2017 Prologue

We've bought the bikes. We've set the date. Every ride we take is in some way a preparation for our dream of taking a year-long bike ride circumnavigating the United States.

But will Rob's health hold up? In 2010 he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease that, even on medication, slows him down. His pulmonary specialist has forbidden him from engaging in anaerobic activity. That's when you get really out of breath while exercising. Like when you climb a really steep hill, carrying 30 or 40 pounds of gear.

And Rob has heart disease. In 2001 he had a stent put in for a partial blockage. In 2015 he had tachycardia so often that he went through a 5-hour ablation procedure. The doctor basically burned out the parts of his heart that were misfiring. That was before we went on a two-week tour of the Maine coast and countless times during that trip Rob raved about how wonderful he felt.

Even so, I had to stop and wait for him at the top of every hill.

As our dream of a year-long bike ride gets closer to reality, we realized that we'd better make sure it's really something we want to do. A two-week tour, the longest we've done together, probably isn't a true test. So this year, we planned to ride for six weeks, 2000 miles, to Montreal, Quebec City, around the Gaspee Peninsula, and home. The Gaspee has some killer hills.

Then, this past winter Rob landed in the hospital twice with a heart rate of 180 beats per minute that went on for hours - atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Look up afib and it says moderate exercise is encouraged. I don't think climbing hills with a fully loaded bicycle counts as moderate exercise. So are our bicycling dreams fluttering away?

Rob's cardiologist wanted him to see a specialist in Boston to have another, more complicated, ablation procedure done. Meanwhile he was put on a medication to prevent a recurrence. 

The ablation was scheduled for early May. Yes, Rob would be fully recovered by the beginning of June to start our trip. Then the procedure was postponed for two weeks.

Meanwhile, we started our training in early April, and Rob, who in one day last fall rode 90 miles over four notches in the White Mountains, struggled to ride 45 miles on flat terrain. On one ride, after 35 miles, his legs were so tired he could barely get his feet clipped into his pedals. Among our small group of riding friends who hadn't ridden all winter and were all about the same age, no one had as much trouble on the bike as Rob.

What was going on? Was it some of the medication Rob was taking, or something more serious? He made an appointment to see his primary care physician and a neurologist. But it was his pulmonologist who solved the puzzle. The medication for the afib worked to keep his heart rate down, so when he was exercising he couldn't get enough oxygen to his muscles. Which explained why his arms also got tired when he was riding, something that had never happened before.

The cardiologist doing the ablation agreed to let Rob off the afib medication as soon as he did the procedure and kept assuring us that Rob would be good to go on the bike trip. But we'd lost our 6-week window. the minimum we needed for the 2000 mile trip. 

And there's still the pulmonary hypertension. Fixing the heart doesn't take care of the lungs. For so many years Rob had been riding in front of me, occasionally waiting, or riding back to meet me. Now I'm riding ahead all the time. It feels lonely. And sometimes Rob gets so far behind, should I stop and wait? Part of the joy of cycling is getting into a groove on a stretch of road and just sailing along. 

Rob feels challenged, and frustrated by not being able to keep up.

A compatible cycling companion is a rare find and, for over 30 years, Rob has been exactly that. Now we're having to readjust to our new roles.

We decided to change our itinerary. Instead of six weeks, we're heading out for 26 days. First we'll ride to northwestern Massachusetts to visit the Clarke Art Institute and the Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art. Then we'll head north to Montreal and maybe Quebec City before heading home along the Connecticut River Valley. 

Our goal is to find a comfortable riding tempo that works for both of us and, in the end, decide if a year-long trip remains a dream to turn into a reality.

Start date: Saturday, June 24, 2017
End date: Wednesday, July 19, 2017

What do you eat on a bicycle tour?

June 11, 2017:

The other night I was hanging out with some other bicyclists. One young guy, wanting to try out bicycle touring, asked what you would eat for a long bicycle ride. Do you get special foods like gels? Do you want food you can digest easily?

Someone said, “I know a guy who made it across the country on McDonald’s fries. You’ve got your salt replacement and complex carbs.”

I said, “I just eat whatever I feel like eating. If Rob and I find a place that serves milk shakes, we’ll get a milk shake. If it slows us down, we’ll ride slow.” 

The last time we stopped for milk shakes was when we were passing through a small town in Vermont. Like many Vermont small towns, this one had a few shops, a church, a town green, all on one main street. We sat outside the local cafe savoring our shakes - chocolate for me, strawberry for Rob - and watching the town's goings- on. Occasionally a car drove by; someone came out of the shop across the street, got into a car, and drove away. It was a quiet town.

I looked sadly at the bottom of my glass, slurping with my straw the last few drops of my shake. I was contentedly bloated, not at all eager to get back on my bike. Rob said exactly what I was thinking. "I could use a nap." I looked next door at a grassy expanse in front of a church. It had a gradual slope, just the right angle. I said, "That looks like the perfect spot." 

After paying our bill we laid our bikes on the grass and got down next to them. And just then a town maintenance truck pulled up in front of us. We watched as a couple guys got out with some street signs and began drilling a hole in the cement. "Maybe they'll be quick," I said. They put in one sign, then moved a short ways up the street to do another. No naps for us.

We really do just eat regular food. And for an especially long trip, we’ll eat substantially more of it. When I was on an eight-week solo bike trip back in my youth, I would think nothing of picking up a pint of ice cream and downing the whole thing in one sitting. I had to. I had no one to share it with.

Then there's free food. You never pass up free food when you're bicycling. On that same trip in Vermont, Rob and I had just finished eating our lunch in a school playground on the outskirts of another small town. As we bicycled into town, we noticed lots of cars parked in front of a bank, like there was some event going on, but it was a Friday. What happens on a weekday in small Vermont towns? We stopped to find out. The local state bank was serving free lunches at a different branch throughout the state on Fridays. Everyone was invited, even itinerant bicyclists. That was the summer Rob and I were trying out a vegan diet. But so what? I certainly wasn't going to pass up free food. Chips, bratwurst, ice cream. Nothing remotely healthy about it, but all delicious. And free.

So here’s what Rob and I have been eating on our recent trips. For breakfast, it’s been oatmeal with raisins or fresh fruit and nuts. On our Maine trip in 2015 we were into steel-cut oats. If you put them in boiling water and let them sit overnight then they only need to be heated in the morning. So we’d boil them and then find a place in one of the bathrooms to leave them in the pot overnight, usually on a shelf with a sign, letting folks know they belong to bicyclists in the campground. We always found them – just as we’d left them - the next morning.

We carry bread and peanut butter and jelly for Rob’s lunch. I’ll eat a peanut butter sandwich plain under duress; with jelly, never. My lunch is cheese and crackers, a salami and cheese sandwich, or peanut butter on graham crackers. Actually, what’s really good, if it isn’t too hot and you can pack some Hershey’s chocolate bars, is a graham cracker with a Hershey bar, and peanut butter. Kind of a do-it-yourself Reese’s peanut butter cup for lunch.

We do eat lots of fruit – fresh and dried – and usually carry some fresh vegetables and nuts and other snack foods. We try to have enough food for the next couple days, but don’t want to carry anything too heavy or anything that won’t keep if the temperature is too hot. We’ll carry a couple lightweight dinner options, like Annie’s mac and cheese or Ramen noodles, but it’s always good if we find a grocery store as we close in on our camping destination so we can pick up something more interesting for dinner.