Florida is life without hills and the best CABG anywhere!

Having spent a few days now in New Hampshire I can attest to just how flat Florida is. The first day here I took a walk with my daughter and found myself breathing heavily; without a pack and only walking three miles.

Over the last three days I have managed bike rides of 22, 20 and 28 miles. In Florida I’d hardly notice those rides, but here in New Hampshire I’m huffing and puffing. Fortunately I fixed the front derailleur on my bicycle before attempting riding the hills around here. It has been broken for months while I was in Sarasota and since it was stuck in the high gears I didn’t consider it a high-priority. It would be impossible to ride here without the lower ranges.

All this exercise is good training for getting out and spending some time on the trails soon. My legs may not be ready, but at least the lungs will get a little training ahead of time. The heart has been getting a workout.

Speaking of things related to health, I found a very good website that relates to Heart Coronary Artery Bypass Graft , or CABG (pronounced “cabbage”).
As most of my readers know, I underwent this surgery during my Appalachian Trail hike in 2007, so I am officially a CABG Patch Kid. If you know someone that may be facing this procedure in the near future, or has already undergone it, you might check the website out, it is really informative and condenses everything into understandable terms.

I consider Sarasota Memorial Hospital the center of the universe for this procedure, they saved my life and I haven’t looked back (except for the chapter in my book of course.)

Don’t ignore the symptoms; I did and found later that it could have killed me.

Have fun out there and enjoy the summer!

Dennis, “K1”

One thought on “Florida is life without hills and the best CABG anywhere!

  1. MaryAnn

    This email is long overdue. I finished reading your book awhile ago and plan to re-read thru it as your tale made me feel like I knew a lot of your fellow thru-hikers and I want to revisit them knowing now that many of them popped back up during your hike, and get to “know them” a little more as well as “hike it again” with you and them. I have to tell you that you really did open my eyes to the efforts, complexity at times, and reality of a Thru-Hike. I am not a long distance hiker but as I think I told you, my brother is and does want to Thru-Hike possibly as soon as next year. He has section hiked the AT in PA and VA. I had given him a copy of your book and he read it straight thru and I believe it gave him some needed insight into what he needs to plan for and expect. I know it gave me insight as to what I’ll need to assist him with as his ground support/mail drop support person. THANK YOU!

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