Skin Cancer Stitch Bike Ride
Back biking today after taking two days off. On Wednesday I had minor surgery for a small skin cancer on the surface of my right neck. The stitch looks long but the spot was about the size of a penny. The bandage make it look even worse. I took Thursday off to give the surgery some time to heal before getting sweaty and hot. The photo shows the long stitch on my neck. Sunscreen and cover is the best way to minimize the exposure to the sun.
Now that I am on the way to recovery I rode the “Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch” route today. It is summer and the temperature was 102.4 on my home weather station when I got back home at 1:55. The heart index was 117, humidity 42%. These differ from the screenshots I took at the Stripes station west of Porter where I stopped to rest, eat and drink before biking the 12 miles to home. The last time I rode this route it was in the rain. Today was very different.
Home Weather at the end
Surprisingly I did not feel that hot and the sweat didn’t seem to be as heavy as other rides.
I started out at a lower pace in case I had an issue with the incision area. My helmet strap came just above the spot and avoided rubbing it. Sweat didn’t bother it either. The wind was friendly today and I built up my speed to 17 to 19 mph which pulled up my average speed on the 34.73 mile long ride to a maximum of 15.2 mph settling in at 15.0 mph by the end of the ride. Leaving home at 10:56 put me into the hotter part of the day. This time of the year is when record temperatures happen affecting biking sometimes. Tomorrow could be hotter. Maybe I will bike first and watch the Tour when I get back.
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