Does the risk of cardiac problems put you off?

[ColinJ]

Indeed. Look how many people turn up dead in music festival toilets, and they've hardly been exercising.

They might have been dancing non-stop for 12 hours!

 

[Milzy]

After a few recent, well publicised, examples of sportspeople collapsing while exercising, has this put anyone off getting on their bike?

I've woke up this morning to a runner in the marathon, there was another the other week too. The poor lad in Paris Roubaix was followed almost immediately by an amateur somewhere in the south of England. I'm 99% sure there has been another pro/ semi-pro recently too.

I could then move on to football, which has had a few cases recently.

The thing that gets me is that all of these people are much fitter than I am and probably much fitter than anyone on here. They all will have access to much better medical tests and assistance too. If it can happen to them, then why am I risking it happening to me everytime I push myself.

Now I'm not saying that I will stop riding because I would love cycling and the chances of it happening to me are slim (but not 0%), but it has definitely made me stop and think. What about you?

No. Mat Camball was a sub 3 hour marathoner. Must have been an underlying problem. I’d rather go like that than in a hospital side room dying of cancer dosed high on pain killers.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I'm not worried: only the ones that push themselves in their sport seem to succumb, I'm a take it easy kind of person.

 

[derrick]

2 stents fitted a few years back. have never let it slow me down, when your time is up, that's it, not worth worrying about such things.

 

[Maenchi]

no not in the slightest ...........the more cycling I do the stronger my heart feels !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Indeed. Look how many people turn up dead in music festival toilets, and they've hardly been exercising.

Probably overcome by the fumes

 

[Drago]

Aye, those Turdis's do whiff a bit.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Time
Under
Relative
Distress
In
shoot

The new series of Dr Poo

 

[classic33]

Two due to a reaction to a widely used local anaesthetic, both in A&E at the time.

 

[Sharky]

A tale from when I was a young 17yr old. One of the club members was then 56. Some 30 years earlier he had been diagnosed with angina, so he stopped cycling. Wind the years on again and he found himself working alongside another club mate, a top rider and he got the bug again, but didn't tell his wife or doctor that he was racing again. He kept his racing bike and kit at his collegues house. His doctor said, without knowing the extent of his cycling, whatever you are doing - keep it up.

He did eventually confess to his wife and was given the ok to carry on.

He must be at least 106yrs old now and haven't seen him for over 50 year. I wonder if he is still cycling?

 

[classic33]

Is the bigger risk during the teenage years/early twenties?

 

[gbb]

No history of serious problems for me, some irritating 'heavy' or thumping heartbeat periods in the past..probably stress related and used to get some very fleeting irregular hearbeat, almost fluttering but that's not happened in a good few years.

Yet yes, it has occurrd to me occasionally when I've been hammering myself that I may overdo it one day when my heartrate is high, I've lost a huge slab of fitness and that's not making it easy on me.

When I was 40ish I used to play squash. My doc said...be careful, there's plenty of folk die from overdoing it...i guess that's always stayed with me, the method doesnt matter, seriously overdoing it does.
But what's overdoing it ? Pushing is fine for me personally, but if I had anything unusual happen to my heartrate, I'd be extra vigilant ...we're not getting any younger

 

[Shut Up Legs]

My preferred way to go would be a sudden heart attack while freewheeling down a long, winding, steep mountain pass. I can just picture myself careening off the edge of a steep mountain, landing in a cemetery somewhere far below...

 

[Alan O]

As others have said, it's all about balancing risks - the risk of a cardiac failure while exercising against the risk of a sedentary lifestyle.

I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass 11 years ago, and my recommended route to recovery was very much based on exercise. Yes, exercise could trigger a new attack, there is always a small risk of that - but the long-term beneficial effects are likely to outweigh it. My GP (who is himself a cyclist) strongly supports my cycling (as well as my gym exercise) as having net cardiac benefits.

And I apparently survived my heart attack because I have well developed coronary collaterals, which I put down to decades of cycling - so in my case, it seems likely that cycling literally saved my life.

 

[PaulSB]

I had a heart attack October 2015 and a stent fitted. Today at 63 I am a fitter, stronger rider than at any point in the last 25 years. If I get a twinge on the left side of my body I think about it for a few minutes otherwise not at all. My GP says the occasional twinge is nothing to do with my heart.

The brother of a friend in my Club had a full cardiac arrest walking up to the bar. The barman saved his life with CPR. The cause remains undiagnosed

As people have said, it happens just get on with living.