Our champions! Denise Stone and Karl Wianecki
“Just like dealing with fibromyalgia – crewing an extreme event like this is all about your attitude and working through adversity. We needed to be flexible and adapt to all of the challenges we faced – we worked so well as a team with our single goal of facilitating the safe finish in Durango. We certainly did our job!” (Deb Feather, AW4F crew member and fibromyalgia sufferer)
Congratulations to the All Wheels 4 Fibromyalgia team which set the record for the 2-person mixed under 50 in Race Across the West. RAW kicked off June 15 in Oceanside, California and finished on June 17 in Durango, Colorado. Their official time was 2 days, 2 hours and 4 minutes.
Our AW4F team and brother and sister riders Denise Stone and Karl Wianecki are absolutely amazing! They rode 900 miles with 50,000 feet of climbing in 2 days and 2 hours at an 18 mph pace. This means each cyclist had to ride 250 miles per day with essentially no sleep and only 10-15 min breaks throughout the whole race.
NFA president and founder, Lynne Matallana joined the team at the starting line in Oceanside. “Denise and Karl’s determination through all the difficulty and challenges they faced is shared by all the fibromyalgia patients,” said Matallana. “This is our team!”
“It was great having Lynne at the starting line. More than ever, her being there helped us to focus on our goal of raising awareness for fibromyalgia. We proudly mentioned this in all of our interviews!” added Feather.
“I am so thrilled to have reached this accomplishment with my brother Karl, and our fantastic crew including Ray, Brenda, Deb, Connie and mechanics Julian and Andrew! The crew was flawless – as in all of our past RAAM journeys ensuring optimal rider fuel, perfect navigation, executing fast efficient transitions between riders for all 900 miles, and no bike mechanical issues”. (Denise)
“The 2-person race was much more challenging compared to our 4-person Race Across America. So much more exhausting, and it was a struggle just to eat and stay hydrated. You just have to give everything you have and just keep pedaling.” (Karl)
“The conditions were absolutely treacherous this year – we dealt with extreme heat including 110 degrees through the desert, 40 mph cross-winds, and steep cliffs in Arizona and intensive climbing into Colorado that seemed to never end. All of this with literally no sleep for the full 50 hours.” (Denise)
“The scenery was amazing and really kept us going – my favorite was the sunrise over Monument Valley in Utah and the awesome red cliffs of Sedona. We especially want to thank the AW4F and NFA Facebook fans for sending us encouraging words and thoughts throughout the race! We felt their strength behind us – pushing us along!” (Karl)
NFA president, Lynne Matallana being interviewed at the starting line in Oceanside, CA
Denise riding strong through beautiful Utah - right around her 350th mile of consecutive riding
Karl heading into the 'Glass Elevator' treacherous 10 mile downhill with sharp hairpin turns and 40 mph cross winds
Crew members Deb Feather and Andrew getting Denise ready to ride...again
The Finish Line!
Tags: All Wheels 4 Fibromyalgia, Deb Feather, Denise Stone, fibromyalgia, Karl Wianecki, Lynne Matallana, national fibromyalgia association, Race Across the West
My fibromyalgia started many years ago and I didn’t know it. I always complained “my skin hurts”. The only way I could describe it was it felt like I was sunburned and the slightest touch would hurt. At the same time, I had terrible problems staying asleep. I woke up every hour. I even wrote down the times I woke up one night to give to my doctor. They put me on Trazodone and it works pretty good most nights. Then about 5 years I had an adverse side affect to Simvastatin where it caused severe muscle pain. I truly believe that’s what started my fibromyalgia. First it was in my neck, right shoulder and armpit area. I put heat on it until I was burned and ice on it until I was frostbitten but nothing worked. My doctor did about every test imaginable including EMG, and MRI. Finally I was referred to a rheumatologist and was “officially” diagnosed. I took Nurontin (3600mg daily) and Effexor XR for about a year and all that did was make me gain 60lbs. Now I’m on Lyrica, vicodin and still on Effexor. At first the Lyrica seemed like it worked but now it just takes the edge off. I just asked my doctor about Topamax which a relative takes for chronic pain and she’s looking into it. In the meantime, I just sit on the porch in the middle of the night when nobody’s around and cry because I’m so tired of the pain.
Medical-rights.com
Stwart for giving us such information because, for people who like me we are suffering from any disease are helpful.
An excellent work seeking the way to relax and not think of the reactions to the pain of fibromyalgia produced in our body. I have read a Findrxonline blog that prescription drugs are helpful to control chronic pain but you must prevent their side effects and can thus have more time.
Thanks to all who helped. With tears in my eyes my heartfelt appreciation to you.
You have FM and did that? It is hard for me simply doing the basics of daily living. Congratulations but I hope people are not thinking the majority of FM sufferers can…making us look even more like slackers.