Something Unusual...

When it comes to biking, I'm in it for life, or so I joke. Years of biking both on the road (24 since my very first junior crit) and in the fat tire world have led to some amazing journeys across dozens of states and led to many many friendships and a profoundly extended family. Some of my best days have been spent in the saddle followed, of course, with some manner of celebration afterwards. As well, biking has led to lots of pain and suffering with the many bumps and bruises, cuts, scrapes, a fair amount of road rash, a bruised rib, a broken metacarpal bone, a broken scapula, and two broken clavicles, one of which led to two surgeries and a bone graft with a plate and 8 screws. I'm not bitter about anything -- just noting the delicate balance between the good and the bad.

Recently, however, I discovered something unusual in the area of the body that we rarely want to talk about in public, and I was sent by my doctor to the hospital for an ultrasound and then to a surgeon for a consult. Needless to say, I found myself looking all over the house for my copy of Lance's book "It's Not about the Bike" to refresh myself on the potential horror of testicular cancer and trying to recall whether the color white on a radiological film was bad. I spent several evenings at home with the wife and kids fearing the worst while waiting for my results to come back. By the way, I really love Legos...

Guys - at the risk of getting too personal or sounding like I'm on my soapbox, I have something to say and I hope you are listening. It is really important -- dare I say CRITICALLY important - that you check yourself out in the nether region (i.e, the gonads) on a regular basis. Yes, I'm talking about a testicular self-exam.

I happened to notice something was not right because by chance I was playing with my saddle position and found myself feeling a bit sore. That led to the ache and, well, I just had to see if the family jewels were doing okay. I was completely shocked and in disbelief to feel a bump, or lump, or mass that shouldn't be there. So after a day of denial, and the pea-size lump not going away, I called my doctor.

Long story short, it appears that for me I am doing alright, no immediate threat to life, but I have been fairly stressed over the past few days in learning all the implications of the presence of an extra testicular calcification. Heck, a couple weeks ago I had not even heard of such a thing. You might be there too.

My doctor will be monitoring my situation on an ongoing basis and I am naturally very anxious for my follow up ultrasound. But all appears to be well and prognosis is excellent. My doctor tells me to keep riding which, to a cycling addict such as myself, is very welcome news. Plus, I have been reminded of the important aspects of life that are easy to neglect 5 of 7 days a week: family, friends, our time here on Earth and, of course, our health.

So, in the interest of passing on a little knowledge to my cycling friends, I think you might find these two articles linked below interesting. The first is a bit broader in scope and the second, even though it focuses on mountain bikers, may be of special interest to anyone who spends 5, 10 or more hours in the saddle each week as many of us do.


http://bjr.birjournals.org/cgi/content/full/75/891/283 (scroll down in the article to the section on Extra testicular calcification)

http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/219/2/427 (for you statistics fans, check out the P value in the study)


Now go check!