Reflections and appreciation

October 9, 2023

Not your normal bicycle touring journal post

View from the train window near Rockwood, Pennsylvania

Fall color is nearing peak and reflecting in the windows as I pass through the Allegheny Mountains on the Capital Limited. My journey has moved past planning and anticipation into reality.

Fifty four years ago on a cold February day, my father threw up a large amount of blood. He refused to go to the hospital. The event was repeated a week later. My mother gave him no choice. He was taken to the hospital.

He was in very poor health, never visiting a doctor. He had a bleeding ulcer. He was diagnosed with severe heart and respiratory issues, and untreated hypertension. The following week was spent in intensive care. Saturday he was to be transferred to a standard room and be scheduled for surgery. That morning as my mother, my siblings and I prepared to go to the hospital, we got the call. He had passed away.

Salisbury Viaduct on the GAP from the train

Eighteen years ago this story came to haunt me. I suffered a heart attack and underwent triple coronary bypass surgery. My dad was 60 when he passed away. I was 51 when I had my heart attack. I wanted to live well beyond his short 60 years. I had to make changes, major changed in my life.

I share these stories as I reflect on how far I have come. I have been on a journey with many struggles and victories over the past eighteen years. I spend way too much time dwelling on my missteps and failures. Here I sit reflecting on my past 14 years of cycling and 12 years of bike touring, the BEST years of my life. These years are the years in 2005 I never dreamed of living.

Feeling the good life on my way to Washington DC

This week is the week in 2005 when my unfortunate events occurred. I am far from perfect but living a life I love. There is an appreciation for life that you experience when you recover from a near death life altering event. That appreciation lives and grows with the hours I experience on my bike. It seems appropriate to celebrate my post heart attack and cardiac surgery life reflecting and looking forward to my life and the miles ahead.

Tom on the Trails

The Dude, my Kona Sutra, is ticketed and ready to roll into Washington DC

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John PescatoreNice shots from the train! When I did the GAP through ride, I took Amtrak from DC to Pittsburgh and it was nighttime for that stretch since you get into Pittsburgh at midnight.
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7 months ago