Lennard -

I am still riding that most excellent bike you built for me.  I just finished a 40 mile ride in the last hour.  That bike fits me like no other bike I've ever ridden.  It's almost like an  elixir - my body just feels better after being on that bike.

 

You mentioned your arrhythmia - in 2010, i was diagnosed with atrial  fibrillation which turned into heart failure.  Long story short - I was cardio-converted (heart stopped, restarted) then a permanent fix of catheter ablation was performed.  During the month where I was completely incapacitated, I did a lot of research regarding long time endurance athletes and the link to later arrhythmias.

My doctor determined that I had a first exposure to Epstein Barr (causes mono) just prior to that at age 51 and the literature shows that upon a late first exposure on occasion, the virus attacks the heart.  He believes that my condition was caused by this virus, not my athletic history.  After 6 months, my heart healed and supposedly, I have no long term effects from this.  However, I still can't let go of the possibility that all those years of training and racing had something to do with this.  And I still get periods of palpitations, sometimes of concerning duration.

 

Jim Kruse told me about your book; I intend to buy a copy to read.

 

As for e-bikes, recently, I just rode one for the first time and I was impressed.  I am not quite at the point where I want to get one but I believe an e-bike is in my future.  I will peruse your site to get info on this.

 

Bottom line: the bike you built for me feels like none other that I've ever ridden.  It's got over 50k miles on it (20k in long bike trips); best bang for the dollar I've ever spent.

-Ed