Cycling-related topics of the DrJohnM blog.
Whenever someone asks seriously why I keep a blog, it’s a struggle to find an answer. I really do not know exactly. It helps me learn…that’s true. (And I worship learning.) It makes me think about action verbs…No doubt. That people email and say that my words helped them…Yes, for sure. That I like writing. […]
This week’s edition of Cycling Wednesday will be brief on science and data. It’s been a busy week for our family–in a very special way. (Disclosure: we are a cycling-mad kin.) Through some fortunate turn of events, Staci and I, and our best friends were asked to host a group of professional Belgian Cyclocross racers […]
I offer this post as an olive branch to the many who find my views of over-indulgence in exercise inflammatory. It’s important not to confuse my criticism of chronically inflaming oneself in the pursuit of something lofty as personal perfection, or knowledge of, or participation in the quintessential and most healthy of sport. My passion […]
The most famous medical blogger once direct-messaged me this advice: “One thing I have learned from blogging is to never engage criticism.†I’m going to break this advice. The robustness of the response over the Ironman piece shocked me. As a bike racer, a cardiologist, and a happily married man, I have grown thick skin. […]
The tweet said that experts were debating the merits of a polypill? I had to click that link. Yes. I was right; there were actually “eminent†cardiologists suggesting that a pill containing 4 different medicines (a statin, aspirin, beta-blocker and an ACE-inhibitor) “might change the face of cardiovascular medicine.” The direct quote from Dr Salim […]
The normal number of heartbeats per minute is a frequently asked question. People, especially medical people, like well-defined lows and highs. Parameters which can be assigned an ‘L’ or ‘H’ makes life easier. Competitive cyclists immerse themselves in a sea of information. In our quest for weekend glory, we intensely study oodles of data–minutia like […]
People who exercise outdoors face a new threat. It’s unrelenting. Consistent. Inescapable. Perhaps, even more dangerous than distracted or mean motorists. It’s the heat. Gosh, is it hot. If only I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “Doctor M, you aren’t riding in this heat; are you?†Well…Other than the fortunate […]
This Wednesday, I am going to break away from medical topics. I will drop the biological vernacular, distancing myself from terms like sarcomeres, ion channels and inflammatory markers. Rather, I will pedal my thoughts on a bike racers’ biggest distraction each July: The Tour de France. Okay, that’s enough cycling-related action verbs. Sorry. But this […]
Most Fridays, I attempt to jot down some reflections about doctoring, or life, or ideally the confluence of both. Today I have a picture that speaks far better than words. It came via a text message from a cyclist that enjoys riding in the morning. If you don’t stay up too late, blogging, reading journals, […]
I had planned to write this week’s cycling post on the futility of even considering the existence of any one “best” exercise. Gretchen Reynold’s NY Times Magazine essay entitled, “What’s the best exercise,” got me thinking about this highly bloggable topic. Initially, such fodder seemed a perfect topic. There are few exercises I have not […]