Lennard –
I am still riding that most excellent bike you built for me. I just finished a 40 mile ride in the last hour. That bike fits me like no other bike I’ve ever ridden. It’s almost like an elixir – my body just feels better after being on that bike.
You mentioned your arrhythmia – in 2010, i was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation which turned into heart failure. Long story short – I was cardio-converted (heart stopped, restarted) then a permanent fix of catheter ablation was performed. During the month where I was completely incapacitated, I did a lot of research regarding long time endurance athletes and the link to later arrhythmias.
My doctor determined that I had a first exposure to Epstein Barr (causes mono) just prior to that at age 51 and the literature shows that upon a late first exposure on occasion, the virus attacks the heart. He believes that my condition was caused by this virus, not my athletic history. After 6 months, my heart healed and supposedly, I have no long term effects from this. However, I still can’t let go of the possibility that all those years of training and racing had something to do with this. And I still get periods of palpitations, sometimes of concerning duration.
Jim Kruse told me about your book; I intend to buy a copy to read.
As for e-bikes, recently, I just rode one for the first time and I was impressed. I am not quite at the point where I want to get one but I believe an e-bike is in my future. I will peruse your site to get info on this.
Bottom line: the bike you built for me feels like none other that I’ve ever ridden. It’s got over 50k miles on it (20k in long bike trips); best bang for the dollar I’ve ever spent.
