We returned from our big trip on October 10th last year, and about 7 weeks later I went in for heart surgery to repair my leaky mitral valve. Other than that valve, I was in good shape for the surgery after our long trip. Me and my doctors had been tracking that naughty heart valve for about 20 years, and it was time to fix it. All went well and I was back riding outside about a month later, and got released from cardiac rehabilitation a couple weeks early. It all went well enough that Chris felt comfortable enough to travel to England for 3 weeks in January/February and then for her to realize her dream of cycling solo from Land’s End to John O’Groats in the UK (about a 1,000 miles), which she completed in June 2024. Her blog of that adventure is here.
As is typical in our lives, a cat was inevitably involved in all this. Our friend Jöelle brought her cat Shuja from Tel Aviv for us to take care of shortly before my heart surgery, and she needs meds a couple times a day and a quiet setting. So one of us needs to stay home to take care of the little Shu.
And so, I did round one of Shu care and did a bunch of home tasks while Chris had her great adventure in the UK. And now, I’ll head off to do this trip!
My plan is to ride from Florence, Italy to Copenhagen, Denmark in about 6 1/2 weeks, a distance of about 1650 miles. It’s the first long bike trip I’ve done solo in a long time and I confess some butterflies in the stomach. Yet I know that it’ll be a grand adventure and that I’ll meet interesting people along the way, see some unforgettable sights and come home with grand memories.
I’ll be crossing the Apennines and the Alps as I head north, and be visiting places I’ve never been and some I’ve wanted to see for a long time, like Berlin and Copenhagen. I hope to camp most of the way, but we’ll see how weather and circumstances cooperate.
Oh, and what did I forget? Not sure but I know there are stores where I’m going to be.
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