My Bicycle

After completing a century ride last year, I had plans for more biking this year. I found a couple of interested people and we signed up to ride RAGBRAI (Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). We talked about putting some training rides together, with the biggest issue being getting my butt used to sitting on that saddle day after day. Scott and I also talked about biking to Stillwater (only a 20 mile ride via the Gateway Trail) and making a weekend out of it.

After learning I had sarcoma, I had to withdraw from RAGBRAI. Arm aside, I knew that I would be receiving daily radiation about that time (as it turns out, RAGBRAI was last week, the same week I started radiation). But with loss of strength and sensation in my left arm, I didn't know if I would be doing any biking this year.

I bought a new ride bike last year, and at first I was pretty bummed I wouldn't be using it. What helped was the realization that someone else could maybe use my bike. I asked Scott if anyone on his Team in Training tri team was having a great year but didn't have a great bike. So my bike got some use, Patty - a lymphoma survivor - didn't have to ride a mountain bike for 25 miles before running a 10k, and I no longer felt so bad about not being able to ride my bike.

A few weeks ago I did some guided imagery at Pathways. I was to picture myself now, and then picture myself healthy. Surprisingly, the healthy image that came to me was myself standing on a mountaintop, with my bike, like I had just ridden up that mountain. It was after that that I started thinking that maybe my bike was supposed to play a role in my healing journey.

My brother is an avid cyclist. This summer he's been riding 300k and 400k brevets (long distance cycling events) to qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris, a 1200k ride that he'll complete in less than 90 hours in a couple of weeks. He had mentioned once that maybe next spring, when I'm riding again, we could complete an event together. That's all he said, but my mind took it from there.

A couple weeks ago I drove up the North Shore, where there are always a few cyclists riding Highway 61. I thought about riding that road, wearing a "Team Sarcoma" jersey and stopping in the local restaurants and coffee shops. I've mentioned before that sarcomas are not very well known and not well studied. I imagined how many people I could reach just by riding my bike, wearing that jersey, and telling them about sarcoma. And what kind of funds I could raise. And how about wearing that jersey during RAGBRAI?

Back to the present. Last week I was driving into the garage when I noticed my helmet. And I started thinking about riding my bike - now. Perhaps it might be easier to shift with my hybrid - but even if I couldn't, you don't need to shift as much on the left. And the left brake is for the front wheel, for which you want a light touch anyways...so Friday I took my bike for a ride. I couldn't shift on the left, but I could brake. I only went a few blocks, but I started thinking about going for longer rides. I'm going to start gradually, in case my weak left hand does start to give out, and no big hills since I can't shift the big rings, but I thought the perfect place to start would be to ride to radiation a couple times per week. Severe thunderstorms kept me from doing it today, but stay tuned for tomorrow...