Thursday, March 29, 2007

Newsletter March 2007

Life is a Bicycle Ride
But before we click into the pedals, allow me to express my sincere shock at recent events like the tidal conditions that ravaged our coastline, and to everybody that suffered some sort of loss due to that, my condolences.
I am obviously as shocked as anybody else about the whole Woolmer issue and the implications thereof for professional sport. The world has gone money-crazy. Or just plain crazy! Period.
Then it is with palpable amazement that we saw Shaun Pollock went for 8 runs per over against our friends from down under. And the Sharks – “oh my goodness Doll, what went wông”?
As they say in the classics, ‘Winning isn’t everything. It is the only bloody thing’.

Which brings me to the topic; Life is a Bicycle Ride. “Huhh?”
Firstly, some (boring) background facts, necessary to create the analogy between a bicycle race and the true essence of life, life itself. It is also necessary to inform the reader of some of the more subtle nuances of the sport which will become evident when the comparison is made.
What is the purpose of competitive cycling? To win of cause. Yeah, I hear you say, when someone like myself competes in a big cycle race, who will I be winning? I will be winning thousands of other recreational but competitive cyclists and in turn will be beaten by thousands other and better cyclists. I will be racing against my own watch. To better our time, to better our position, to better our national seeding; those are the things that drive us.
How do you do this? You use other people. Yes, just like that. And you do not even have to ask permission. As one of the famous Sporting Equipment companies says; ‘Just do it’.
How? You ride with a fast group and you make use of the collective slipstream of say thirty or more fast moving cyclists. It more or less sucks you in and drags you along. It is called ‘Drafting’. This way you can conserve enough energy to see you through a tough race. All you need to do is be alert, (crashes, sometimes major, do happen), and try not to be dropped from this group (called a Peleton) on the hills. If you can stick with a fast group, suffer on the hills and sit tight in the flat and downhill areas, you can achieve excellent times. But as I said, be alert. You can also lose contact with the peleton if you are only watching the one or two persons immediately in front of you because they can in fact be losing ground and if you are not awake, you might suddenly find yourself in a little slower group of three cyclists with a awful gap of fifty meters to the main group. To catch them without the effect of drafting takes a tremendous effort.
Now that you have some of the background, the following sequence of events will make a bit more sense.
During the very recent Cape Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town, the very same type of scenario happened to me and after the immense pain it caused me; I made the comparison mentioned earlier.

After the normal hectic start, the first climb out of the CBD caused the muscles to burn prematurely as everybody in the starting group jostled for a comfortable position in the peleton. From the top of the hill, going down into (aptly named) Hospital Bend, we passed a huge pile-up of tangled bicycles and cyclists lying on the road surface. Ambulances, choppers, emergency vehicles, officials screaming, marshals directing us through the carnage of more than twenty cyclists that crashed. Off we were over the next hill, but everybody subconsciously slowed down just a tad due to a certain sense of apprehension. This passed within five minutes and we were screaming through Muizenberg, Vishoek, and on to Smitswinkel, the first real tester of a hill. By now we were all more or less tucked into positions picked with great care.
Now, Freddy Mercury (late) from the band Queen (former) wrote two very apt songs, namely ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and ‘Bicycle Race’. So, I was positioned behind one of those girls in one of his races. Behind her for no reason other than the slightly wider slip stream she offered. She, lets call her Big Mama, in turn, was directly behind a very skinny fellow with big calf muscles and a very fancy and expensive bicycle. I suppose she thought that he will slice through the air? Who knows.
I got real comfortable just sitting there, getting pulled along and looking at nothing but the rear wheel of Big Mama’s bicycle. By now we have topped the hill and were heading into a slight headwind going towards Kommetjie on a long flat(ish) stretch. That is where it happened. I looked up, jerked out of my trance by the lack of noise so reminiscent of a huge peleton going at speed. It must have been a couple of minutes before I realised that something was amiss. Skinny lost contact with the peleton. We were now three solitary cyclists fifty meters behind the main group, and rapidly losing more ground. Sore Legs Naudé, Big Mama, and Skinny. I pulled out of Mama’s slipstream and rolled up to Skinny. “You lost them” I panted. (“You incompetent little Twit” I wanted to say.) “Help me catch them”. “Please” And I put the hammer down and started the worst fifteen minutes of the entire race. After only about two minutes I glanced back and they were not on my wheel! They were ten meters behind. “Come please” I begged, hoping that we can alternate the front position to maintain speed and conserve energy. Not today though. Mama is trying her best but without the peleton, she is just not able to keep up. Skinny, my friend Skinny, has discovered a new comfort zone behind Mama’s slightly enlarged frame. He is now drafting and nothing is going to pry him out of that spot. He is floating on air, getting propelled by the wind breaking abilities of someone not even closely on the same level of fitness that he is. But it is nice.
And that, is the story of life itself.
Let’s be honest, we all want to succeed in life, beat the Jones’s, better our ‘Life Seeding’, excel, win. Early in life you realise that you probably cannot do it all by yourself. You need people. You need partners. Team members. A peleton. All you have to do is make use of their collective momentum, expertise, knowledge, conserve your assets, and if it lasts and you can remain prominent in this society, you will have enough energy and abilities and the necessary means to make a final dash for the winning line and take the honours.
But you always get the like of Skinny and Mama. She tried but was not equipped. He lost contact with his group, labelled himself as a failure and immediately went into a new comfort zone. You get them in life and no amount of begging can get them to help you. They are what today’s youngsters refer to as losers. Learn from this analogue; If they are not contributing to your race through life and, most importantly, if they do not want your help, better leave them behind. They will always find a Big Mama to comfort them and lead them. They will also eventually reach the same finish line, albeit somewhat later. That is inevitable in life. As they say, ‘Life is a Terminal Disease – nobody gets out alive’. Some just ends better than others, but then again, some are happy to have a lower life-speed-seeding than others. The beauty lies in the fact that we are all so different yet we are all riding in the same Bicycle Race called LIFE. Make the most of it, make use of the collective drafting of your family, friends, colleagues, and when you finally make your sprint with energy conserved with their help, remember to thank them in your heart when you take the honours.
What happened with the rest of the race? I left the two of them behind, burnt up unnecessary energy and fuel to try and catch the peleton, and after fifteen minutes of pain could not get closer than an agonising twenty meters. I had to slow down and wait for the next big group from behind to preserve whatever energy I had left. They arrived soon after that and I managed to finish in that group in a respectable time. At the end, I lost almost twenty minutes to the initial group. And Skinny? I saw him finish by sheer luck (there are thousands of cyclists) – he was just ten minutes behind me. Without Mama. What happened to her I do not know. I hope she finished well because she tried so hard.
Last lesson? If you get thumped on the nose and you cannot keep up with your peers, make the necessary adjustments, reorganize, work hard and you will win old Skinny. If only just. And remember, comfort zones are never permanent. Greetings from the saddle,
Pieter & Renette Naudé.

Newsletter February 2007

Not a Heat Wave.
This was according to the SA Weather Bureau on the 7th of February. They also “promised” cooler weather. They also could not foresee any real danger to the Mozambican coastline due to the summer cyclone season.
I’m beginning to trust them as much as the Department of Health.
“Did I say that your Honour?”

Question: If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?
OK. Yes it has been slightly warmer than expected. And why would three air conditioners decide to pack up in a relative short period of time, right in the middle of a supposedly non existing heat wave? I do not know the answer to these and other questions but what I do know is that this type of excessive heat combined with the high humidity experienced lately, is quite dangerous. Yes, not only is there a high discomfort index involved, there is actually a high risk index as well.
Apart from running out of beer halfway through the next Sharks game, there is a very real threat of Dehydration, Heat injury, Heat fatigue, and with those, the very dangerous possibility of Over-Hydration due to the wrong advice and subsequent incorrect ways to treat or prevent Heat related conditions.
So in the midst of this slight heat ripple (ala SA Weather), let me elaborate a bit on the body’s ways to handle or sometimes not handle such heat.

Core Temperature:
The body's dominant forms of heat loss in a hot environment are radiation and evaporation. However, when air temperature exceeds 35°C, radiation of heat from the body ceases and evaporation becomes the only means of heat loss. Evaporation is maximally efficient in a dry environment. If humidity reaches 100%, evaporation of sweat is no longer possible and the body loses its ability to dissipate heat. Now, to cool down, it becomes dependant on electric aids like fans and air conditioners, or riding on the back of a very fast and very tough Ford Bantam, or cycling downhill all day. If these are not available, your core temperature will gradually increase, dependant on the level of activity, until it reaches dangerous levels.
If one tries to keep your level of activity as low as possible, seek out cooler areas, and rehydrate correctly, the core temperature will not readily go to dangerous levels.

Dehydration:
Sweating is the way in which the body maintains its core temperature at 37 degrees centigrade. This also results in the loss of body fluid and electrolytes (minerals such as chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and if unchecked will lead to dehydration and eventually circulatory collapse and heat stroke. The progressive effect of fluid and electrolyte loss on the body is as follows:
% body weight lost as sweat & the physiological effect:
2% - Impaired performance
4% - Capacity for muscular work declines
5% - Heat exhaustion
7% - Hallucinations
10% - Circulatory collapse and heat stroke
Electrolytes serve three general functions in the body: Many are essential minerals, they control movement of water between body compartments, and they help maintain the acid-base balance required for normal cellular activities. A liter of sweat typically contains 0.02g Calcium, 0.05g Magnesium, 1.15g Sodium, 0.23g Potassium and 1.48g Chloride. This composition will vary from person to person.
Elderly persons are at increased risk for heat-related problems because of underlying illness, medication use, declining adaptive thermoregulatory mechanisms, poor access to air-conditioning. Neonates have an increased risk of heat-related illness because of poorly developed thermoregulatory mechanisms and inability to make behavioural adjustments.
Chemical items that may affect the ability to regulate temperature are amongst others; Beta-blockers, Certain cold & flu medications, Diuretics, Ethanol, Antihistamines, Certain older antidepressants, Aspirin (regular use), etc.
Rehydration is the replenishment of water and electrolytes lost through dehydration. It can be performed by oral rehydration therapy (drinking an electrolyte solution) or by intravenous therapy (adding fluid and electrolytes directly into the blood stream).
As oral rehydration is less painful, less invasive, less expensive, and easier to provide, it is the treatment of choice for mild dehydration. Because severe dehydration can rapidly cause permanent injury or even death, intravenous rehydration is the ultimate treatment of choice for that condition.
Drinking plain water causes bloating, suppresses thirst and could lead to over hydration. It is a poor choice where high fluid intake is required. Water contains no carbohydrates or electrolytes.
Concerns about the potential risks of Over-hydration and consequential hyponatraemia (low blood sodium levels) for endurance athletes have been raised in several quarters following the death of a female runner during the 2002 Boston marathon.
The athlete, who died of hyponatraemic encephalopathy (swelling of the brain caused by severely reduced blood sodium), had reportedly ingested excessive amounts of fluids before, and during the race.
Hyponatraemia results from an abnormally low concentration of sodium in blood plasma. A sustained decrease in plasma sodium concentration disrupts the osmotic balance across the blood-brain barrier, leading to a rapid influx of water into the brain. This, in turn, leads to swelling of the brain, which can progress to confusion, seizure, coma and even death.
Various factors can lead to a fall in sodium concentration, including loss of sodium in sweat and decreased sodium intake. But the rapid intake of large quantities of fluids, which effectively dilutes the blood, appears to be the major cause of dangerous reductions.

Now that I have your attention, what am I trying to say? Only that when nature turns tough, our frailty becomes very evident. Temperature goes up, humidity goes way up, lawn needs a trim, out you go with your old army-issue green metal water bottle strapped to your locally made leather belt, filled with the goodness of H2O. Under the fig tree, there is the regulation Coleman cooler, filled with more water and lots of ice.
For two hours you toil away, all the time feeling thirsty and sweating like the proverbial Hog. Dizziness starts to bother you every time you take the sharp left turn around the bed of Malva parviflora,, nothing much, must be the new beta blocker you started last week. At the next turn, you will allow yourself ten minutes and enjoy a cold beer or two.
One hour later, the headache hits you. Extreme thirst! Drink more water. Take two, no, take three aspirins for the bloody headache!
You are in trouble. You went from high core temperature to hyponatraemia via dehydration and because of the wrong rehydration.
Making no sense?
In brief, and in conclusion:
Nothing wrong with mowing the lawn. Wrong time of the year / day though.
Nothing wrong with alcoholic refreshments. But not when you are already severely dehydrated.
Nothing wrong with drinking water. But it has NO ELECTROLYTES!
Drink the right stuff! Rehydrate with either a good sports drink, or even some rehydration preparations sold as conjunctive treatment for severe gastro-enteritis. Or contact me for a cheap homemade emergency recipe.
Most importantly, know your body and how much heat it can handle; know how much your body loses through perspiration.
We have less than a month for this heat to make way for the wonderful autumn weather we know so well and can only dream of at this moment.
Enough of the clammy stuff. Greetings from the pool,
Pieter & Renette Naudé Will be in Cape Town for the middle two weeks of March. Hopefully cooler down there! Keep healthy and hydrated! See soon.