Tour when you can and be thankful that you can.  Every tour you take may very well be the last one.   You may be in excellent health now (I certainly hope that you are), but that can change suddenly and unexpectedly.   I'm not trying to preach doom and gloom or cast a morbid shadow here, I'm just saying that you should appreciate your good health and take that tour-of-a-lifetime now while your health is good.  And write about it in a journal please, so those of us who aren't fortunate enough to be on tour can live vicariously through you. 

I actually started touring because of a health challenge - a very rare form of melanoma discovered on the bottom of my left heel required 2 surgeries and removal of most all the "pad" material from my heel in 2013.  It took nearly a year for the heel to regrow and recover - the cancer had spread to 2 lymph nodes in my groin - fortunately it stopped there, cause if not then it would have proven fatal.  If the cancer had metastasized elsewhere, it usually shows up within 2 years.   It was during the period of those 2 years when I was being monitored to see if the cancer had spread that I rode my first long unsupported tour (2015 Transam).   I was keenly aware that if I didn't do the tour at that time, while I was still healthy, then I might not ever be healthy enough to do it.  The final monitoring during the 2-year "danger period" occurred 1 month after I finished the Transam - I dodged the bullet that time. 

Since that time I've been fortunate enough to ride a few more long tours; the Western Express in 2017, the Northern Tier in 2021, and the Great Rivers South in 2022.   I'm very aware how lucky I am to have been able to experience these adventures.  I've had some additional health challenges develop along the way, including "high-grade" prostate cancer that may ultimately be my demise- or maybe not, medical science has made some big strides against cancer recently.  In the last 10 years I've had 7 surgeries chasing the melanoma that keeps recurring, surgery to remove my prostate, a 7-week period of radiation treatment and another 6-week period of radiation treatment, and a catheter ablation to treat heart arrythmia.  I've had several months-long periods of 3-times-weekly home nursing care to tend to the surgery wound after the times they really tore my heel up.  And there's more, but that's plenty enough to make the point.  The point is that there have been periods when I simply couldn't tour regardless of my desire to do so.  

I had planned a 2,000 mile tour to commence in less than 2 weeks from now.  I did a lot of work planning the tour, and I trained for months to be physically ready for the tour.  I booked lodging for 45 nights and arranged transportation to and from.   And then, the melanoma recurred - again.   I had surgery to remove it recently, but the margins weren't clear, so another surgery is planned.  Assuming the margins are clear on that surgery, then afterwards I will undergo significant plastic surgery to reconstruct my heel from all the mess that has been made from the earlier surgeries.  Even if all that gets done soon, it will be months (3?, 6?, 9?) before I could start cycling again, and months after that before I will be ready to tour again.  I'm already planning my next tour, to hopefully occur a year from now.

Everyone has their health issues to deal with - forgive me if I seem like I'm whining about mine.   The fact is that I'm one of the luckiest guys alive - I've been coast-to-coast twice now, so I've taken 2 "trips of a lifetime" already and I plan to do more.  But I have learned how tenuous and fleeting our time is.  If you are blessed with good health and have the time and money to ride that epic bicycle tour you've dreamed about, then do it NOW or as soon as practical - you can thank me later.   Dead Men Tell No Tales, nor do they bicycle.  So take that bicycle tour NOW and tell the tale in a journal - I've got some down time coming up, so I promise to read it.  Reading your journal will inspire me and encourage me to get back on the road again.  I'm not done yet, but I'm going to need to let you do the pedaling for a bit...  

Sometimes it is not our own health that stops a tour before it begins but a loved ones health emergency. In either, or any,  case you are spot on. Take the opportunity to go on tour when you can, you never know when the next chance may be.  Our best wishes to you and we hope to read about your further adventures in the future.

Bud, I think the lesson I take from your story is "Be persistent in pursuing your goals in the face of adversity", or perhaps put more simply, "BE UNSTOPPABLE". I think many people, unfortunately me included, would in your situation throw up their hands and say "Time to hang up the bike, my touring days are over". The way you've been able to continue to tour while in less than perfect health is impressive and inspiring. 

I've enjoyed all your journals, and am fully expecting to enjoy the next one. Good luck with your next round of medical madness. Please keep us all informed as to how you're doing. Perhaps just another reason to keep that latest journal active.  

I approach every bike tour with the thought that it could be my last tour. I didn't do that 10 years ago, but circumstances have changed. Hopefully those morbid thoughts help me live in the "here and now" with minimal distracting thoughts about the past or future.

The recent sudden loss of my cat reminded me that everybody is just one mistake away from being dead. I have increasing respect for cultures that end every conversation about the future with a ritual qualifying phrase such as "In sha'Allah" or "God Willing". No matter how smart and strong we are now, we are ALL just one mistake away from being dead. Acknowledging that possibility might help us make more wise decisions about the present.

I still plan to do a bike tour in September, God willing...

Spot on, George. Several of us on CycleBlaze have/have had health challenges. Bruce and I have described our own in our journals. I'm not much of a cyclist when I'm home, to be honest, it's when I'm exploring in some new exciting place that the cycling turns a key for me and lets me in to intimate spaces and experiences I would only be looking out the bus window at otherwise. When I got my lung diagnosis in 2012, it was the incentive to make my goal to retire as early as possible, which was exactly 9 days after my 55th birthday. 9 years later I realize it was exactly the right decision for me, as I do what I want when I want to, and make fun plans for the next adventure or project. My father retired early and we are so glad he did because he was stricken with Parkinson's and Lewy Body Disease in his 70s. But before that he had almost two decades to do what he wanted when he wanted, and you never saw a busier, more productive guy. And Steve and Dodie are correct, sometimes you want to be home in order to support family members or friends that need you. We are all so very lucky to be able to make these choices. We live like kings, really.

George thanks. Your post is a good reminder not to procrastinate about cycle touring. Especially if one’s plans involve long cycle tours because they require a trifecta of precious circumstances to coincide to provide sufficient freedom to complete.

My observation is that availability of enough of the magic trio … time, money and health … to do long rides only concur a few times in a lifetime.

For most cycle tourers, these opportunities seem to be most abundant in our younger years, before the commitments of family & work take control, and those few years later in life immediately after the responsibilities of family and work abate, while we are still physically capable.

Shorter cycle tours … say two-three weeks… aren’t as constrained by finances and family/work responsibilities, but as you well know, they do require physical fitness.

Thanks Bob.  I read your journal about your 1st overnight tour - how cool that it was featured on the Adventure Cycling site!  The bike overnight ACA page still exists, but I don't see links to the various stories like yours. Hey; you know there's an ACA route that runs right through your state and goes west to Montana - you could ride that route and divert from it a bit and stop in at ACA headquarters in Missoula and tell them to fix that!  Just sayin' - best wishes.

Yes, they got rid of the bikeovernights.org website some time ago and redid their bike overnights strategy. Alas, my five minutes of fame on that website has long since expired. I would love to visit the ACA headquarters someday though, preferably by bike.

George,  

I'm so sorry these things have happened to you.  Thank you for telling others to get out there while they can.  We all need that sort of kick in the butt at times.

Also, remember that a positive attitude has great value to the body in order to recover.  The alternative is not worth much.  

I'm pulling for you.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce - I'll try to keep a positive attitude. Regular bike rides help me keep a good mental outlook - when I can ride, anyway.  I'm going to get beaten down a bit - current plan (it's a dynamic thing) is that I have 3 surgeries plus some immunotherapy treatment coming up in the months ahead.  It'll slow me down, but it won't stop me - I'll be back touring in a year or so. In the meantime I'm going to catch up on reading all the journals I have wanted to read and just hadn’t gotten around to - including yours - and dream of my next tour...