Bud Bent

I was diagnosed with lung cancer in November, 2007, and the next month, on December 20th, had the upper lobe of my left lung removed. My surgery was the open thoracotomy, with a long incision between ribs. It's a much tougher surgery than VATS, but I was back on the bike 16 days later, one day after they removed 40 staples from my side. I did three rounds of chemo in early 2008, which knocked down my riding miles, again.

I found the same thing, that there seems to be pretty much no one doing serious riding missing lung tissue. I was a randonneur, and I still do long distance rides. My longest ride since the surgery was a 200 mile ride last October.

I found that my base miles served me well; my endurance came back quickly, and is as good as before the surgery. I was not a great climber even before the surgery, and my climbing ability did take a hit. I added lower gearing to all my bikes, and have only had to walk one hill since my surgery. If I tackled hills that were as tough as those ridden by many forum members here, it would happen more often.

I have trouble quickly getting my heart rate high, and so attempting interval training doesn't seem to help at all. Tempo riding seemed to be the best way to get my strength back. Anyway, I guess the bottom line is that your sprint speed and climbing ability will never be as good as before, but I haven't found any other limits. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress. Feel free to pm me if you'd like.