Mobjack Bicycling

It may seem strange to be writing about heart attacks on a bicycling blog.  Most people think that the cycling lifestyle of plentiful exercise and not smoking (the usual case) is protective against heart attacks. It almost certainly is. On the other hand, I can attest to the fact that every now and then a cyclist will have a heart attack.  It doesn’t mean the end or riding or even the end of sprinting to the next mailbox or staying in a fast paceline.

I had a heart attack on Dec. 27th, 2007.  I have had two other “cardiac episodes” requiring agioplasty and stents.  It has been possible to get back to a level of fitness nearly as good as before the first heart attack each time, so far.  I do recommend some precautions when riding after a heart attack.  Never go without a cell phone.  Try to ride with a group or at least one other person when possible.  Tell someone when you expect to be home and where you’re going if you have a specific destination.

If you can’t resist catching that guy that looks back to see where you are or if you are going to go at every sprint point you might consider going even further in your precautionary measures.  I am participating in a clinical trial for an internal heart monitor  ( http://www.angel-med.com/) that I hope will give me a few minutes of extra time to get to the hospital before heart muscle damage occurs if I ever do have another heart attack.  I don’t think the developers of this monitor had athletes in mind when they conceived of it but it really may work out to be a good thing for folks who are out running trails or bicycling off the beaten path.

Don’t feel like you have to give up on cycling with your group after a heart attack.  If your friends are anything like mine, they’ll be there to help you out if a problem occurs and except for a few minutes of sprinting time, they’ll watch out for you, too!

The Mathews Freewheelers will have rides on Thursdays and Sundays throughout the fall and winter months.

Thursday rides will start at 2:30 PM in the old Mathews Courthouse area (meet at the fire station) with refreshments at Southwinds after the ride.

Sunday rides will continue to start at Liberty Square (new courthouse complex) at 2 PM.

In general, someone will be there to ride if it isn’t raining hard at the start time.  There is usually someone who will at least start out in light rain or when rain appears to be threatening.  Snow that isn’t covering the roads is no problem. Ice storms will probably be avoided in the future due to the experience of riding in one last year.   If the temperature is below 30 degrees Fahrenheit the odds of anyone showing up diminish greatly.

For information on rides check out the Mathews Freewheelers website:  http://www.mathewsfreewheelers.org

The Mathews Freewheelers website, www.mathewsfreewheelers.org, now had a cue sheet for a typical Sunday group ride through Mathews.  It should be possible to follow it on your own, as well.

Our bicycling group does hold rides throughout the winter on Sunday afternoons.  If the temperature is above 50 degrees (Fahrenheit)  and it isn’t raining there will almost always be someone at the ride.  If the temperature is above 35 degrees (Fahrenheit) it is an otherwise pretty day, it is likely someone will show up. Threatening rain isn’t even a deterrent most days, but actual rain at or near the start of the ride will keep most of us away on the cold days.   Light snow is usually no problem.  Rodney and I rode in an ice storm once but we probably won’t do that again.

Mathews County has several dedicated bicyclists who ride for work, errands and pleasure on county roads on a regular basis. In general, there seems to be some agreement about the best routes for getting to and from the various outlying areas of Mathews County to “downtown” Mathews.

The first rule of thumb is that Route 14 is a little safer to ride on than Route 198, though both are passable for someone who is experienced at riding with traffic.  The traffic speeds on both roads tend to be high and there are no bicycle lanes. It is just easier for automobiles to pass on Rt. 14 so the frustration level doesn’t rise as high in drivers who must tail a bicycle for awhile.  Also, the shoulders are a little more forgiving on Rt. 14 for those times when it really is necessary to bail out and give up the road to someone who decides to pass other cars and your bicycle at the same time or just seems to forget that passing a foot or so off your left side might be risking your life on the off chance you weren’t paying attention or happened to hit an object in the road.

There is good reason to ride Route 14 from Mathews Court House to Foster.  A left turn at Foster puts you on the roads around Mobjack, several interconnecting loops with low traffic counts that are usually a nice riding experience and provide 15 to 20 miles of cycling without too much overlap.

Most of the bicyclists I know avoid Route 3 between Dutton and Rt. 14 entirely.  An alternative route if you have to get from the Cobbs Creek/Dixie region to Rt 14 is to travel down Route 198 into Gloucester County and to turn left on Burkes Pond Road and follow it to Route 14.

Pretty much the entire area East and South of the Courthouse area is OK for bicycling - the roads can be narrow and the ditches can be deep but the traffic count is generally low and most drivers are pretty good about bicyclists on the back roads.  Riding from the Courthouse to New Point Comfort lighthouse is a beautiful ride, especially if you head towards Moon and take in the beaches along the way.  The new Wayne Hudgins memorial pavilion at the Bayside park is a great place to stop and see the lighthouse views.  Don’t ask a native which way to the water, though — in Mathews County if you head down almost any side road you are going to find water.  You might have to turn around and backtrack from there but the view is usually worth it.

There are publicly available toilet facilities at the new Courthouse complex, at the old Courthouse green, at several of the restaurants and fast food spots (OK, we really only have Hardees and Subway for fast food chains), at Food Lion, as well as at Williams Wharf (not reliably) and many spots along the way for the more adventurous who find a nice size tree adequate cover. Watch out for poison ivy. We have lots of it.

Bicycle racks are few and far between in Mathews. There are bike racks at the Mathews Memorial Library if you feel a strong need to chain your bicycle.  Bicycle theft isn’t a big problem in Mathews County and most of us feel OK about leaving our bicycles outside the grocery store or a local restaurant when necessary.

If you want to ride with a group the first time around, there is a regular ride from Liberty Square (the new courthouse complex) on Sundays starting at 2 PM.  Usually there are riders who want to go various speeds and distances and the group adjusts to accommodate everyone whenever possible — a slow group and fast group might form, some folks leave the longer rides at easy points for returning back to the courthouse, etc.

We meet at the parking garage at the Yorktown waterfront on Thursdays at 5 PM.  From there we mostly ride on the historic routes through the park but sometimes we venture into the local neighborhoods as a diversion.  This is usually a fairly fast ride (for us) with a few sprint points, mostly up the small hills along the route.  After riding we hold serious discussions on world affairs and other matters of great importance at the bar of the RiverWalk restaurant.

While we usually meet every Sunday at 2 PM, rain or shine, we’re not going to ride on Easter Sunday.  Everyone has family plans.

We are planning to ride in the Cap2Cap ride from Williamsburg to Richmond and back on May 9.  We will have a team of 5 riders.  The link for this ride is  http://www.virginiacapitaltrail.org/  If you finish up with us we’ll buy you a post ride beer!

This is a photo of Drew and Jack on the road to New Point Lighthouse from our ride on Sunday, April 5, 2009. If you want to see the rest of the photos from that day they are on our website, www.mathewsfreewheelers.org. Click on the photo to enlarge.