Conference noted::bicycle

    
    Cathy Ellis, women's winner of the 1991 Race Across AMerica, has
    an asthmatic condition.  She won the event as a rookie on a course
    that included three Colorado mountain passes between 9000' and 11000'.
    (Clearly, she's done other events as well.)
    
    So that's a success story for you, and a possible reference.  She lives
    in Cambridge, Mass.
    
    -john

Mike,

She might need to slow down a bit. I get exercise induced asthma in the winter.
It's brought on by the cold. Breathing too hard closes up the airway. The first
time this happened to me I was finishing up a sprint during a club ride. Just 
when I needed to get a few good gulps of air, WHAM! The airway closed up. I 
thought I was going to pass out.

Try going out really slow and have a fun time talking. Nothing in the least bit 
hard. Get a few rides in before you pick up the pace. See if she can get through
this type of riding without any asthma attacks. 

After a few rides without any attacks she'll be more at ease while riding 
which is very important. Make sure she stays relaxed. Ride where there is no 
traffic, make sure the bike fits her....etc.

After a while she'll train her body to accept riding harder and the asthma won't 
kick in. 

Keep the inhaler handy. While it won't stop an attack it will lessen the stress 
that the chest goes through.

T

    Thanx for the input.  We live in a very hilly area so I guess we'll
    throw the bikes on my roof rack.  She doesn't have much patience and
    gets upset with me everytime we ride even though I try to help her
    "pedal circles", shift properly, etc.  We can't go fast enough yet
    for drafting so I guess I'll just let her go and I'll follow. 
    
     I try to let it "bounce off" I
    hope she does get better wind so that we can continue to ride together
    on my off days.  It is good for recovery.
    
    

    
    Nice sentiments.  She's lucky to have such an understanding guy.
    
    Another slant: cross-training?  Can she maybe do some runs by herself,
    to build up aerobic and cardiovascular conditioning?
    
    -john

    this may not apply to her, but I found that when I first started out,
    I tended to get annoyed and discouraged by the advice on technique,
    etc. that my fiance offered me.  He meant it all with the best of
    intentions, but I found it turned cycling into such work, when I
    wanted to enjoy it.  I was listening so hard to him, and worrying
    so hard about technique, that I didn't have any energy left to 
    listen to what my own body was telling me.
    
    Once I got him to stop offering constant advice, I was able to 
    develop my own rhythm and feel for the sport, and enjoyed myself
    a whole lot more.  And he'd offer the advice when we were *off* the
    bikes, one thing at a time...so that I had something to incorporate
    into my rides at my own pace.  now I offer him advice ;^)
    
    She might benefit from finding other people to ride with who ride
    more at her level, both to get more training time in, and to build
    confidence by not always "holding you back".
    
    Cheryl

I can recommend two very good pulmonary specialists in Nashua:

	Dr Stephanie Wolf-Rosenblum
	Dr William Stephan

I can also recommend a book called "Asthma & Exercize" by Nancy Hogshead and
Gerald Couzens. (Nancy Hogshead is an asthmatic who won three medals for
swimming at the LA Olympics.) The book contains a wealth of information on
asthma and how to exercise while having the condition to improve your overall
health. 

It also does a great job dispelling harmful misperceptions people have
regarding asthma. Such as asthma being pschosomatic or caused by emotional
stress. This makes it particularly good reading for non-asthmatics who wish to
understand the disease and those affected by it. 

There is also a chapter on exercise-induced bronchospasm and how to deal
with it, plus chapters on specific sports considered good for asthmatics-
including (of course !) cycling. The many stories of world-class athletes with
asthma, (Alexi Grewal for example) are inspirational.

Tell your wife to hang in there. I get frustrated when my asthma affects my
training schedule,as it has this year, but I eventually achieve what I set out
to do.  It just takes a little longer sometimes. I completed an MS-150 in '90
am am planning to do a lung association ride this fall.


Paul

    
    
    	Going by the British Weightlifters at the Olympics, it could give
    her a good excuse to dope...  :*)
    
    Graham.

    
    
    Hi,
    
    
    	I have had exercise induced asthma (year round) since I was about
    	3 years old.  I also have allergy induced and cold induced
    	respiratory problems.   These problems kept me from doing much
    	of anything fun for many years.  It is only since college...and
    	after 9 years of allergy shots and the prescription inhalers on the
    	market, that I have been able to participate in just about any
    	exercise related activity I want.
    
    	I've been biking relatively seriously for 6 years now.  I always
    	use my inhaler before heading out for a ride, but even so, there
    	are many days that I certainly have trouble getting the same amount
    	of air into my lungs that other riders do.  For me, it also very
    	much depends on the time of year - the spring and fall cause me  
        more trouble due the allergies.  Once it gets colder, the
   	temperature also causes trouble for me.  And finally, if I have 
    	any kind of cold - this complicates things too.
    
    	Gee...sounds kind of amazing that I actually enjoy biking!  What
    	I have found is that I have had to develop a tolerance for riding
    	conservatively and being very in touch with my breathing.  I need
    	to dynamically adjust how far and how hard I ride based on how I
        feel.
    
        Speaking from the other side of the coin - being the person people
    	are sometimes afraid to ride with....it is a very disconcerting 
    	feeling to have people almost watching your breathing and asking
    	if you are OK every 5 minutes.  If I ride with people I feel 
    	challenged by and who I feel think I can't keep up for that reason,
    	I push myself harder and sometimes regret it.  I think the best
        thing to do from your perspective is to give her some space.
    	Sometimes when someone is intentionally trying to 'take it easy
    	on me'...I just get more determined that they aren't going to
    	have to take it easy for me. (stubborn streak, I know :)
    
    	I have also found that working on aerobic capacity, leg strength
    	and endurance in a gym/health club, assists greatly when out on 
    	the bike.  It's much easier to walk out of the aerobics class
        if you start having trouble breathing, than to be 10 miles from
    	home at the time.
    
        I'd be glad to talk to your friend or even ride with her if
    	she'd like.
    
    	Drop me a message if you're interested.
    
    
    -mary
    	
    	
    

    
    
    Mary,
    
    	I love that username! Is that in recognition of Stephen's Tour de
    France this year?...   :*)
    
    Graham.

    A little late, but anyway...
    
    I'm another cyclist with asthma (sounds like a topic for Donahue:-).
    As the others have said, the best approach is to gradually build up 
    endurance.  My asthma is triggered by cold,allergies, and aerobic
    exercise.  I don't ride in the winter, but use a NordicTrak to keep up 
    at least some of the aerobic conditioning. When I start up in the spring, 
    I do very short rides every other day for the first week or so, and then
    gradually increase the length and frequency of the rides.  One factor that 
    has helped me is concentrating more on the the amount of elapsed time on 
    the bike instead of distance.  So the first few rides are 15-20 minutes
    long, then 30 minutes, and so on.  The distance takes care of itself.
    
    If her asthma is caused by allergies as well as exercise, Allergy and
    Immunology Associates in Nashua are very good.
    
    Terry