Climbing the Hill

Saturday 5/28

I assure you, the title of this post is literal not metaphorical.

Almost thirty-five years ago to the day, I was one of four cycling friends who set out with fully loaded touring bikes from Paradise campground on the McKenzie River.  We climbed the old McKenzie Highway, cresting the Cascade Mountains.  It was my first time making this climb. I was 25 years old and cancer free (I think).

Since then I have ridden this road many, many times. In the early summer of 2004, Laurie and I cycled it twice. Once with brother Tom accompanying him across Oregon on his Trans Continental ride. The other time, two weeks prior, to make sure Laurie was in adequate cycling shape to ride across Oregon with Tom.

Almost every year since, Laurie and I have done this climb. Usually we wait for ODOT to plow this mountain road of its winter snow. It is then open to bikes but not vehicles. Some years the road is wide open with no snow in the flowering meadows; while other years we ride the narrow single track of pavement bounded by towering walls of winter snow.

Even more daring are the years when we launch before ODOT has plowed. That scenario is as follows: Van camp the night before and munch breakfast the morning of at the locked gate. Unload the bikes, strap on the skis, push around the gate and ride naked pavement as far up the hill as possible. We then park the bikes and ski to the summit. At the summit we arrive to a very cool CCC-era built stone structure, known as Dee Wright Observatory.  By then we have broken out into the late springtime sunshine.  We enjoy snow play, lunch, lounging and a luxurious nap. The views are spectacular, the air delightfully warm, the sky the deepest blue, the conifers the most striking green and the solitude felicitous. We are happy together in this gorgeous natural setting!

Tonight Laurie and I drive up to camp with the intention of topping out on this ever so familiar summit by noon tomorrow. It will be my first climb of this magnitude since being diagnosed. I wonder how the cancer cells will like this trial.  Heck, they are already being mercilessly assaulted with hormone therapy and chemotherapy. Moreover, they are being starved of their sustenance – sugar.  I am fully confident that I will feel GREAT as I crest the summit, breath deeply the pristine air and absorb that noble landscape with its imposing views.  I bet that those cancer cells will be crying out to flee my body as fast as they can.  They’ll realize that their invasion was ill advised – an extremely bad idea – a very poor choice.  I hear them screeching, “I want out, NOW!”

So then, until tomorrow night when we arrive home, I leave you in waiting for my report. For now, back to preparations for tomorrow’s assault…………..You all will be the first know how this climb goes, as my intention is to post again sooner than later.  TTFN

PS:  If those pesky cancer cells are able to overcome this ravishment, my friends at OHSU will be bombarding again on Tuesday afternoon with the third chemotherapy treatment.  Take that suckers!