On June 9th Mick Walsh and George Thomas rolled out of Oceanside, CA towards Durango, CO as a 2-man team in the 2010 Race Across the West. They had a tortuous ride, with George spending time in an emergency room for heart palpitations and Mick spending time passed out on the side of the road with intestinal issues. Despite the difficulties, they rallied and finished second.
For some cyclists this kind of experience defines fun. From personal experience, I can say that it’s time spent at the limits of your physical and mental abilities where an opportunity for self-discovery lies.
The suffering of the 2010 RAW is over and is a fond memory for George and Mick, so it’s a good time to check in with them and find out how the race went.
Questions:
Talk us through the first part of the race, up until you guys started to have health problems. Where were you in relation to the competition and how were you feeling?
Mick:
We had a motto for the first 400 miles–“fresh as a daisy”–and I think things were going really well in that regard. There were 3 teams, including us, neck and neck.
Mick with his crew: Shellene, Lara, Sharon, Daniel and Edna.
George:
We were right where we wanted to be – riding relatively easily and in contact with the leaders. The tailwinds were so strong I was getting spun out on my compact crankset and we were taking short pulls to avoid the heat. Things were going great.
What happened to you, George? Tell us about the sequence of events that led you to then away from the hospital.
I’ve been having PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) for awhile but really no big deal. I was excited about the race, feeling great, right where I needed to be on calorie intake and hydration – then stupidly chugged a bunch of iced tea. I NEVER drink caffeine during a race – I just saw the tea in the cooler, thought it would taste good so I gulped it. Anyway, the PVC’s are exacerbated by stimulants so this was not smart. A couple of pulls later my heart rate went over 200bpm (which is abnormally high for me) which wasn’t that big a deal but then it started to beat erratically and race. This went on for most of my pull, didn’t stop during my break and continued during the following pull. I lost all my power during that pull and decided I needed to do something. We flagged down a team of firefighters so I could get an assessment. The firefighter who checked me over took the Good Samaritan law very seriously, refused to leave our van, took us back to a border patrol station so we could get an AED then went to the ER in Blythe. By now I had no choice in the matter as a race official had told me I was out of the race until I received clearance from an MD. In the meantime there was no cell service or radio contact so we had no communication with Mick’s van leaving them with no idea what was going on. I had an ECG and chest x-ray which came back normal – this was good enough for me so I figured I’d be able to get on the road right away. Instead I was told to change into a gown for blood work. A gown for blood work seemed excessive but I was under orders to get MD clearance and did what I was told. Blood work came back normal so, again, I thought I’d be able to leave. The MD then came up and explained he would not give clearance, that I may have had a heart attack and that I’d have to stay on a monitor for another 4 hours when we would then do follow up labs. The MD told me to think of my family and that I could always come back to race next year. I know this sounds dumb but all I was thinking about was Mick being stuck by himself in the desert and I wanted to get back out and race with my teammate. I had one of my crewmembers call race headquarters to let them know all my tests came back okay but that the MD would not give clearance. They deferred to the race director who said it was my decision. I pulled off the monitor, got changed, signed out AMA (against medical advice), caught Mick and did a two hour pull so he could rest. When we got to Salome, AZ we were informed we were the fastest team on the road and had just pulled back 10 minutes on each of the two teams in front of us. We did the same by Congress, AZ and realized we were still in the race. We caught one team that had an hour twenty lead on us at Salome by Flagstaff and pulled to within 52 minutes of the winning team, which had been one hour forty minutes ahead at Salome. I was bummed to finish second but pleased with the way we rode for all but the Blythe time station.
George, have you done any follow-up with your doctor to try to figure out what happened?
I go in Friday July 9 for an echocardiogram and a 48 hour Holter Monitor. Stress Test is scheduled for Wednesday July 21. I’ve second-guessed going to the ER ever since it happened. I stopped second guessing after an appointment with my MD in Hood River. He assured me this could have been very bad. So, I guess the firefighter didn’t take the Good Sam law too seriously after all.
How about you Mick, what happened to you while George was out of commission?
A lot went through my head, wondering and hoping George would be OK. I knew he’d want to keep riding, so I just kept rolling along, waiting for news, until I got sick.
Mick and George ride side by side on the final approach vector to Durango.
After the health issues were resolved it sounds likes spirits lifted and you both got back to the task of racing. Talk us through the latter part of the race.
Mick:
I just had stomach problems which I think were a result of the heat, not anything I ate. It was amazing, after throwing up all I had eaten, that I could come back and ride well in the last 30 hours of the race. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it was a real learning experience.
George:
Aside from blocking out all the “think about your family/you can always do this next year/withdraw from the race” advice from the medical people and guilt feelings for wrecking our race – believe me that made it very difficult to focus on the task at hand, but I was able to get it out of my head for the most part – the only trouble I had was losing everything in my stomach after the two hour pull. I felt amazing after that.
Mick and George “fresh as daisies” at the finish line in Durango.
Now that some time has passed, what are your thoughts about how the race went? Anything you’d change if you could?
Mick:
I had problems when I got on my time trial bike. Maybe I just went too hard, but I am not going to take it to Race Across Oregon and see how that goes. Otherwise, I think our problems were things we couldn’t really control. I blame myself, and I think George regrets not being there for me when I was sick, but that’s racing. We did really well after that first night. Everything went smoothly; as I said, the crew were awesome, what a great bunch of people. Oh, I would get something lower than an office table for me in the van; being so high made it awkward to eat, drink, and digest when I was off the bike.
George:
I totally blame myself for blowing the race. Change anything? Yup – wouldn’t have iced tea in my cooler. Aside from that we rode very well together. I never felt any blame from Mick – it was actually really cool when we started racing again. There was no stopping to talk about how anyone was or anything like that. We just did an exchange and started racing again. We maintained that to the finish. Only other thing I can think of is that we got off course twice during the Cottonwood – Flagstaff section which cost us about 20 minutes. This was the only time station split where we were behind the eventual winning team.
Have the health issues you experienced in this year’s RAW affected your racing plans for the rest of this season?
Mick:
No, I still plan on solo Race Across Oregon and the Ring of Fire 24-hour Time Trial.
George:
Maybe, I’ll be racing the Furnace Creek 508 with the RAAM team. I was planning to do the Hoodoo 500 as well but that is dependent on what the tests show this month. If the problem is what we think it is, it should have a relatively simple fix.
Any plans to race together again in the future?
Mick:
YES! Just not sure where, yet. I need to win the lottery to be able to go to all the races George wants to go to.
George:
YES! I really wanted to race RAAM 2 man with Mick but I am heavily involved with the race as the announcer, official, seminar instructor and more so I don’t believe I will be able to race RAAM in the forseeable future. I have my eye on a number of other events that I hope to race with Mick.
