For the past three years, we’ve been documenting our bicycling adventures with video clips from a handle-bar-mounted GoPro, and lots of still photos.  And, an adventure it has been.  Bicycle touring and recreational riding has become a popular activity for the senior set in the 21st century, so we are not unique, and certainly not the accomplished athletes that some are even into their 80s.  And, other survivors of heart disease have taken up bicycling as part of their rehabilitation, so our story is just one of many.

I’ve taken the 90-some short videos we’ve published over the years and put together clips from selected ones to tell the story, in less than an hour, of how we trained for a self-contained, unsupported bicycle tour on our own, through Michigan, the Upper Peninsula, and northern Wisconsin in 2013 and the setbacks we encountered with a life-threatening disease and the ensuing open heart surgery, followed by a pulmonary embolism that required a year of blood thinner therapy that led to a kidney problem.  After all that, with aggressively active walks and stationary bicycle training, we recovered enough to enjoy a limited bicycling season, combining car travel with trail riding.

So it goes: what follows are two 30-minute videos, the first covering our 2013 tour and preparations, and the second covering the realization that fitness and health aren’t the same thing, and the long trek back to fitness after surgery, rewarded with walks on scenic hiking trails around our local area and  fun rides on really great trails across the country.  The films are a celebration of the joy of bicycling as a life-long activity and the realization that modern medical intervention can not only save your life, but help you live it fully, if you have the determination and resolve to seize the day and take charge of your rehabilitation.

The early videos were fairly shaky, due to the instability of the camera mount.  The YouTube stabilization feature was worse, so it is what it is.  There is a bit of voice-over narration in the beginning of each film, but mostly we let the scenery and the rides speak for themselves, along with the music downloaded from freemusicarchive.org.  If you have the bandwidth, watch them in full-screen mode and turn up the volume.

These videos are on YouTube, which allows longer videos. The originals and others, taken along the trails and scenic byways of western Washington, can be found on Vimeo, at https://vimeo.com/user10747705

Maps, statistics, and elevation profiles of the routes shown in these videos can be found on RideWithGPS, at  http://ridewithgps.com/users/59643