![\"My](\"http:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ambulence_ride.jpg\")
My ambulance ride<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"What](\"http:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/scar-736x1024.png\")
What having your chest cut in half with a circular saw looks like.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
The last year has been difficult for me in many ways; I could list a dozen. I am thankful, however, that my heart is not on that list.<\/p>\n
The days and weeks following the surgery were very tough; post surgical depression affects about\u00a030% of the heart bypass patients (compared to 5% for other types of surgery) and I won the lottery on that one! There was a very strong temptation to give up…to “go gentle into that good night” (Dylan Thomas). Instead, I turned my back on it and ran, literally, as fast as I could. Actually, I took a bike, but you get the idea. I’m still riding!<\/p>\n
I want to thank everyone for following along with me on the ride. Comments accidentally got disabled on the last couple of posts, due to a security glitch. I think it is fixed now; I see every comment and appreciate them all.<\/p>\n
Here’s to another day of cycling!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scott<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Post Script: I’m editing this post to include a Poem that my lifelong friend, Thad Walker, wrote the day before my surgery. Thad and I are both fans of the great Robert Service and, if you are as well, you will see the similarities in the meter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quite the jolt, that thunderbolt came out of the Facebook sky.<\/p>\n
A child!\u00a0 A bride!\u00a0 A big bike ride! And then the \u201cmy oh my\u201d.<\/p>\n
The \u201csay it ain\u2019t so\u201d, the \u201cNo God No\u201d, a delay of the Tour de Star Chart<\/p>\n
Those medical brass gonna take a pass around Scott\u2019s big ol\u2019 heart!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scott\u2019s a Service man, so he\u2019s got a plan, to beat this devil down.<\/p>\n
Gonna take his hit, gonna hurt a bit, gonna wear that evil gown.<\/p>\n
Motto \u201cDon\u2019t Panic\u201d, will get him through the manic days of pain and bed,<\/p>\n
And the God Who Sees will heed our knees, and heal him toe to head.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For future action portends an Acton vision of things to do.<\/p>\n
Gonna be a sight, to resolve that light, from the pre-galactic stew.<\/p>\n
See the heavens scowl without the windy howl of our Earth\u2019s atmospheric home,<\/p>\n
And feel God\u2019s like as Scott rides the bike from home to Nome to Rome.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On April\u2019s First day, Scott heads away, north-seeking the Whitehorse Saloon,<\/p>\n
On a classic steed, a blue Chevy breed, ridden daily from dawn to moon.<\/p>\n
As he cranks out the miles, making old friends smile, others are shocked to uncover,<\/p>\n
That this biking astronomer and moon-lighting geographer, will return with new worlds to discover.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For those in the know, rooting Go! Go Scott, Go!, checking daily for news from his blog<\/p>\n
The travelogue pics, descriptions of ticks, and vicarious drinking of glog.<\/p>\n
The trip\u2019s first leg ranks, Lyons-Al-Can-Fairbanks, with the greatest of bi-pedaled feats<\/p>\n
With a circle sawed chest, and a few Sabbath\u2019s rests, to get on and clip in those cleats\u2014!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We greatly admire, in one almost retired, this guts gumption gloryful gig<\/p>\n
Enduring hills heat and traffic, with his Guardian seraphic,\u00a0 as Scott puts the miles on his rig.<\/p>\n
His courage and daring, that few when comparing, can claim to have mustered so much,<\/p>\n
Inspires the rest, to face up to their tests, and like Scott to come through in the clutch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am humbled, Thad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear friends, family and followers: It’s August 19th. One year ago today, I woke up in the afternoon with a breathing tube in my throat. I had just been the recipient of a quadruple bypass operation. Today, a year later, I am 1\/3 of the way through a world bicycle tour. The last
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwstworldbicycletour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}