June 6, 2021
Day 32: Wenona, IL to Kewanee, IL
AFIB, No Fib!
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Climbing Today; 1,192 ft Climbing to Date; 52,655 ft
We left Wenona this morning hoping for a break from the wind and sun, but the cycling gods did not smile on us today. And so it is; sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But the scenery was grand. Illinois has been great for riding on low traffic rural roads, and IF the wind is your friend life couldn't be finer.
Many of the farms have been in the same family for many generations. Private cemeteries exist where most of the names are the same.
Barns are painted red because they used to be covered in red rust, and the red color tradition has continued. Or maybe that's a legend. Anyway, it's possibly true and at least somewhat plausible, and that's better than anything you will ever hear from a politician.
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And the obligatory old barn photo of the day;
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We had a nice breakfast in Henry, then rolled on. Much of the rest of the day was hard work as we struggled to move against the wind; you know, the same story we've had for much of Illinois. At some point we ran into Timothy. He had started on the west coast and discovered that it was hot in the desert, so he ended up hitching a ride east to the Kansas City area with someone who wanted company to keep him awake. Tim is now headed for points eastward; Best of luck Tim!
Parts of Illinois are quite similar to Kansas with long plains and little shade from the sun. So I stopped at the only shade I had seen for miles, a cemetery, and was happy to sit down a bit and cool off before continuing.
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Towards the end of the day I was feeling very hot and a little weak, so I rested in a shade. I could tell something was a little off, then it hit me; I had that feeling I used to get that indicated my heart was racing out of control. I say "used to get" because it has been well controlled since I had the heart procedure in January 2020. But, here it was again; I checked using the AFIB program on my Apple watch, and sure enough, my heart was beating in the 140 - 150 beats/minute range. Well, crap. Really nothing to do but rest up and roll on, and so I did. Amazingly, the Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB) converted while I was finishing the ride, and when I arrived at our destination my heartrate was normal. Previous to the procedure last year, I would have had to sleep overnight before it converted - so the procedure has obviously worked well. Not well enough to prevent it from happening after several long days struggling in the heat against the wind, but pretty good regardless.
During my deployment to Germany in 2019, on the weekends I would go for long rides along the Rhine River. I would always be in AFIB before the ride was over, and it would not go away until I slept overnight. It's a problem because you have a much higher risk of stroke during AFIB, but my overall risk is quite low due to my otherwise good health. You got that? I'm healthy, it's just that my heart occasionally wants to beat wildly out of control. Doc prescribed me some pills to have handy if it happens again - they help to quickly convert the AFIB back to a normal rhythm. I doubt I will need them unless we push like crazy for several days in a row with little sleep - that's what triggered it this time. So I don't expect to find a bicycle warrior's death from a heart issue on this trip. But perhaps I will find some fierce dragon to fight.
That's all for today kids. If struggle is a good thing, then we are overfilled with goodness. I hope you have just enough struggle in your life to make you appreciate all the goodness you have. G'nite - amateur video follows as usual.
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 1,655 miles (2,663 km)
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