I’m sitting in my recliner drinking freshly made juice out of my coveted DK200 finisher’s glass pondering the meaning of life and where I should go from here but what really gets my goat (did I just say that?) is a distracting thought fluttering through my mind as light as a bouncing butterfly flittering through the air. What bike and setup would I use for the Dirty Kanza 200 if I had an unlimited supply of money? And instead of figuring out life that little thought becomes today’s distraction.

Wow, for those of you that are still going back and forth over tires I am thinking of the whole bike along with nutrition, how to carry supplies, pedals, wheels and everything else. To make this thing interesting I contacted a few “experts” that I happen to be friends with to see what their setup would be.

Last year I went with this:

My 2011 DK200 Rig

This setup was great. I was on my way to a good finish until Mother Nature threw a good old-fashioned Kansas storm into the race. I made it 172 miles and had one flat. The year before I used the same tires and had no flats. But if I could spend all the money I needed I would definitely upgrade and make my friends at High Gear Cyclery very happy.

But Ti or Carbon Fiber? Salsa, Foundry or Trek? Shimano or SRAM? Tubeless? Wheelset? Oh my.

The main thing a cyclist needs for 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel is a bike with fast, lightweight, yet comfortable geometry, components that are bomb-proof (at the minimum they will be covered in gravel dust, at maximum peanut buttery mud), enough water and nutrition and of course all this is for nothing without those perfect lightweight, fast rolling, super-durable tires. I take for granted that your motor is in great shape and your will is made of steel.

Good luck suckers. The only thing that got me out of this race this year was open heart surgery. I’ll be back next year with a fully functioning heart! I have contacted some others to help with this soon to be amazing post,so you’re going to have to wait until next week to read it. It will be worth the wait!

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I recently watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead as well as reading the book Crazy, Sexy Diet. I was already a healthy eater but I have been doing some reading and research on food and nutrition and I know I could eat a lot healthier.

I didn’t have coronary disease, in that my arteries were not blocked, but I did have heart surgery to repair a valve that was falling apart. My health has become even more important to me than it already was. But the first thing that got me to pay more attention to what I was eating was my cycling addiction. I was riding so much that I whipped myself into pretty good shape. What I put into my body is just as important as exercising. The human body is an amazing machine that repairs and rebuilds itself constantly. You have to provide it with good building materials. I didn’t want to sabotage all the hard work I was doing on the bike by eating crappy food. Getting in shape was the motivation I needed to start eating healthy as well.

I know. I have heard your excuses already and frankly I think they are not only weak but stupid too. It this one that I hear from people all the time:

“I only have so long to live so I am going to enjoy myself.” or
“My days are numbered and I don’t need to give myself two more years to live by eating that crap.”

I really don’t care to add any days to my life by eating healthy and exercising. That is not why I do this. I do what I do because I want to enjoy the days that I do have. Being tired, bloated, out of breath or just plain unmotivated is not my idea of enjoying life. There is a mind, body, spirit connection and each one of these areas needs to be fed for you and I to live fulfilled, happy lives. Juicing is feeding the body (which in turn helps the mind which in turn also helps the spirit. They are all connected!)

Today I am just going to talk about my new experience with juicing and why it is so darn good for you. First of all we all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us because they are choc full of nutrients, minerals and other goodies that your body needs to operate efficiently and repair itself. How about sitting down and eating all of this:

5 Kale leaves, 2 apples, 1 orange, handful of broccoli, 3 carrots, 1/2 cuccumber, 1 kiwi and 1 large celery stick

Yeah, so there’s no way I am going to eat all of that let alone one leaf of kale. So instead I put all this into my new juicing machine and got this delicious drink:

My lunch

OK, so delicious may be stretching it, but it was actually pretty good. So this is why juicing is so good for you. All of those fruits and vegetables made two glasses of juice which I drank for lunch. That is a sh*tload of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals I just gave my body. And these are all usable to your body unlike the stuff crammed into vitamin pills or sugar cereals (although some supplements are good for you, nutrients from live plants are what your body craves and can use). I use more fruit than some recommend but I want the drink to taste good, so there.

Eating the usual SAD (standard American diet) foods just does not give us all the good stuff we need to be all we can be. That’s all I am saying and what this site is about. I want for you, and for myself, to be all we can be. To live an adventurous life. That takes energy and it takes motivation. Energy and motivation don’t come free. You need to fuel your body the good stuff if you expect it to operate like the high performance machine it was made to be.

I want to do more than just go to work and come home. Changing my diet will give me more energy, motivation and maybe even some speed on the bike when I heal up. And if you are doing something like say the Dirty Kanza 200 you can make juices for stamina, cramping, and that have anti-inflammatory properties not to mention replenishing your body with the fuel it needs at each checkpoint. Just Google juicing if you want to learn more.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I haven’t updated the blog in awhile. After the last post in which I excitedly reported my ten minute spin on the trainer, I found myself pretty sore and maybe a little defeated. I decided to take some time to do basically nothing. How often, in this fast spinning world, do we find time to do nothing? Never it seems. I think that was exactly what I needed, some time to look within rather than being outwardly expressive.

It’s not like I slept late and did nothing, but as to things I HAD to do, there where none. It was a nice feeling. Even this blog sat unchanged. I have taken a lot of time to look inward instead of outward and forward like I do so often.

I arrived at a crossroads of sorts and I needed to discover, as cliché as it sounds, who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life. Accomplishing this requires me to ignore everything else, even putting away Adventure Monkey for a while to let things simmer in my mind.

As the physical healing process goes, things are getting better. Currently my chest is stiff and painful but I am able to walk fairly normally and have been walking Mikey to Kindergarten and then taking long walks around town. I figure I need to move to help the healing process. I discovered (again) that being outside and moving, even if it is only walking, helps get my mind working. I found myself thinking and planning again while walking in the sun and being alive outside. This was a good discovery because sitting inside, my mind was sluggish – nothing was really happening in there.

Honestly I thought since I was in great shape before the surgery I would heal up quickly. Maybe it was the ten or so hours I was on the table, I don’t know, but things aren’t moving fast to me. I went in for my checkup last week. They seemed fine with my progress. I did learn that my mitral valve was in really bad shape when they cut open my heart. The valve leaflets were literally just blowing in the “wind” and the valve itself was described in the surgeon’s notes as “boggy.” In other words it was not firm. It was just sitting there in the heart sinking on itself. That was a scary and cool thing to hear. Scary because it was so bad and I hope nothing else in my heart wears out so quickly but cool because two weeks before surgery I rode an 80 mile gravel ride in the Flint Hills. My stats from that ride weren’t impressive as I was feeling very fatigued after 50 miles but I did it. With the repaired mitral valve I should be an animal on the bike after I heal up and get back into shape!

The soreness after my ten minute trainer experience made me sink back into the recliner for a couple of weeks though. I was able to watch all Parks and Rec and all of Breaking Bad. I also watched some interesting documentaries and am finishing up a book on food and health. Along with all that I am looking at careers, college degrees and letting myself discover what I want to do without the pressure of real life forcing me to make any rash decisions. I even went to a career counselor for some self discovery.

How in the world did I get to be 40 years old and not really know who I am?

Wow, that may be the topic of an entire self-help book, but let me try to put it in a nutshell.

I believed what the world told me.

I like to think about things and internalize my thoughts. I am not the loudest one in the conversation, in fact, I am usually the listener of the group. I think perhaps I let all the voices and noise of the world shape my ideas of success. Now it’s not like I do what people tell me to do. In fact I seem to rebel from authority and the status quo. But all the years of external noise did shape me. I even internalized many untruths about myself that came from childhood. You know those beliefs that bring us down but make us work harder to succeed. They sometimes lead us astray to prove something maybe only to ourselves.

I have taken this much-needed time to remove myself from all that bullshit. This world is full of it and I think that is why activities like Yoga, meditation, cycling or anything else that removes us from the noise, allowing us to hear our inner voices is so important. I was so bowed up with Adventure Monkey, training, work and life that I didn’t take time to be quiet and just wonder about who I am and what I was put here to do.

I know it sounds stupid, but I have always thought, even since I was a little kid, that I was put here for a reason. A big reason. Before puberty changed my boyish voice, I was sure I was going to be a singer as big as MJ. That dream died, as it needed to, but as the years went by more and more dreams were left by the roadside.

As an adult, I began looking down the road of life that I was on for that one career that would satisfy me. But sometimes on this journey, we need to find an exit ramp and head a completely different direction on a completely different road to get to where we are meant to go. Perhaps focusing on the professional skills I possessed was limiting my vision. Perhaps I needed to find that exit ramp. In this economy and having a mortgage and a family, simply taking a new road can be financially impossible.

But nothing is impossible. I just need to think creatively and figure out how to get on the right path. We all have choices. We all can make sacrifices. It just depends what’s more important to us. Is that house payment more important than doing something that would give you internal gratification and sense of worth? If so, stay where you are, but quit complaining.

In the past I served as the photographer for mission trips to places where people live with “nothing” by our American standards. Their multi-family houses were made of earth and sticks. The thing that really got to me on those trips was how happy the people were with “nothing.” All the things I thought were so important maybe really weren’t.

Maybe making necessary sacrifices for a little while to get to where I need to be will help me fully appreciate the greatness of my condition when I get there. Maybe my idea of “needs” is so skewed it keeps me from realizing my dreams. Maybe living a simpler life with less will bring me and you closer to happiness instead of working to get more and more stuff.

My wife and I have worked for years on downsizing and simplifying things in our lives. It’s not like we are going to live in an adobe house with open windows and poo in an outhouse or anything. In fact one of my very favorite inventions of all time is air conditioning (not kidding). But sometimes self discovery and then taking action on that discovery takes some sacrifice or hard work or both.

So what have I discovered you ask?

Well I am not 100% sure yet, but I am realizing the things in life that really bring me satisfaction. I like to work with people. I like to motivate people to do better. I believe we all need to better understand the mind – body – spirit connection or how to live more fruitful lives through exercise, healthy eating and feeding the soul. I believe this outlet called Adventure Monkey was closer to my calling than I originally thought. Maybe it will take some schooling in a different area of study to get there. We only live once and for a short time. I think it’s worth it to live intentionally and with purpose. Even if it does take some work and sacrifice to get there.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

Ten minutes. I got on the trainer and pedaled for ten minutes. I realize that’s not very long, but it is a long time to a guy that recently had open heart surgery. I could have gone longer, but that’s one of my traits I had to tame for this ride as I didn’t want to hurt all night. I just needed to get this party started.

The good thing is I got my heart rate up and I was breathing harder than I have since surgery. It wasn’t the best feeling in the world but it was doable. Taking deep breaths is good for me right now, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. But sitting around feeling sorry for myself won’t do any good at all. I am thinking if I add two to five minutes on per day I will be up to a respectable time on the trainer soon.

I also couldn’t keep my hands on the bars as my chest is still pretty darn sore. Being that it still takes awhile to put on deodorant or open a cabinet door, not being able to hold onto the handle bars is understandable. But it just feels good to finally do something physical.

It’s time too. I have lost about 12 pounds just sitting around. Looking at my legs, it seems that the weight is coming from muscle I worked so hard to build up atrophying away into my recliner. I need to start doing something and since I can’t move too well, I am going to try to spend some time on the trainer. I never thought I’s say this but the trainer is going to have to become my friend in these next few weeks.

This is all happening at the “perfect” time too. I turned 40 yesterday. Forty years old and getting over heart surgery. Yeah it’s a bummer and definitely enough to get me down but I am working hard at choosing my attitude about everything. If nothing else, this is a wake up call. It’s time to take control of my attitude instead of letting the situations around me choose my attitude for me. That’s power I am giving away to things I don’t like in the first place!

Have you ever noticed how negative people are? Even small talk is usually about negative things. We become what we spend time thinking about. I complain too much. It’s time I spend time thinking about what I want to happen instead of what is happening, most of which I have no power to change.

I don’t mean to get all airy-fairy on you but I really don’t think we realize the power of our thoughts. Or more specifically, the power of where we spend our time in our mind. We will become what we think about. Think about that.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

Surgery was on a Monday. I was under for nine to ten hours. After the worst night of my life I finally awoke and the nurses removed the breathing tube from my throat. This was the biggest relief ever. That tube was in my throat for the whole surgery and the entire night, so almost 24 hours. To this day, my teeth are still super sensitive like never before and I am just now getting over a the cough I had from a raw throat. But at least it was out and I was able to talk and breathe normally again.

The nurses went straight to work to try to get me breathing deeply and even walking that next morning. But I was feeling so terrible the walking wasn’t very successful. The breathing wasn’t easy either. My body felt so full of air from being opened and my digestive system didn’t do well with anesthesia or pain medication so it was pretty much at a standstill. All I could muster was shallow, painful breaths.

 Lanny, my ICU nurse that took good care of me. Come to find out we were both Phi Delts from ESU

Now as I try to remember that week, it all becomes a blur of pain meds and experiences. It’s difficult to keep it all straight. And some of it doesn’t need to be written about. I know the last post was kind of disgusting, but when I do make my comeback it will be so much sweeter if you know how far down I was. Maybe this will become a book or something, who knows? I just feel the need to get it out there and to embrace it.

I was in the ICU for most of the day following surgery. I had to muster up enough breath to do an albuterol breathing treatment to help open up my lungs. One of my lungs was deflated so the robotic arms could get to my heart from the right side of my chest. They wanted to make sure that I was taking deep breaths to inflate the lung and keep liquid from building up in both my lungs. I really didn’t need pneumonia on top of everything so I tried to do my breathing exercises, but I know I didn’t do them as much as they wanted me to that week.

 Ouch

I was supposed to leave the hospital on Friday, but I didn’t checkout until Monday and I was so ready to get out of there by then.

It is hard to remember why I was in there so long, but there are a few issues that I remember.

I couldn’t eat. My body felt so full and when I ate a little I felt like I just engorged myself at a Thanksgiving dinner. The dietician kept coming in my room telling me I needed to eat, but I couldn’t. That was an issue. The day I finally ate, one of the nurses told me to eat whatever sounded good. I had Jen get me a hamburger from Spangles. It tasted a little like heaven and I almost ate the whole thing. After that I felt overstuffed, but at least I ate something even though it was junk food.

Let’s see how do I put this? Not only could I not eat I also couldn’t do the opposite of taking in food if you know what I mean. The pain meds had pretty much stopped my system and nothing was moving. It didn’t feel good at all. I was already in pain and this wasn’t helping. At some point I asked to get off the pain meds and just use Tylenol. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I got so desperate I ordered prune juice – twice. I just wanted to get things moving. It did a bit. I am not writing this to be gross. It was one of the main things that gave me pain and kept me from leaving the hospital. I would also walk the halls to get things moving, but that didn’t seem to help.

 My Doctors, Badr and Jennifer

I really liked my doctors. They answered all my questions and I loved the way Badr would smack me on my shoulder. He cracked me up. I felt in good hands though and that was important.

As I walked the halls I was as slow as an old man. It was a weird feeling to be so slow. I felt disabled. There was a lot I couldn’t do. I was very thankful that I knew I was going to heal. I felt bad for people who end up in the hospital from some kind of trauma and become disabled, not knowing if they will ever heal from it. I did know that I would heal and was very thankful for that.

Once again, smart nurses were a blessing to my stay. I became bloated. It was weird looking. I gained 13 pounds and my legs were huge. They gave me a diuretic along with a beta blocker and some other pills that I don’t remember. They were trying to get rid of the extra water and keep my blood pressure low and after taking the handful of pills I felt like I was in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest movie. I basically passed out. I could barely open my eyes and I slept all day. One top of that, my blood pressure fell to scary low levels and I went from feeling OK to feeling terrible – dizzy, nauseous, tired and spent. No walking that day. Finally when a different nurse came in, she took me off some of the meds and I began to feel normal again. It was a scary time, especially for Jen.

By the end of my stay I couldn’t stand being there anymore. The food was actually pretty good and I was sick of it. The medical center was newer and very clean, but I couldn’t stand the smell anymore. I was just getting sick of being there and wanted to go home. I couldn’t sleep well and by the last night I started hallucinating. It was weird. We would leave the bathroom light on with the door shut so I could get to the bathroom in the dark. The doorway was ringed in light much like the door in the Poltergeist. My eyes and mind started playing tricks on me and I wasn’t in a hospital anymore. The walls and surroundings kept changing on me and the door to the hallway became a door to an unknown world, like the zombie apocalypse had just happened or something. I looked over at Jen at one point and she was sleeping in the middle of all this madness. I called out to her because I couldn’t believe she was sleeping through all this. She woke up and listened to whatever I said. The weird thing was I was fully awake and saw writing, scribbling all over the walls in what looked liked crayon.

For days after this my eyes saw things that weren’t there. Nothing scary or creepy just patterns and textures where there were none. The walls in my house looked textured and they aren’t. Whenever I closed my eyes I would see very detailed images that had no meaning to me, but they were very detailed and three-dimensional. All this went away in about three to four days. Today I am back to normal. It was very strange.

After surgery I spent six more days in the hospital getting released on the seventh day. I was so happy to get out of there. It was a nice hospital, but given the choice I never want to stay in a hospital again. When I finally made it home from Wichita, I was so happy and thankful to get into my house. I have never been so happy to be in my home. It was a great feeling.

My doctor pretty much owns the hospital. I felt in good hands.

 This is the side that they went in with the robot. I was bruised pretty much everywhere.

 The arm where blood was taken over and over and over. It was a bit bruised too.

These days I am still pretty sore and slow but I have started walking. I want to get on my trainer, but I am not sure when I’ll be able to do that. I am taking Tylenol religiously and trying to pass the time as I heal. It’s a strange thing being healthy one day and having open heart surgery and being helpless the next. I’m sure I am supposed to learn something from this experience. I hope I can take in what I need to from all of this. It is a time in my life that I am really soul-searching and trying to figure out what I should do with my life. I turn 40 this weekend. After all this I feel even stronger about not being in a job that I dislike so much, but I also realize the need for money and insurance. I hope I can get a spark of an idea or see an open door or something. But . . .

. . . there is something else though that I have thought about quite a bit and that is attitude. I have the power to let things bother me or not bother me. The power to choose our attitude has real power behind it. It got people through very bad things like the Holocaust and it can get us through bad times today too. If I continue to think and dwell on the things I don’t like I won’t be paying attention to the things I like and the person I am supposed to be.

So I am definitely working on my attitude and where I will spend time with my thoughts. Once again, what we think about we become. I am done wasting time thinking about how much I hate things lest I become them.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I woke up to familiar voices. The voices of an old friend of mine and some family members. It was comforting to hear the voices of the ones I loved. I felt pretty worn out. I was awake and could hear and remember things but I was too tired to open my eyes. It felt like I had weights holding them shut. According to my family, my face was pretty bloated. Since I was just waking up, I thought that everything went as planned and I would be good to go in no time.

But then I remember hearing some bad news. From this time until I finally got off the strong pain meds everything is kind of blurred in my mind so I will try to put things together the best I can remember them. I can’t guarantee the order will be exactly right.

I was told that I was in surgery for so long that they needed to leave the breathing tube in my throat. They needed to leave it in overnight. My blood pressure was low and they didn’t feel comfortable letting me breathe on my own. One of the nurses explained the tube to me before surgery.

“You’re going to wake up with the breathing tube in your throat. It may have to stay there for an hour or two max so don’t pull it out. The one they will use on you splits into each bronchus since they have to deflate one of your lungs for surgery. If you pull it out it could do some damage and really hurt . . .”

I remembered what the nurse told me and ignored the overwhelming desire to pull that thing out of my throat. I also remembered her saying it may be in my throat for an hour or two. They were telling me it would have to stay in overnight.

I panicked. All I could do is kick my feet like a little kid. I was trying to throw a fit. I was told later that my legs were moving but it just looked to my family like they were shaking. I was trying to kick them. I was mad. That breathing tube was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced. Although it would breathe for me if I was sleeping, I wasn’t sleeping. I was awake and it felt like I was fighting against that tube to breathe. It felt like I was drowning. I am completely serious about this. This was as close to torture as I ever want to get. The thought of having this in my throat all night was unbearable.

The room was also very warm and I was sweating. Fluid felt like it was building up in the tube all night which added to the sensation of drowning. It was horrible. I couldn’t speak but I tried to mouth the words to the nurse

“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe”

That was exactly how it felt. I felt like I was going to suffocate. It was extreme. It was terrible. I understand they were following orders but this was so bad I personally don’t think they should leave the breathing tube in when a patient is awake. It was real torture.

Sometimes the tube would fill up with fluid (or it felt that way) and they would come suction it out. This went on all night. I tried to relax my breathing and breathe as slow as possible to not fight against that thing. This was easier said than done. I would think upon the worst rides I had ever done and finished to help me get through the night too. I thought of the 205 miles I rode through the cramps in 2010 to finish the Dirty Kanza 200. I thought of my trip through the Central California mountains and how hard that was to get through. I could get through this. I had to.

I was also wondering why surgery took so long too. Before surgery we talked to the PA about another case they recently did that was like mine and they were done in four hours. I wasn’t sure how long I was in there but it was a long time. That’s why I had to spend the night with the tube in place.

The breathing tube was the worst, most terrible part of the week. It was that bad. It was, as I already wrote but want to reiterate, torture.

Somehow I made it through the night. The sun was starting to peek above the horizon and all I could think about was getting the tube out of my throat.

The nurses changed shifts and Lanny was taking care of me. He was a big, bald man and one hell of a nice guy. He knew what he was doing and was very comforting about everything. I learned that a good nurse made a huge difference to how things went, to how I felt during my stay at the hospital.

Lanny went to work and pulled the breathing tube out of my throat. Thank God. Things could only get better from here I thought. Because I had that tube in my throat all night and all day during the surgery, my teeth were super sensitive and my throat was sore for weeks. Nothing like a cough to make my ribs feel nice after heart surgery.

I looked at one of the other nurses and asked here which side the doctor had gone in to do surgery. I couldn’t tell as I was still pretty drugged up.

“Oh well he went in your right side but then they had to go through your sternum anyway”

“What?” I thought. I was now in wonder of why they had to do that. I started thinking of the extra time it would now take to recover. I was thinking about the new long scar I would have. I wondered what the hell had happened. I was told there was maybe a 5% chance they would have a problem with the robotic surgery and have to open my sternum. That was a bet I took. I was in shock just a little bit. I knew the DK200 would be out of reach and who knew when I’d be back on the bike now. Oh well, what’s done is done. They obviously had to do it and I obviously wanted to be alive, so I would just have to deal with it.

After getting the breathing tube out, they had to take out some other tubes, one being the drainage tube. Jennifer, the good-looking PA came in and took it out. She put one hand on my body and ripped a small garden house out of my chest with the other hand. Um yeah, it hurt.

Soon I noticed it was very difficult to breathe. It felt like I had so much gas in my body pressing against my lungs that I couldn’t take a deep breath. I could only manage short, little breaths. To try to get ride on some of the gas, a tube was inserted into my nose, all the way down to my stomach and left there for about three hours or so to try to “degass my system.” I am not sure if it worked as I had to deal with this problem all week.

I asked the PA what happened during surgery. Why did they have to open my sternum?

They had a problem seeing the valve work after they did the repairs. They used a balloon in the aorta to stop blood from going that route and it was pushing down on the valve enough to make it look like it wasn’t working correctly. Since they weren’t sure what was going on and wanted to see for sure that the repaired mitral valve was working correctly, they decided to open me up and do it the old-fashioned way. They decided to do this about six hours into surgery. It took another three hours or so for them to finish the surgery. It was a very long surgery.

I thought I would come through surgery strong. I thought many things like that. But what it came down to was that I was in pretty bad pain. They tried to get me walking that first day. I stood up. I may have taken a step but that’s about it. I was told that the younger guys have a tougher time with pain being that their bodies have more active nerve endings than older guys. Whatever. I was in bad shape. Seemed like my whole body was pissed off about the surgery, from my bowels to all my incisions. I felt worse that first day than I ever imagined I would. But I am writing this so I did get through it. Although it was a much slower process than I had hoped.

Now I had to concentrate on getting better and going home. The surgery was on Monday. I hoped I would be out of there on Friday. But that wouldn’t be so.

To be honest, I was taking this upcoming heart surgery lightly. It seemed so surreal and I wasn’t feeling sick. I have never had health problems and I especially never had heart issues, so it almost didn’t seem real at all. But since it was real, I figured it would be best to get this problem taken care of before it became a bigger health problem. Things wold get more real as the day came closer.

My last day at work was weird. I got everything done that I could and updated my coworkers on the rest. I set my email and phone message to reflect that I’d be gone for six weeks. It felt so weird. I had some symptoms but nothing seemed wrong with me in any major way and yet I was leaving for six weeks to recover from surgery. If everything went well, I would probably be back in four weeks but there was that 5% chance that the surgeon would have to open me up if things didn’t go well with the DaVinci Robot. Such a small chance I figured would never pan out.

Leaving work felt strange too. It felt like I was leaving the company. Wishful thinking. Actually I have to say even though that isn’t the place I want to work, it is providing me with very good insurance to take care of this problem. I can’t yet imagine how much it is going to cost. I drove all the way home feeling like I was starting a very, very long vacation. Little did I know how far from a vacation this was going to be.

We had to be to the Kansas Medical Center in Wichita on Sunday afternoon. I had never stayed in a hospital before and was unsure how to pack, but I figured I would be in one of those hospital gowns all week so I wouldn’t need to bring much. I was looking forward to getting this whole thing over with.

Me in my nighty. I hated putting that thing on but I was becoming a patient, something I never thought about until then.

We checked in and they showed us to our first room. They hooked me up to a heart monitor, took blood and ran some other tests. The nurse on nights said she would be back to “clip” me, give me a bowel prep and then I’d have to take a shower with special soap. Clip? Bowel prep? I wasn’t sure what that entailed but I would soon find out.

Before things really got underway I spent some time on the Mac

Marc and Ashley showed up to wish me well and hang out just for a bit. That was nice. They were the lucky ones that got to see me before the surgery. I wouldn’t be looking so good afterwards.

 Jen, Marc and I

When the nurse showed back up I was in for the most humiliating thing I think I have gone through. I tried to clear my mind and think of something else as she “clipped” me. It was pretty much like what my dog goes through every summer when we give her  her summer do. The nurse had to shave me down to get me ready for surgery. And bowel prep, well I’m sure you can imagine what that entailed. One thing I noticed through this hospital experience is that I had to give up some of my humanness to get through it. I was constantly (or so it felt) being poked and prodded and told to take pills and every bit of excrement or bodily fluid had to be accounted for. After this experience I felt really sorry for anyone that has to spend time in the hospital. It is not fun and can be near torture at times.

After I was clipped, had my bowel prepped, had my blood taken and heart monitored I went to sleep. My first night in the hospital. They woke me up early to take another shower with the special soap and got me ready to go to surgery.

I said bye to Jen and was wheeled into the operating room. At first it was only the anesthesiologist and a couple of other people in there with me. I didn’t see the surgeon yet. They were asking questions about what would be going on in this surgery. As I laid there on the table they sounded a little clueless to me. It didn’t give me the best feeling in the world. But that’s all I remember. Soon I was dead to the world. I was hoping I’d be done in around four hours and be recovering soon. But this would not be my lucky day. I would wake up in more pain than I’d ever known.

I still believe it is best to tackle any situation head on and in a positive frame of mind. That being said, The week of surgery was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life. I’m not just writing that either. It was brutal on me. I have thought about how to write it down for you (do I keep all the details that made it so hard?) And since that is how I write, I’ll bring you the week from my mind’s eye very soon.

Things got more difficult than I expected because after hours of surgery with the DaVinci robotic system, they had to go ahead and open up my chest. I ended up staying in the hospital for a week. I was so ready to get out of there. If what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, I should be Ironman right now. I say that because I do feel like I have an iron plate welded to my chest as I type these words.

I’m sitting here in my chair a little after five in the morning because I can’t sleep and after about a full day of sitting at home, I am already bored. I am a little scared of going crazy in these weeks I’m not supposed to do a whole lot. Anyway, I left you hanging for awhile and wanted to drop a short line to let you know that I am OK. My heart is beating hard and normal now and I am on the road to recovery.

Thanks so very much for all your kind words and wishes while I was in the hospital. It means a lot.

Thanks even more for the support for the position with Foundry Cycles. I made it to the semis and then got bumped. From what I heard, they have quite the stock to chose from. Anyway . . . it was something I couldn’t pass up trying for right? Thanks for all your support.

Take care and Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I have a big day coming up. A very big day. This day is bigger than any race day I have been up against. As you know, I am headed into surgery this Monday to get this bum mitral valve repaired. I am not scared, rather I feel much like I do before the Dirty Kanza 200. I know I am up against a long ride. I know I am going to feel some pain. I know I am going to have to push myself to make it. I know there are some unknowns I will come up against. But on the other side, I know I will finish and be a better man when I do.

That brings me to today’s special blog post. Foundry Cycles is looking for five brand ambassadors.

Five people who will have to,”ride our bikes and document their experiences.”

Five people who will be given their very own Foundry bicycle, a thing of beauty.

In return for the bike I will be required to

“. . . spend the year talking to people about your Foundry. Go on rides, take it to races, local events, coffee shops, the grocery store, your local bike shop—everywhere you’d normally take your bike. Answer questions about it. Tell people what you think of it. Let them take it for a spin. Throw on a helmet cam and send us video of your adventures. Write up your experiences. You’ll have to earn your keep, but if you work as hard as you play, then you’re right for Foundry.” Read more about it HERE.

Basically Foundry Cycles is looking for someone to do what I do here every week but they want someone to do it on one of their bikes. Yes I know right!? It seems like a perfect fit. Let me not take this for granted. Let me take some time to tell the good people of Foundry Cycles why I believe I would be a great fit as one of their ambassadors. Let me tell them why I believe that giving me one of their $3,400 Augers would serve them very well. First, check out this beautiful machine:

I am a professional photographer. I have been since 1990. As described by a good friend of mine, I am a “photographer that fell in love with cycling.” I loved cycling so much I started Adventure Monkey to inspire others to get off the couch and Feed Their Adventure Monkeys! Now I blog about my rides, races and everyday life. I lead photocycling tours through the Flint Hills of Kansas and I race gravel grinders around the area. Let me explain myself through images rather than words alone.

This is me, shot by an Adventure Monkey tour participant. Just think of me leading tours on a Foundry!

Before gravel grinding was cool, I thought it was the only place to ride. My friends and I used to ride gravel when I went to Emporia State University. Back then 20 miles was quite a feat.

Then I got older. I got a job. I quit riding. I had a job that kept me cubed up all day.

My Adventure Monkey was starved. My mind was in need of real adventure. I needed to feel a real sense of accomplishment. I decided to get back on my bike. I began riding 20 mile rides again. It felt great and I wanted more. All the “crap” of my cubicle world would be left behind in the gravel dust. The more I sweated, the better I felt.

I told my wife that I wished I could share this with people. I saw so many beautiful scenes from the gravel I rode. My wife is kind of awesome. She bought me a rack and trunk bag for the 20-year-old mountain bike I was pedaling back then and soon I was sharing scenes like the ones below with people via the interwebs. Soon the Flint Hills gravel was seeing more people on bikes.

I couldn’t function without riding. It became my medicine. While others around me took meds for depression, high blood pressure and other maladies, I rode my bike. Soon I was riding in every season and temperature. High Gear Cyclery became a second home. I found myself not only riding bikes, but also talking bikes. I was soon a part of the cycling community. And what a community we have in Emporia, Kansas.

You see the little town of Emporia has become a cycling haven. The best gravel grinder in the world starts and finishes here . . .

 . . . in downtown Emporia. A small town that has found new life because of a little race called the Dirty Kanza 200.

All the pictures I had been taking and sharing were like beacons calling people to ride on the gravel in our backyard. This year the DK200 filled in just over 2.5 hours! This race is becoming the premier gravel grinder in the country. I may be biased, well just look at these scenes and see what YOU think.

The Flint Hills are the last untouched prairie in North America. Once you hit “Open Range” you may not see anything human besides the gravel you ride for ten, even 15 miles. It’s beautiful, rugged, challenging and a great place to feed the Adventure Monkey inside. Like a fork twirling a plate of spaghetti, the Foundry Auger would be the perfect tool for the job.

 Amazing gravel

 Amazing rollers

 Amazing beauty

 The heartland of America

 low maintenance goodness

heavenly gravel roads

 I ride. I shoot. I write. I lead people to do the same.

I found myself wanting more. I got invited to ride through the California Mountains. I soon saw the bicycle as more than just a way to get places. Cycling became a way of life. The bike became a tool to get me there.

I began this journey with a bike that was the bomb back in 1990. I bought this bad boy back in college. I began Adventure Monkey on it. This bike was more than a bike. It was my faithful companion. It was my escape to a better place physically, mentally and spiritually.

Soon it was time to get a new ride. The old 26er mountain bike was beating me to bits. I was looking for something to take me farther. I wanted something I could pack up and take cross-country.

 The Salsa Fargo was the bicycle for the job

I found myself on my beloved Fargo going everywhere. I was riding far. I was dreaming of riding farther. But soon I had another goal in mind. I still wanted to go far, but I also wanted to go fast. While I was training for the Dirty Kanza 200 on the Fargo an accident with mud and my derailleur occurred. My bike shop lent me one of their cross bikes while the Fargo was in the shop. I went far and I went fast! Soon I struck a deal to update the bike shop’s web site for a sweet deal on a new cross bike. My love for gravel had found the perfect vehicle.

 My new Trek XO1 cross bike

Soon I was talking to anyone that would listen about bikes and the world of cycling. Even the shop cat.

I found myself visiting other places, bike shops, and meeting new people in the cycling world, like Aaron from Big Poppi’s bike shop in Manhattan, Kansas.

Not only was I teaching photography, I found myself teaching about gravel grinding, bikepacking and many other aspects of cycling.

But then something happened. I found myself way over my head. I found myself riding with these guys on a bikepacking tour through the California mountains. That trip was amazing and eye-opening. The bike became a tool to stretch myself in every direction.

riding in the Central California Mountains

I stretched myself professionally, physically, mentally, socially and I became a better person because of the bicycle.

Soon I was shooting a cover for Adventure Monkey Magazine with Bobby Wintle of District Bicycles. Yes I also started a magazine because of the bike. This magazine will soon become part of our newsletter that we send out to hundreds of people. This site is growing and is currently under construction to make way for the growth of this little business. A business that believes in a simple idea fueled by the bicycle. The idea that everyone needs to feed their Adventure Monkey to live fulfilled, happy lives. One way to do that is by bicycle.

It doesn’t matter where you come from, how old you may be or what your parents think. Life is better when you add a bicycle to it.

Riding has become a metaphor for life.

 I ride alone. I ride with friends. I ride with customers. I ride. A Foundry Auger would be the perfect vehicle.

 I have become a part of the DK200 and it has become a part of me.

I answer questions while riding the DK200. I answer questions in the months leading to the DK200. I could be doing all this on a Foundry Auger, the no-nonsense cross bike that seems as if it was born to do the Dirty Kanza 200.

 A hill in last year’s DK200
I’m sure the Auger would glide up this hill with little effort.

 Yes, I am one of the few, one of the proud that can drink a beer from the glass awarded to finishers of the DK200.

I will shoot pictures, tell stories and give people advice. Foundry you have stumbled upon a partnership made in the heavens this time.

 Am I excited about bikes? Just a bit.

 I look forward to seeing my Auger being built up at High Gear very soon. Here’s a few pictures of the birth of my Fargo.

 I like bikes and the cultured they have spawned. I like photographing every aspect of it.

Can’t you picture it? The sweet simplicity of the black Auger out here on the range.

The Auger is a precision-crafted tool—engineered to maximize a riders cross experience. Rocks, roots, singletrack, dirt roads, wet grass, muddy hills and tight corners—throw anything at it, the Auger is up to the challenge and always comes back for more.

Foundry, how about we show the world what this thing can do? You and me. Let’s do it all, from bikepacking to gravel grinding.

Not only will the Auger be seen at the DK200, but it will be seen at many races in the midwest including the Gravel Worlds in Lincoln and the Farmhouse Classic in Missouri. I have my sights on many more to come.

 That guy wants to know more about the Auger.

 Lincoln’s Gravel Worlds

 Even hot girls on bikes will want to know about the Auger

 Kansas, are you ready for Foundry?

 All other bikes will seem like this in comparison.

 I’m sure I can get some of my hot models to pose with the Auger too!

 Need action shots too Foundry? I’m your man.

 Think of all the time I will have to discuss and show off my beautiful Foundry bike.

 Adventure Monkey Photocycling Tour Participants

 Think of the impression we will make on our tours with the Auger.

 I show people how to shoot pictures and do we discuss bikes? You bet we do.

 There’s no place I won’t talk about my new Foundry bike
(at the MS 150)

Not only do I speak at the tours during the classroom sessions, I also speak at bike clubs to spread the Adventure Monkey love.

Not only does Emporia host the DK200, but the Thursday night rides have grown to amazing proportions.

Foundry, giving me one of your bikes would be like dropping fresh meat into a zombie infested city.

Not only do I ride in Kansas, but there’s no telling where this bike will lead me.

Me dreaming of my new Foundry bicycle

Foundry, if this all is not enough let me give you one more reason.

I am setting you up for the best story ever. A story that will capture imaginations and inspire many people. This story is real. It is my story.

I am going into the hospital later today. Tomorrow a surgeon will go through my side with high-tech robotic arms to open my heart and fix my mitral valve. The bike has not only saved me from a dull, adventureless life, it has literally saved my life. Without pushing myself to my physical limits on the bike I would not have known something was wrong until years later and it may have been too late.

I did not feel 100% on the bike. I felt tired. Riding 80 miles became quite difficult, although I still did it. Since I was getting ready to take part in the Stagecoach 400, I decided I should probably get a checkup. To make a long story short, I found out the I had a heart murmur caused by a prolapsed mitral valve. I had ruptured my chordae tendinae, the little tendons holding the valve in the heart.

Tomorrow I will get this fixed. In two weeks I will be on the trainer, slowly, gingerly turning the pedals again. Soon I will be back on the bike training for the big race, the Dirty Kanza 200. I will be awarded a place as a Foundry brand ambassador. I will go on the win the Dirty Kanza 200 on your bike! Amazing! Newspapers, internet sites and newscasts will cover the amazing story.

OK, part of that was an ending made only for Hollywood, but I will ride in the DK200 this year and it will be an inspiring story made even more inspiring by the non-nonsense, precision-crafted tool called the Foundry Auger.

Adventure Monkey followers, friends and others – If you are reading this, please leave a comment to tell Foundry Cycles that they have found their man.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I can’t do the Stagecoach 400 this year, a bikepacking race that would have taken me through the hills, mountains, desert and oceanfront between Idyllwild and San Diego, California. It would have been epic. Instead I am going in for heart surgery in a week.

I am planning on completing this route in the future. I am thinking about turning it into a fun ride with friends. Maybe my son, Alex, would like to do it after he graduates from High School this year. All I know is that it is something I will complete.

Brendan and his wife Mary Collier, a Tour Divide finisher featured in the movie Ride the Divide, have organized this amazing ride featured HERE in the Idyllwild Town Crier. It would have been a lot of fun to get to know and ride with the people on the starting list. But now I have another challenge in front of me and that is to recover from surgery as quickly as possible.

Along with trying to get a waiver or raincheck from the airline, I wrote my letter to Brendan to let him know I am out this year. For some reason I feel like a wimp. Yes, I realize I do have a good excuse this time being that there will be stitches in my tissues including my tender heart tissue. This just gives you some insight into my soul and the hunger of my Adventure Monkey.

Here’s the letter:

Brendan,
I can’t even express how excited I am for the SC400. I have bikepacked before, but on borrowed equipment and I have since gotten my kit together and begun to plan for my first self supported bikepacking race. I have also purchased my plane tickets and made arrangements to get to Idyllwild. But then other things happened.

I was having troubles in my training rides in that I was feeling very fatigued when I shouldn’t have. I have been unusually tired, short of breath and I figured it would be a good idea to get a checkup before heading to Cali.

To make a long story short, after going to multiple doctors, I have been diagnosed with a prolapsed mitral valve with regurgitation and ruptured chordae tendinae (little tendons that hold the valve in the heart). I am going to get surgery this coming Monday to fix my broken heart and therefore must pull out of the SC400. To say I am bummed is an understatement.

If you could, please keep me on the mailing list for this event. I plan on riding your route ASAP. I will heal up and get back on the bike soon. For crying out loud, I am just turning 40 this April! This race was my birthday present to myself. I may be ready for the Dirty Kanza 200, but no guarantees.

Take care and hopefully this doesn’t cause you any troubles.

Thanks for putting this together. I will be watching the leader board while recovering.

 Eric Benjamin

I plan to continue training this week on the trainer. No need to get out of shape until after the surgery. And just in case I need to faint or take a break, I’ll be in the garage.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric