Perth Albany Perth (1250km, 90 hours) Riding to stop the Pain

Jeffrey Schulz

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Perth Albany Perth (1250km, 90 hours) Riding to stop the Pain

Story

INTRODUCTION

I'm gearing up and making a difference by fundraising for a cause that's close to my heart. I’d appreciate any contribution, big or small.

I suffer from a Chronic Pain Condition, doctors do not seem to be 100% sure what is going on; with conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis?, Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease being considered.

My condition started to get worse around 5 years ago and was confusing to me as the less cycling I did the more pain I ended being in. For those of you not aware I used to race road bikes and had a talent for riding up hills and trying to get KOMs on Strava (http://www.strava.com/athletes/168023/segments/leader).

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SEE FULL INTRODUCTION BELOW

RIDE REPORT

"RIDE COMPLETED SUCCESSFULY IN 84 hours 43 minutes, with over 5 hours left in the time limit."

Last week I finished the longest ride I have ever done, 1230km from Perth down to Albany and back. I had a rocky start with bike issues leading up to the event, needing to organise a new bike was not the best plan especially at such late notice but with 2 days to I left the bike was finally ready.

I flew over to Perth Saturday afternoon and arrived to nice weather, set my bike up at the hotel and headed out for dinner. I went to a pub down the road, the food people were eating looked nice. It was awful, the steak was mostly fat, and so chewy hard to eat and the chips were dark in the middle and looked disgusting. Too make things even more interesting 3 locals took to the outdoor eating area swearing and arguing over the booze which they were pouring into separate bottles. They were already pissed off their faces, not sure they needed more to drink.

Sunday I headed down to registration on my bike, dropped off my night luggage, got my bike checked (lights, vest, reflectors). I headed over to the bike shop to get some co2 air cylinders as they are not allowed on the plane. As I walked in dropped something (brake block separator) and it went under there display. The shop worker was nice enough to help me re-arrange his shop so we could get the small piece of plastic which they probably charge $50 for back. I headed back to the registration area into a gale wind, praying that it would not be like this for the ride. I did some final maintenance on the bike and started heading back to the hotel. It started to rain so I went for shelter and then it bucketed down. I was thinking don't want to ride 3km in this let alone 1230km. I went for dinner with the other riders where they got my drink order wrong and forgot to put my food order in. Eventually I got my pizza and went back to the room to sleep.

I woke up early on Monday, around 3:30am and finished getting my bike ready for the ride. I was hoping to be prepared by carrying 4 bottles of water, 1 with energy drink ink tablets and 11 energy bars with spare energy drink tablets similar to beroca tablets so I could make energy drink as I went, I was also carrying 4 spare tubes, tyre patches, tube patches, chain lube and tools spare spokes and tools, allen key multi tool, sunscreen, medications, saddle cream, black tape, spare lights, battery's, brevet care (card to stamp at checkpoints), etc. I found it a little bit cold so put on lots of warm clothing but it did not take long to warm up. I checked out of the hotel and rode down to the start and checked in.

At 5am the flag was waved and we set of on our ride. We rode at a steady pace with a few locals leading the way at approx. 20 - 35km/hr. I was already pushing a bit hard so decided to stop for a nature stop just before the turn off to Mandurah. I continued into Mandurah solo and was redirected around the check point as no one mentioned the road closure was where the checkpoint was. I managed to find it anyway and quickly restocked and headed off.

The next 15 or so one were very technical with a lot of corners and a few bike paths. I followed the course using my Garmin and managed to get through OK. The area was a little familiar having ridden in the area a few years back at the Fireball Sailing World Championships. Eventually I got into a group again and continued towards Yarloop. The pace was a little high for my liking and I could see my HR telling me to slow down but I did not want to lose the group. I filled up with drinks, applied sunscreen and left with a large group of riders.

We then headed towards Bunbury, there were some skinny, pothole ridden roads and even dirt roads. The dirt did not bother me as I ride on dirt roads in SA when convenient to get away from traffic. The group started to drop the pace and I managed to take a few turns on the front. The wind was starting to pick up a little so being in the group was great. The food at the checkpoint was awesome, having a sandwich and a toasted sandwich.

The ride to Busselton was pretty uneventful and I pulled into the control for a quick refill of water, sunscreen and was on my way again. It was starting to get late in the day and I left by myself and was a little worried I was going the wrong way as there was not a cyclist in site. I trusted my Garmin and kept going towards Nannup. I went through a secret control where they checked lights and vests and I was thankful for some more water. By this stage the sun was setting and the road was getting dark. I was very tired and with Kangaroos and other little creatures crossing the road I was a little nervous of having an accident but all was good.

I finally arrived in Nannup at 9:45pm after a very long day on the bike. I sorted out my luggage, sleeping clothes and bedding and had a quick shower and some dinner. The accommodation was in a large hall which as you entered you were assigned a blow up mattress and gave a wake up time.

This is where I made my first huge mistake. For some reason I could not sleep, I would nod off and wake up 5 minutes later. It felt like I had been in sleep mode for ages as I kept waking up and at around 2am I got up and decided to get going. I did not feel tired so I thought everything would be fine. I ate breakfast, rugged up in clothing and got going. It was dark again and the animals were still out in force. I had a close shave with a very large kangaroo that jumped across the road metres on front of me. The further I went the worse I felt, my head was pounding and it felt like I was on fire to the point I was tipping water on my head and it was only approx. 5 degrees. I was starting to get dizzy and found it very difficult to focus on the road. I was stopping often to try and get my focus back and eventually made into Pemberton. I stopped there for a while having more breakfast and a micro nap, but even then I don’t think I fell asleep.

I continued on to the next checkpoint in Shannon National Park, this was an out of town checkpoint so not many options for places to lie down. I managed to find a concrete floor and had a 10 minute lie down. The headache was starting to get a bit better but I was still feeling very dizzy as I headed towards Walpole. I was so tired by this stage I was starting to fall asleep on the bike. I kept resting to make sure I was ok to keep going but I did not want to stop for too long as I wanted to get to the next sleep point in Albany.

I got myself a Red Bull in Walpole and it gave me a bit of an every boost as I headed to Denmark. I had another quick rest and a coke to help me keep going. It was only 57kms to go to Albany but the sun would soon be setting. I kept stopping along the way and then joined in with 2 cyclists. I had just finished telling them how sick I felt and one of the guys said something along the lines if you are going to ride with us you are going to have to take a turn. I thought, wow that’s nice but I guess it is fair. I went to the front and they kept dropping off my wheel; it was hard enough feeling sick but then having to ride looking backwards to see what they were doing. Eventually they booth passed and I hooked onto the back and they took off like there was no tomorrow. I could not comfortably hold there wheel at which point I decided it was easier to ride by myself. A rider from behind came up and he said it was ok to sit on him. He was still riding fast so it was a struggle to hold on but eventually we caught the two riders in front who I had previously let go. They seemed a bit lost and stopped along the way to check there directions while I kept going. The final 10kms into Albany seemed to take for ever. Getting close to town the two riders stopped one more time allowing me to pass again and this time I decided to keep my pace up to get into town as fast of a slow pace as I could. My lights were starting to run low when I climbed up the final pinch to get to the checkpoint in Albany. I arrived at 9pm approx. was so tired and dizzy I just about fell over getting off my bike with one of the volunteers coming to the rescue and taking my bike and parking it and giving me a chair.

The accommodation in Albany was at Albany Residential College where there were individual dorm style rooms for each cyclist. I sorted out my luggage, tried to charge my lights and headed down for dinner. I had a quick shower and went to sleep. The funny thing was the room was lighter and there was more noise that at the first checkpoint. I managed to get around 5 hours sleep before getting up and leaving at 5:30am. I did not realise I had accidently knocked out the charger for all my lights, batteries and Garmin which had very little charge.

As a bit of a add on the organisers thought it would be nice if we climbed Mt Clarence, a 30km long climb at 50% so we could view the sun rise. Well maybe not quite 30km long and maybe not quite 50% but it seemed long and steep as I almost had to get off and walk. The view from the top was amazing and the ride down was even more amazing.

Today was the day with the climbing and the big trucks. I headed towards the Stirling Ranges and due to limited roads we were forced to battle it out with the road trains. I thought SA trucks were bad but the WA truck drivers are ever pure evil or so drugged up they don’t know what planet that are on. Even when I rode off the bitumen completed they wanted to come with me so they could get as close to me as possible. They also liked honking there horn even if there was a clear road for them to overtake. If they had brains they would realise there truck is being blown around by the wind and maybe that cyclist is as well. I eventually made to the checkpoint at Stirling Range and was bitterly disappointed there was no Red Bull.

I was feeling rather good and was ahead of schedule and passing cyclists as I headed to Gnowangerup. I had lunch and kept going and this is where hell began. The next checkpoint was a mere 62km and this short distance was where I almost pulled out of the ride altogether. I was going so slowly and the wind was blowing me around a lot making it hard to keep left. It was starting to get hot and I was overheating. I had to keep stopping to have a rest and eventually ended up lying down on the side of the road in tears. I kept fighting on and made into Broomehill and some friendly cyclists suggested I try the pub. I filled myself up with Red Bull, Coke and Potato Chips. I was determined to keep going and around 4 hours after leaving Gnowangerup I had finally made it into Katanning.

I was starting to feel a little bit better and continued on to Wagin. There was an option to sleep at Wagin but I was better than that and had my stuff sent to Williams the next checkpoint along. The further I went the longer time seemed to take and by the time I got into Wagin the sun had already set. I was tired, it was dark and my Garmin was a little confused with the directions. I rode straight past the checkpoint and got a little lost. I pulled out my ride notes, backup plan for when the Garmin failed. I was standing there looking when I decided standing was too hard and the next minute I was sitting on the ground with grazed hands. Well maybe not me but my body decided for me. I managed to protect the bike which landed on me. I rang the support line and eventually worked out where the checkpoint was and went back to it.

As I had dinner, an awesome pasta dish I contemplated sleeping at Wagin in my cycling gear but realised I would need to charge my phone and lights at some point. I decided I had to continue. It was getting very late and I was starting to feel sick again but headed out of town with my lights on as low as possible trying to preserve what battery I had left. I was lucky to come across a nice cyclists who I chatted with for the last 50km approx.to Williams which made the distance bearable. It still seemed to take forever and the night was beautiful with the clouds and the moon and the scenery. I was thinking this would be awesome if I wasn’t so tired and feeling so sick. We eventually rolled into town at 11pm approx. and to the oval where the checkpoint was. I managed to get to a power point and charged my lights, Garmin; sorted out my gear and planned to sleep in a bit the next day.

If you can call 5:30pm sleeping in, then I slept in :D, but to me it was a sleep in as just about everyone else had left already. The ride to Williams was pretty uneventful, I was feeling average but was travelling at a reasonable pace. I got into the first check point for the day, Hotham River at approx. 10:30am; had a quick rest refilling water bottles, unfortunately again no café for my red bull. I was starting to get very tired and stopped and laid down staring at the sky for a while. I finally made it to a town, Dwellingup where I filled up on red bull and continued down the hills towards Perth. I finally made it to the last check point in Pinjarra, had a quick bite to eat, reapplied sub screen and was on my way again.

This was it, I was heading towards Perth, no more stops and the wind was starting to come from behind. It was 85km with most on the bike path, finally getting away from the traffic. This must have been the fastest 85km of the ride completing it in approx. 3 hours and at times sitting on 40km/hr. I started to get a little confused the closer I got to Perth as the bike path became more technical but I managed to get through and not get lost.

It was all over, I had completed my goal of finishing the 1230km Perth Albany Perth bike ride. I now hope to participate in the Paris Breast Paris ride next August. I have 10 months to prepare so I hope to lose weight and be a lot fitter.

I have recovered well with my only issue with the saddle rash making it almost impossible for me to sit on my saddle. I should take some time off the bike, haha, not.

Thanks to Chris Murray, Mark Thomas, Perry Raison, Doug Bunton, Greg Schulz, Tony Cheyne, Jeremy Tustin, Cathy Leighton, Leading Edge Physical Therapy, Sharon Wass, Robin Inns, Robert Rau and Joel Coultas for supporting Chonic Pain Australia.

Over the next few months I plan on continuing to investigate my illness and ways to improve dealing with the pain and other issues involved with my illness. I will continue to look into Lyme Disease and wee where that leads.

FULL INTRODUCTION

I'm gearing up and making a difference by fundraising for a cause that's close to my heart. I’d appreciate any contribution, big or small.

I suffer from a Chronic Pain Condition, doctors do not seem to be 100% sure what is going on; with conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis?, Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease being considered.

I had a race approx. 4 years ago, I trained for but ended up pushing myself to hard and got sick but still raced but could not finish as my body shut down with 3km to go. I had so little energy I couldn't even walk to the finish, when trying was struggling to move at 3km hour, stopping every 50 metres and using the bike to hold my body weight up. I decided to take some time off the bike which was a big mistake as the longer I spent off the bike the worse I felt. This led me to believe I need to rest more, then the pain kept getting so bad to the point I was struggling to walk let alone ride.

I saw a doctor and he referred me to a specialist where they began treating me for Rheumatoid Arthritis?. I was placed on lots of anti-inflammatory medications which did not work, except for giving me migraines and making me feel worse. I did manage to convince myself I needed to start riding again and I seemed to be able to deal with the pain even though it had not gone away.

Around a year later my physiotherapist suggested I might have Fibromyalgia so I saw the specialist again and was put on Lyrica. At first the Lyrica helped with the pain, it was amazing like a miracle cure and I felt better than I had in years. Unfortunately for some people the effect of Lyrica can stop working after a while and eventually I ended up being back in pain.

Last year the pain got so bad that I was struggling a lot. The pain made it extremely uncomfortable to sit at my desk and I was struggling to concentrate and get my work done. My entire body suffered from pain from my toes through to my head and to my fingers with the feeling all my muscles and joints were extremely stiff and the more I stretched the worse they got. My hands would suffer from spending so much time typing on the keyboard. I became very sensitive to touch, loud noises and bright lights. I could not sleep at night and was becoming increasing tired and run down. The more run down I became, the worse my memory got; I could not focus / concentrate and felt dizzy and disorientated.

I ended up realising that I could not keep going on like this so I was very lucky that my employer at the time (Fusion) allowed me to take leave for 9 months. During this time I changed medication and worked part time for my brother/father and was intending on competing in the Fireball world championships in Thailand then holidaying around Europe in March this year.

Unfortunately two months out from the world championships I had a reaction to my pain medications and was told to stop taking it. The pain and stiffness in my muscles / joints got so bad at one point I struggled to roll over in bed. One morning it took me over 2 hours to get out of bed as my body was so locked up and in so much pain I could not move. I had to roll out of bed onto the floor and gradually get on my hands and knees and use the bed to pull myself up. This was the worst day I have experienced. I managed to get my mum to take me to the doctors and was put on some new pain killers and saw the physio who helped release my muscle a bit. Unfortunately the new pain killer was nowhere near as effective as the old pain killer.

In the end I had to pull out of the Fireball World Championships. I decided to continue with my holiday and even though I was in constant pain I still had an awesome time and met some awesome people. When I got back from my holiday I started to feel good again and was getting my brothers/fathers work done and was offered a new job to start in July this year so everything was starting to look up.

Unfortunately with 1 week to the start of my new job I suffered another setback with more problems with my medications causing massive migraines and making me exceptionally tired all the time. I ended up decided it would be best not to return to work and the pain got and headaches / migraines got so bad I was struggling to look at my computer at all. Since then I have not been working but in the last week I have managed to do a few hours of work on my brothers/fathers software and hope to do more next month.

I have now moved into my own unit and have started taking some new medications and things are starting to slowly improve again. I set my self an impossible mission to get myself back riding as it appeared the more I ride the less I feel the pain. Most people probably won’t understand that but it is amazing how much it helps. In the first two weeks of this month I rode 1700km but was hit with some very bad saddle sores. I have now built my own new saddle which is extremely comfortable but had to cut back the KMs to help the sores recover.

Most recently it has been suggested I might have Lyme Disease, which can be obtained when being bitten by a tick. Lyne disease is not recognised in Australia but preliminary tests showed signs of a possibility of me having it. I am considering having a blood test which has to be done in the US and is not covered by Medicare. I would have to get blood taken and then have it sent to the US via Fed Ex and pay the money.

My impossible mission is to complete the Perth Albany Perth Audax bike ride, a 1250km bike ride with a 90 hour time limit. It starts on the 6th of October at 5am in Perth before heading along the coast to Busselton before heading inland and across to Albany, then back more direct to Perth along the top of the hills. (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5026759) For information on the ride visit http://audax.org.au/public/index.php/pap

I will be swapping the pain of my illness for the pain on riding a bike 1250km so please support Chronic Pain Australia to help them research Chronic Pain in hope it will help people like myself deal with the constant pain I am living it. This will be the toughest bike challenge I have ever completed after riding from Adelaide to Melbourne (1150km in 5 days) last year. Fingers crossed the weather gods will be nice to me over the 4 days of the ride.

You can follow my progress on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jeff.p.schulz, feel free to ask to add me as a friend.

Donations made through this platform are secure and will be remitted directly through to my charity of choice.

Thanks so much for your support!

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Chronic Pain Australia

Chronic Pain Australia is a voice for the 1 in 3 Australians experiencing chronic pain. Chronic Pain Australia was a lead organisation in the development of the National Pain Strategy. We conducted research through the Pain is Not Invisible Project to determine the needs of Australians in pain and base our programs on these findings. Although chronic pain is common across Australia, we are very concerned about the plight of rural Australians in pain. Chronic Pain Australia wants to help ordinary Australians understand chronic pain so that we can all be a part of the solution and not the problem. Help us strengthen the voice for people in pain. Join our vital online community forum (go to www.chronicpainaustralia.org.au click 'forum').

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Perth Albany Perth (1250km, 90 hours) Riding to stop the Pain