Captain Rick’s ‘Round-the-World’ Walking/Bicycling Trek to combat HBP
In 1999, at age 52, I was diagnosed with HBP (High Blood Pressure), placing me at an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. My doctor urged me to develop a healthier diet (less fat, cholesterol, salt, sugar, alcohol) and a daily exercise routine.
On New Years Eve in 1999, I made a resolution to begin eating healthy and walk a mile or more every day for exercise. It is a resolution that I have faithfully fulfilled over the many years since.
The death of my father from a heart attack a couple of years later fortified my resolution. I sharpened my diet and increased my daily walking routine.
In 2005 I bought a bicycle and added a bike ride to my daily exercise routine.
On New Years Eve, preceding 2006, I expanded my resolution to walk/bicycle the equivalent of once around the world … 25,000 miles. With only a few thousand miles logged, I knew this was a very tall resolution that seemed endless and impossible … but, it was a goal that I was bound and determined to achieve.
I logged my miles every day since the beginning of my trek in 2000. In 2009 I began publishing my progress. I did so to recognize my difficult achievement, but more importantly to remind me that I had a long way to go and to help give me strength to carry on … and to give courage to the many people who have HBP and ‘walk in my shoes’. I am now in my second last year for completion of my 25,000 World Trek. What once seemed like an impossible, endless goal, is now just beyond a few more bends in the trail. I anticipate completion of my World Trek in 2020.
I have worn out about 20 sets of shoes walking 10,000+ miles during my World Trek, now in its 20th year. The best wearing set achieved 767 miles. They were inexpensive Dr. Scholl’s. Several expensive shoes wore out in less than 200 miles, proving that cost does not equal endurance. The expensive shoes also proved to be among the least comfortable. The shoe heels and soles are usually the first to fail. I am currently rotating 6 sets of shoes ranging from almost new to over 200 miles so my feet experience varying levels of newness and mileage each day. I add a new set of shoes to the rotation every 50 miles. The 4 newest sets of shoes are Wolverines purchased at DSW for about $60. I found them to offer the best comfort and wear, regardless of cost. The oldest set has almost 200 miles and still feels like new. The heels and soles show little wear. I install Dr. Scholl’s Double Air-Pillo Insoles in every new set of shoes and replace them every 100 miles. They increase comfort and reduce wear on the heels and soles of the shoes.
I have worn out 2 bicycles and many sets of tires, biking 11,000+ miles during my World Trek so far. My third bicycle, a 29” Mongoose Ledge 3.1, already has 4000 miles on it and still rides like new on its second set of tires … FlackJacket Hardrock’rs. I LOVE riding my Mongoose.
Photo of my 29″ Mongoose when it was new … 4000 miles ago
People have asked me how I am going to celebrate the crossing the finish line of my 25,000 mile World Trek in 2020. I tell them … “if I am fortunate to make it, the next mile I walk or bike will be the first mile of my next World Trek.”
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