mph- I'm not inclined to repeat that.