Earlier this year I wrote a very long list (100 items long, to be exact) of things I learned throughout my cancer journey. The downside to the list was that I had to actually be diagnosed with cancer to learn all the stuff. The only way for you, dear reader, to verify I’m telling the truth is to take me at face value or get cancer yourself and see how many things on the list pan out for you.
Well, good news! This new list doesn’t require one to have cancer. All one needs is a bicycle and said list. You may even find the following helpful for general day to day living, as well.
I’ve been riding bikes for most of my life. Graduating from a Big Wheel to a PeeWee Herman type bike around the age of five has allowed me a lot of time in the saddle. Granted, my love of the bike waned in high school, as riding a bike wasn’t cool and if you didn’t have access to a car you did the next best thing, which was befriend someone who did.
It was in college that my love of the bike slowly reblossomed, as finding parking in a college town was a major hassle I didn’t need in my life. Besides, riding home from the bar on my bike somehow seemed safer than driving, but was probably just as dumb.
After college I woke up one random day to discover that at some point over the past four years I’d gained sixty pounds! Weighing 210 lbs just wasn’t much fun. At all. Dusting off my trusty steel college steed allowed me to begin to shed some of those extra pounds. It also helped me feel better about myself and rediscover, again, my passion for riding bikes.
I believe that riding a bike has the power to teach us so much about ourselves. It offers a way for one to discover the world in a way that is not possible from behind the metal cocoon of a car. It offers an opportunity to learn a life lesson or two along the way. The beauty of all this is that the more time you spend perched on a bicycle saddle, the more the above ideas come true.
In no particular order, this is what riding a bike prepared me for as I faced cancer last year, which undoubtedly made me pause to reevaluate my life. That part is still ongoing. I’ll be sure to blog about it once I am done and have figured it all out.
Riding bikes can teach you how to suffer or, more importantly, how to deal with adversity and keep moving forward even when you don’t want to.
I’ve done some pretty dumb and hard stuff on bikes. For instance, I ride 200 miles (twice actually) in one day on gravel roads through the flint hills of Kansas. I attempted to bike-pack the Colorado Trail just two months after finishing my radiation treatments (spoiler alert- I didn’t finish but you can see the video here). I also spent a lot of time racing bikes as an okay amateur cyclist, which is actually fun but there are just way too many A-type cyclists out there. They can cause things to get a little squirrelly at times and wrecks seem inevitable. (Ow!) Really, people, winning isn’t everything–especially when it’s for a gift certificate to a local restaurant.
Above all else, it was the 200-mile rides that I did in Kansas that taught me the most. No matter how much training you do and however prepared you think you are, at some point, you will go to a dark place while riding 200 miles. During that dark time there really isn’t much you can do about it. There is no follow vehicle behind you that allows you to just get off your bike and get in the backseat for an air conditioned ride back to the finish line. You really only have one choice: Keep riding.
It starts with feeling sorry for yourself. You just have to continue pushing on the pedals and moving forward. You do this knowing that forward is the only way out of the dark space. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is ahead somewhere.
You choose how you deal with it, though.
Fighting cancer is no different. You will go to some pretty dark places—probably way darker than you could ever go on a bicycle, but, again, moving forward is your only option. This may mean dragging yourself out of bed for another radiation treatment or forcing yourself to swallow food despite the large open sores in the back of your throat. It can be so hard, in fact, that there are times that giving up seems like the easiest option. Do not give up. Keep pushing down on the pedals and moving forward.
Dress to impress if you wanna go fast. Now granted, there is no way (that I am aware of) to move through having cancer faster, but if you look good, you will feel good (or at least better).
I am a big fan of being all matchy match on the bike. At the least jersey, shorts and socks should all work together. Glasses, helmet, shoes and gloves should all add flare and style to your entire outfit. Bonus points if your bike complements your outfit.
Take note- you can never go wrong with an all black kit. Yellow arm warmers, socks and helmet add pop. Subtle highlights on the bike frame compliment my outfit. At the time this photo was taken I was about half way through my radiation treatment so, trust me, I was not fast. I remember this ride and getting all kitted out, which was part of what made me feel so good about myself. That, and the fact that I was still riding despite having cancer. The sunshine wasn’t too bad either.
There will be a lot of days that staying in your sweats and laying on the couch just makes sense. Cancer treatment often leaves you feeling chronically fatigued. It’s on those days that just making the effort to shower and shave and throw on a sharp outfit can change your mood and mindset. Love yourself and treat yourself to the respect you deserve. Dress to impress, even if it is only yourself you are impressing.
All too often while training for a big ride or race, I’ll be deep in a training block and feeling strong, as my fitness builds. Then the fatigue starts to set in after several days of hard riding. Thinking that I can just push through the fatigue and that one more hard day is what I need to achieve even better fitness, I suffer through one more hard workout.
Bam! The next day I am wiped out and can barely even think about riding my bike much less another workout.
The problem was simple. I didn’t give my body time to recover and should have taken a rest day. You should be doing the same while undergoing treatment for cancer.
Some days you are going to get beaten down. It might be radiation, chemo, surgery or a combination of them. No one is going to be impressed that you muscled through it all and kept working or stayed up all night baking cookies for the company party. Listen to your body. Take the rest. Have a mid day nap or go to bed early. Repeat until you feel better.
Garbage in, garbage out. I have a buddy that I used to ride with on a regular basis. He was younger (by 20 years), faster and better looking than me. On any given day for the first two hours of the ride he would hand my ass to me over and over. At the two hour mark I could visibly see him weakening and slowing down. His legs no longer had the same pop and his endurance would start to fade.
The reason was simple. More often than not he would show up for a ride poking down the last of a breakfast burrito from McDonald’s or a slice of last night’s cold pizza. I on the other hand had eaten my typical breakfast of oatmeal cold soaked in kefir with fresh fruit. I was running on high octane fuel while he was fueling up with crappy gasoline cut with kerosine.
Your body also needs the good stuff when it’s fighting cancer, too. Fresh fruits & vegetables, lean meats, healthy carbs and the good fats (think avocados and olive oil). Not only do you need to eat well for the benefit of the vitamins and minerals your body needs but keeping a health weight is super important while undergoing treatment.
All that being said, cancer loves to throw you a curve ball or six. During my own treatment my throat became so raw and food started tasting so bad that I was having trouble eating or wanting to eat even the simplest foods. “More calories” became my mantra and the only thing I could tolerate for one two-week period was fountain Cokes from McDonald’s and vanilla shakes. During that time I consumed more Cokes and shakes in two weeks than I had in the last ten years.
Wanna get faster or go farther on the bike? Have a plan. A training plan provides focus, creates goals and provides metrics to measure your progress.
Wanna fight cancer? Then build on the plan your doctor(s) have laid out for you. This is going to look different for each person based on their treatment and what they are capable of doing physically. For me, it was starting my morning with some light yoga before radiation treatment. Even if I felt like crap the rest of the day, I could at least tell myself I got in some exercise before my day went to shit.
For the last four months, I’ve been waking at 5am to meditate. Ok, not really. I’ve actually been getting up to walk our Great Dane puppy, who walks, poops, eats and then goes back to sleep. By this time, I’m wide awake and decide to make good use of the quite early morning to practice meditating.
Granted, the meditation practice did not come from riding the bike but I have found many numerous benefits that I can apply while riding my bike. I used to be a stick-the-earbuds-in-my-ears-and-go -for-a-ride kind of guy. I now find myself choosing to leave the music at home so that I can enjoy being present in the moment as I ride.
I wish I could tell you that meditation cures cancer, makes you a Zen master and helps you reach a new height of enlightenment, but it doesn’t. In fact, meditating is pretty difficult. It takes practice. It can be frustrating and uncomfortable. Like anything that requires effort, the payoff is worth it, though.
Mediation has helped me deal with stress, allowed me at times to pause and respond in a more thoughtful versus a reactionary way to things that piss me off. I try to start my day with a clear and focused mind. My only regret is that I didn’t come to the practice until after I’d already finished my treatments.
Riding bikes is one of the most freeing and beautiful things in the world. For me, it captures a piece of my childhood and allows my heart to swell in gratitude for the freedom, health and joy it brings.
On the flip side of that, though, cycling has (or rather my efforts and failings have) left me bruised and battered, disappointed and angry at myself because I didn’t win a race, wrecked and caught myself with my face or failed to accomplish a specific goal like riding the Colorado Trail from Durango to Denver.
Somewhere along the way I learned to allow myself the grace of being okay with not always being okay. I figured a lot of this out last spring while riding my bike through cancer treatment. Some days just sucked. My throat was raw, my skin blistered and peeled. Yes, I was on the bike but , compared to my “healthy me” pace, I was barely creeping along.
Cresting a hill with the crisp Colorado morning sun on my face or speeding down a long windy road with the wind licking across my body, I became okay with the joy of just riding my bike, knowing that, in that very moment, I was alive.
Bikes Kill Cancer 