I remember it vividly. On March 12th 2020, there was a buzz about a new virus called Coronavirus (later called COVID-19) in the news. I was sitting in a seat at my doctor's office for my annual blood work. No mask on as this was far before the warnings we needed them. My nurse was complaining about her own mask and readjusting it couple of times. It was early morning and I was her first patient for the day. It was also the first day the office implemented a policy that all nurses must wear masks while working. We joked about this new "scary" virus and how it's just another case of the flu. Talk about eating our words. That very next Monday is when the USA locked down to flatten the curve. Things become very real for myself along with the whole world.
Round one of Coronavirus
That same day of getting my blood drawn, around noon, I went for a mountain bike ride. I made it halfway up the mountain and just wasn't feeling right. I figured that getting blood drawn and riding in the same day was a bad choice. With this in mind, I didn't give it two thoughts while making my way back home.
That night, things got worse. It all started with aches, pains, headache, and a low grade fever all night long. Luckily, this lasted less then twelve hours. Nevertheless, the next day I still wasn't 100%. The fever was gone, but there was a slight pressure in my chest along with a mild dry cough. The dry cough was so mild that I could have easily mistaken it for my occasional, typical cough from riding and living in a dry climate. The pressure in my chest was also very mild. Honestly, if I wasn't an athlete so in tone with my body, I might have not even noticed symptoms at all.
There was one thing that made my breathing more labored that first day. Watching a podcast with an epidemiologist talking about Coronavirus and wondering if I had it! Freaking out was yet another reason for my labored breathing that day from mini panic attacks listening to that podcast. Bad idea!
What really made it obvious that something was not right was when I tried to ride my bike. There was a clear lack of energy. I just felt like I didn't have a second gear, and trying to go any harder than an easy pace (zone 2) would cause coughing. Obviously, not a good idea in a pandemic! This lasted fourteen days.
In mid-March 2020, they were telling young healthy people to not brother getting tested. Over a phone call, my doctor confirmed the same. Thus, I knew I had something that quaked like a Coronavirus duck, looked like a Coronavirus duck, but for all I knew it could have been a Cold/Flu goose since I could not confirm with a test. Therefore, I just went along as presumptive positive and acted accordingly. Although I still rode, I spent that time wearing a face covering, picking times of the day that were less busy, and routes with zero other people. Many of those times I was more at risk of being hit by a car than dying of the virus, but it was a risk I was willing to take to stay away from other people.
Round one of Coronavirus — TKO!
After fourteen days of mild Coronavirus symptoms, I finally felt better! However, that feeling only lasted for a five whole days. Then, just like exiting the eye of hurricane, the storm returned. And it returned with a fiery!
Round two of Coronavirus was a complete TKO! Just like round one, it all started with a mild grade fever through the night that lasted less than twelve hours. That night was a little worse then round one, but not too bad.
This time after waking up from a fever filled night, symptoms were far more pronounced. A very prominent, very scary, severe shortness of breath. It felt like I was standing in high elevation. And I'm talking standing on top of Mt Everest elevation, not just a Colorado 14er!
Luckily, this severe shortness of breath only lasted a couple of days. You know, just a couple of days of the scariest days of my life! Afterwards, I was far from being out of the water. My energy was completely knocked out! Making it up the stairs was a challenge, let alone biking that first week. During week two, I managed to get some riding in, but they were very short sessions on my rollers on my back patio.
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| Me riding during Coronavirus round two |
Round two lasted fifteen more days. After thirty-five days from start to finish, my battle with Coronavirus symptoms ended April 15th 2020. But my battler with the aftermath of the virus was just beginning.
Cancellations and disappointments
Even after having the virus, I was hopeful to still race in the summer of 2020. The first couple of weeks after the virus were filled with failure. I couldn't even perform a tempo ride let alone anything harder. Nonetheless, that didn't stop me from trying. Even with the failures, each week was getting better.
Race cancellations in late Spring were a blessing to me as it gave me more time to train. But even after weeks of attempts to get my performance back up, I still didn't have it in my to do the Salida Big Friggin Loop in mid-June. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that was the only race that would go down for awhile that summer. I then spent weeks resetting my training as each race was cancelled, and I hoped the next would happen. Once again though, races being cancelled was a blessing in disguise to me as you will soon find out.
Running on a low battery
Finally, in August 2020 I got the opportunity to race that year. I always knew the Monarch Mind Bender is an absolute beast and one I had been avoiding. A race that beastly in August never appealed to me years prior. Although this may be true, it was the only circus in town, and this clown wanted in! Besides, at that point I had more riding hours in me than any other year I've been racing.
My Instagram post from that race day best describes the carnage:
Absolutely the toughest day I've ever had on the bike! The Monarch Mind Bender was a challenge beyond challenges. This wasn't a race, it was a spiritual awakening for me! There had to have been a higher power on my shoulder that day, because I'm still not sure how I made it through. Right off the bat, I knew I didn't have the lungs to be entering such a tall order. Without going into details, I'll just say it's been a long and challenging year for this athlete — which hell, it's been so for all of us!
Regardless, with this being the first and only race I would enter for 2020, I was determined to make it through. Although I have to admit I considered bailing multiple times during the ride. The first major time I considered quitting is about 5 hours into the ride. I had already ridden 75km (46 mi), and I could have easily hopped on hwy 285 to my vehicle. Instead, I started my journey up Marshall Pass Road into the wind that was pushing in a rain cloud my direction. I did so knowing I was only halfway done with the ride. I prayed the rain would pass over and miss me. It did not. It started raining when I had about 2km left on the climb, and the temp dropped to 39°F (3.8°C). Even with arm warmers, knee warmers, and a wind jacket I was freezing cold. I then prayed it was pass over — that prayer was heard! Not before waiting out the rain for about 25 mins at the aid station at the top of Marshall pass with my teammate Scott who was in the same freezing position.
At that point I was kicking myself for not quitting on hwy 285, and convinced that I was going to find the quickest way to my warm SUV. To do so, we needed to head down the mountain one way or another. The quickest option was down a dirt road to Marshall Pass Road back to hwy 285. The other option was to climb a little more, then down singletrack which followed the race course, and then down Marshall Pass Road. Scott convinced me to do the singletrack and kindly stuck by my side as I was in worse freezing condition then him. He endured my slow legs, and me fixing a flat (tire plugs FTW!) on the descent. I'm extremely thankful to have such an awesome teammate!
Once we reached the bottom of the singletrack, the sun had been out for awhile during the descent. Consequently, we were both dry and warm. We had the choice to continue with our plan of bailing, or make our why back up to the aid station along the race course. We both decided to keep going, and I released Scott from his anchor that was my slow 🍑.
It was another hour climb back to the same aid station. The sun felt so warm and inviting though that I didn't care about my stinging lungs and legs. Once at the aid station, I thanked them once again for letting me not die of hypothermia — after all, they let me sit in there van with the heater on! I was then on the last leg of the climb out. It was another hour going at a 🐢 pace up past tree line. In addition, I broke my chain and needed to fix it with only a couple meters of climbing to go. At that point I was laughing and smiling since a broken chain was just another challenge to over come. Anyway, the sky was blue and the sun was shining down so I was feeling grateful. After the fix, it was a short climb to the last descent. What a descent it was! My legs were shot, and it was now time for the rest of my body to follow suite. Rocks, roots, tech section after tech section. Every big rock hit my back ached. Every drop my abs muscles cramped. My hands seized over and over again. Every chance I got I stretched out my hands before entering another rough section to navigate. By the end it was a series of me grunting out loud and gritting my teeth waiting for it to be over. I have never been happier to see a dirt road in my life! Of course, the very last section of dirt road was wash boarded badly to give one last jab to a tough day. But dammit, I made it!
Ride time was about 10 hrs 20 mins (I accidentally hit pause on my bike computer while fixing my flat and didn't realize until the bottom of the descent so not 100% sure). Elapsed time was 11 hrs 49 mins. Compared to prior years, that time was garbage. Compared to my challenges in 2020, just completing the event was a blessing! Feeling very grateful and blessed (not to mention sore) today after that one!
Lung scarring
What I didn't mention in that post from the Monarch Mind Bender was my lungs weren't 100% because of lung scarring from the coronavirus from months prior. I literally, quote, "didn't have the lungs to be entering such a tall order." It got really scary that day on the last climb when my lungs felt like they did during the worse day of the virus. I was fortunate to get to the end of that race, and hopeful I didn't cause more damage.
After that race is when I shut it all down. All I could do was stay off the bike as long as possible and prayer my lungs came back. Mostly, the only riding I did in September 2020 was riding Nolan to school. Then I slowly started ramping it up in October 2020 to start off the 2021 training year.
Origins
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when I caught the virus, but I'm fairly confident it was on Friday, March 6th. My family and I went to a jazz festival in downtown Denver. Denver got hit pretty hard by the virus, so it makes sense I would have caught it there. I was surrounded by a lot of people indoors. Thus, the viral load I received could have been pretty high if several people had it, which is fairly likely at the time.
The next day, I rode a big six hour ride to finish out a three week training block before a recovery week. Therefore, my immune system was trashed. The combination of the possibly high viral load and lower immune system from training would explain the severity of my symptoms.
Why now?
It has taken me a very long time to decide to go public with my experience with coronavirus. Early on, when I first had the virus, there were so many unknowns. As a result, I felt there was a strong stigma surrounding the virus and people who had it. Still, as I write this, I don't feel fully comfortable telling my story. If you had read between the lines in some of my Instagram posts during that time, you may have been able to tell what was going on. I just couldn't come out and say it bluntly. There were times I wanted to scream it from a building top. Keeping it from the world has felt like keeping a dirty secret. Telling my story feels like a weight lifted off my chest. And I know a thing or two about pressure on my chest after that nasty virus!
Long term effects
If you're an athlete, here's the question you're dying to know. What about the long term effects!? Is getting COVID-19 an athlete's career ender? Here's my personal experience.
After my time off in September, I came back at it in October slowly easing my way into it. In November, I ramped things up and had a solid month of training. By late November, I had one of my best performance field tests. Since then, my training has be super solid, and my numbers are looking strong. Although much of 2020 I was riding on limited lung capacity, I still put in a lot of riding hours. Thus, my legs were getting stronger even though my lungs still were lagging. The result seems to be that once my lungs came back into form, my power is better than ever. If there are long term effects from COVID-19 past my original several months of lung scarring, I have not noticed them thus far.
With that being said, it all comes down to race day. No training can test nor stress the system the way a races does. We'll find out this coming weekend at the 2021 Gunnison Growler.
Gratefulness
Although my battle with Covid-19 has been long fought, I feel incredibly grateful it was not worse. I often wonder what would have happened if I was not an athlete. How much worse would it have effected me? I would not wish upon anyone to have the same experience as I endured, and realize my experience is far better than the loved ones we have all lost. RIP Uncle Mike.
Regardless, in a strange way I do not regret having the virus. It gave me a different perspective during the pandemic knowing that I had already survived it. I wasn't afraid of it for myself any longer. I'm grateful that at the time of this writing that the vaccines are available for anyone that chooses to receive them. Hopefully this means a return to normal, and return to racing shoulder to shoulder with friends.
