Couple ready for cross-country bike trip

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert residents Bob and Susan Brubaker are preparing for the first leg of a cross-country bicycle jaunt that will begin in Oregon early next month. It’s a goal they’ve planned for years.

The Brubakers, longtime bike riders, also plan to speak along their route about stroke prevention and bladder cancer, both subjects the couple has experienced first-hand. Coincidentally, it was on a Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA) bike trip in 2005 when Bob Brubaker suffered a debilitating stroke at age 43 that left him disabled.

“I was having headaches, but didn’t know what was wrong,” Bob said of the onset of the stroke.

Then, while still fighting to recover from the effects of the stroke, Brubaker battled bladder cancer in 2012, then prostate cancer in 2013, and finally a return of the bladder cancer last year.

However, with Bob in relatively good health this year for the first time in a decade, the couple made a “now or never” decision to make a trip they had been planning since before his stroke. After years of physical challenges, the couple said that, at times, they wondered if they would ever be able to complete the goal they’ve had for more than a decade.

The Brubakers, who were originally runners, got started in cycling approximately 15 years ago and enjoyed long-distance biking tremendously. However, after Bob’s stroke and the long battle to recover his health, it seemed as if biking was something the Brubakers might never do again.

Of course, giving up is something that’s not in Bob Brubaker’s DNA. While he admitted he was “down” for a time after the stroke, when he was faced with the daunting task of relearning to talk, to eat, to do the things he had taken for granted all his life, Brubaker didn’t give up.

“It’s basically re-learning life,” Susan Brubaker said of her husband’s rehabilitation, adding that the couple’s daughter, who was 9 at the time of Bob’s stroke, helped her father relearn math while she was learning it, as they drilled each other on third-grade math facts.

It wasn’t easy and took, literally, years. Brubaker’s recovery was hampered by the onset of seizures that left him bedridden, heavily medicated and unable for several years to do the kinds of physical activities he had enjoyed before the stroke.

Brubaker’s personality also took a 180-degree turn. Always smiling and gregarious, he turned serious, unable to laugh. It’s something stroke victims can identify with, since personality change is one of the possible after-effects of a stroke.

“My filter was gone,” Bob said of the experience, noting that he couldn’t stop saying everything came into his mind, something like what sufferers of Tourette’s Syndrome go through. The seizure medication was also keeping Bob “doped up” and out of it, which led to Bob’s decision to finally wean himself off the medicine, although the choice also came with risks if a seizure occurs again — something that hasn’t happened in years.

Today, while his left arm and leg are still weakened from the stroke — he also suffers balance problems related to the stroke — Brubaker has compensated for his physical problems to do the activities he has always enjoyed. In addition to cycling, he also recently took up downhill skiing.

Bob spoke a bit about the mindset change needed to recover successfully from the effects of a stroke, with the most difficult being the need to come to terms with a person’s physical changes.

“You’re not how you used to be, you’re not the old Bob,” he said of the changes he saw in himself following the stroke. He also said he had to deal with limitations after leading a physically challenging life before the stroke.

There were several accommodations Bob had to make to cycle again, including using a three-wheel recumbent bicycle instead of the two-wheelers the Brubakers had ridden before the stroke.

Susan Brubaker said the couple had first started cycling again on a two-wheel tandem bike, but added (mostly joking) that the experience nearly led to a marriage counselor because of their vastly different styles of cycling.

The recumbent bike negates Bob’s balance problems and allows him to cycle for long periods of time. He also had both brake handles installed on the right side of the bike, because of his weakened left hand. In addition to the bikes, the couple also plans to pull a small, light trailer that will store their camping gear, extra clothing and other essentials.

The Brubakers’ recumbent bikes also can be hooked together, which Susan Brubaker said the couple would likely do on downhill stretches during the trip. She added that uphill stretches would be more of a challenge, since recumbent bikes are harder to cycle uphill than two-wheelers.

The Brubakers have been preparing for the trip for some time, and regularly take 25- and 50-mile bike trips in the area. In preparing for the cross-country trip, Susan Brubaker said the couple received advice from hiker friends about what equipment they would need to accomplish the journey.

“Hikers go off-grade all the time,” Susan noted, adding that most of their equipment is light and highly portable.

A niece who flies often for business also suggested they book their flight to Oregon through Southwest Airlines, whose baggage policy would allow them to take their bikes and trailer on the plane, rather than having to ship them cross-country — a much more expensive proposition. Smaller items are still being shipped to a bike shop in Florence, Oregon, where the Brubakers plan to start their trip.

The couple plans to arrive in Oregon on June 6 and hope to have their bikes assembled and ready to go by June 8 or 9. The Brubakers plan to cycle six days a week during the trip and then have a “zero day” where they rest (and heal). They plan to return in early August, prior to the start of the school year (Susan is a music teacher at Van Wert Elementary School), and hope by then they’ll have reached Missouri or Kentucky. They plan to finish the trip next summer, but also said they would just have to take things as they come.

Susan Brubaker said mileage each day will depend on the terrain and weather, as well as their physical capabilities.

“You don’t know about the weather or how you’re going to feel,” Susan Brubaker added, noting they also decided not to accompany a group, since they didn’t think they could keep up well enough.

In addition to speaking to groups along the way about strokes and bladder cancer, the Brubakers have a website, www.brubikers.com, where they plan to blog and post photos on a regular basis about their journey. Because of Bob’s medical issues, the couple is also taking a GPS satellite warning device to use in case they have problems while in areas where cell phone usage is unavailable.

Susan said their grown children would be minding the house in their absence.

All in all, the Brubakers are excited to finally be taking a trip they have planned for more than a decade. Susan said the route would be mostly on secondary roads with wide berms, which are perfect for cycling, with the busiest roads similar to the Lincoln Highway, as far as traffic goes.

The route they’re using will also take them through Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons — areas of physical beauty Bob said would be a lot easier to appreciate on a bike.

“You can see a lot more when you’re going 10 miles an hour,” he said as one of the big advantages of cycling.