In Which I Have the Biking Luck of the Irish

My road bike, out of the garage for the first time in 2025. I've just aired the tyres, and making this image is a chance to catch my breath.

Saint Patrick’s Day 2025 started early for me—I had a 7:45 a.m. appointment with my cardiologist to check my meds and confer on how my recovery from heart bypass surgery that I had Jan. 10 is going.

The news was mixed but mostly good. One of my questions was: When can I start riding a bicycle outside? I have been exercising on an indoor bike, and I ride an exercise bike at cardiac rehab sessions twice a week, so I was feeling my body is ready.

Honestly, the biggest reason they’ve kept me off outdoor bikes isn’t the bike riding itself—which clearly I can do if I take it easy—it’s the risk of an accident or fall while my breastbone knits back together. And, the lesser question of how stable my repaired chest pump is.

Well, today was the day, two months and a week after surgery I heard the magic words that I wanted to hear:

“You can ride your bike,” the cardiologist said.

With several asterisks. I am not yet fully recovered—I get short of breath if I walk more than a block or so. I have a temporary handicapped parking permit for the university where I teach, because two of the buildings I teach in are beyond easy walking range for me.

Yet, I can walk some distance, as I proved today when my wife and I took four grandchildren down to watch the SaPaDaPaSo parade in downtown Cedar Rapids. (SaPaDaPaSo is the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Society’s self-titled name, it’s basically the St. Patrick’s Day parade).

One of several St. Patricks seen in the March 17 SaPaDaPaSo parade in Cedar Rapids.

It was a warm, breezy, and sunny spring day, requiring a jacket in the morning and sunscreen in the afternoon. The parade is popular, and our parking spot was six blocks from the route. Which meant I walked a mile going to and from—a mile that winded me and required me to use a slow pace, but I got the job done.

Encouraged by the morning medical meeting and my conquering of a mile on foot in early afternoon, I decided today was the day. About 4:30 p.m., I wheeled my road bike out of the garage. Airing up the tyres proved an exhausting ordeal—your correspondent has a healing heart and breastbone, and tires easily while pumping tyres. But like a mile walk, I got the job done.

Then I started out on my ride. I turned south on C Avenue, climbing the relatively mild hill that leads to the Lindale Trail—but there was a brisk south wind, so I was climbing both a hill hill and a wind hill. And getting quite winded, to be honest. So, I shifted down further than I normally would. I had not been on two wheels on an actual ride since December, and I felt a little wobbly at first, but bicycle riding is one of those skills that comes back quickly, and one of my superpowers is being able to balance while moving rather slowly, so I just inched my way up both (actual and breeze-induced) hills.

My plan was to pause and catch my breath when I reached the trail, but when I turned to go on the trail, it turned out the wind wasn’t entirely a south one—it was a south by southwest breeze, and it gave me a boost and room to relax and breath while still moving on the bicycle. I rested as planned, I just didn’t have to stop to do it.

I rode down to Lindale Avenue, about 1.3 miles from my house. There I turned around. I knew this first ride would be very short, and I had already had the long walk today, and I had been enjoined by my heart doctor to enjoy bike rides but make sure I did not tax my healing body too much.

Selfie I took before starting journey back home. Happy to be riding!

Although the breeze wasn’t quite as helpful as I headed back west, it was mostly a side breeze and the trail was mostly flat. I took it easy and enjoyed the day.

The woods beside the trail are still in their winter sleep, but spring comes from the ground up, and although the grass is mostly in its drab, brown winter hues, it did today have a touch of St. Patrick’s Day magic—a tinge of Irish green.

Well, I’m half Irish (my mother was Irish, my father Hungarian). I felt I had some Irish luck going for me today. It felt great to be riding, even if the ride was deliberately short.

The last time I rode, Dec. 10 of last year, I had a winter coat on. Today it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and although I did have a long-sleeved shirt on, no coat was required today despite the breeze.

It was a good day for a bike ride. Especially the first bike ride.

Above and below, the kind of afternoon it was. quite pretty. And below, I think you can see that the ground is just starting to hint at spring green.