You never know what you are going to see while cycling

Katherine and I cycled to Overmountain Winery on Thursday about 11 miles from her home in Columbus NC. She said we were going to take the least hilly route to get there. I had ridden with her to the winery 2 years ago and remembered it to be challenging but not bad. It was a partly cloudy day in upper 60’s – another beautiful day for cycling. The hills were more challenging than I remembered. I think the 14mph cross and head winds made it significantly more challenging. I had to get off and walk a short segment going each way – I prefer walking to falling over if I run out of steam.

As were were nearing the winery, she signaled she was slowing, crossed the road and got off her bike. I was confused until I looked up and saw Flushing Meadow Farm.

No one seems to know who is responsible for this creative toilet art but as a urologist, I took full advantage of the photo opportunities. I thought it would be a good opportunity to demonstrate good toileting posture for complete bladder emptying – perhaps I will be able to use it in a talk sometime.

This reminded me of the time Katherine and I were in Sante Fe making a video on how to do Kegel exercises in the early 90’s. I cannot remember the exact circumstance but we were in the bathroom for some of the shoot. While Kegel or pelvic muscle exercises are standard of care now for urinary incontinence, they were not at the time.

Katherine founded Help for Incontinent People (HIP) in the 80’s at her kitchen table. The organization is now known as National Association for Continence (NAFC) and continues to be a excellent source of information for persons with bladder and bowel control problems. I was asked to join the Board of Directors for HIP in the 1988 or 1989. I had been in practice about a year and while I was surgeon I had learned that my surgical tools did not meet the needs of very many of the women I was seeing. My enthusiasm about my evolving nonsurgical skills cobbled together from limited literature, common sense and tracking what was helping the women was not taken seriously by my colleagues. Katherine thought these approaches did make sense and she gave me the confidence to ignore the naysayers and move forward focusing on meeting the woman’s needs – using a problem solving approach with gradual expansion of the nonsurgical toolkit. I consider Katherine as my first mentor.

In 2017, 30 years after we met, Katherine asked me to go on a cycling trip with her and a small group of friends to celebrate her 80th birthday. It remains a bit unclear why I said yes after she clarified it was a 444 mile bike ride of the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez, MS. I knew I needed to take my health more seriously and I would have 14 months to prepare so I bought a bicycle and got started. In October of 2018, I did ride 400 of the 444 miles over 9 days and it was a life-changing experience for me. I love cycling. As I look back on it, I am amazed I rode that many miles and hills. I was DETERMINED!!

The most impactful part of the experience was meeting a new group of people – all retired except me. They showed me what happy, active retirement looked like. Having the support of Katherine and her friends, that are now my friends, has made my transition to NOT working easier. I look forward to may more cycling adventures.

Thanks Katherine.