About me or
“The Road Goes Ever On“

Hi! I’m Kem Cooper and my cycling journey’s beginning can best be traced back to January 2002 when my wife – Sharla – suggested I try a cycling class at our local gymnasium.  It had been several years since I was on a bicycle of any kind as my free time had become focused on our two daughters.  But the future was calling to our daughters: college, volleyball, boys, and life. And my wife was thinking it was time for me to reclaim my waistline.

I loved it. Even the feel of being on a stationary bike brought back some of the adventure I felt as a kid.  That summer I purchased a real bike and started venturing out.  At first, I was happy to make it to the end of the neighborhood and back.  It wasn’t long before I was stretching out to and around Shawnee County Lake. January 2003, I decided to follow a years-long dream and prepare for Biking Across Kansas.  BAK was followed by other cycling adventures to the point that I planned on at least one major ride a year.  — More BAKs, Oklahoma Freewheel, RAGBRAI, Tour de Nebraska, The Bad Devil Deluxe Tour, Triple Bypass, Cottonwood 200, Border Raiders, Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred, Ride the Rockies, The Golden Circle, and Kootenay Bay, to name a few.

When Sharla and I retired in 2015 we believed the road ahead would be a grand adventure.  We took a cruise up the Rhine River with my brothers and their wives.  (There was also a bike ride in the Amsterdam area.)  We went on various day trips.  We visited friends and relatives.  We took our daughters and their husbands on a trip to the Napa Valley.  We were present for our first grandchild’s birth.  We had much of our house updated.  We were able to throw some nice parties with relatives and friends. Retirement, at least the first three years were good for us. And then, Sharla started to get sick.  We first realized something was very wrong in March 2018. Our second grandchild had just been born and we were unable to assist as Sharla was showing symptoms of either allergies or a peculiar and persistent virus.  Rather than place the new baby at risk, we packed up and headed home to recover.

Recovery didn’t come and the summer of 2018 was tough.  I was able to get in one last major ride. – Sharla’s sister stayed the week with her while I was away. – But that was the end of my big rides.  Sharla lost weight and just didn’t look good.  My niece’s wedding was that summer and Sharla couldn’t attend.  We held one last gala – our 40^th anniversary – and it was a celebration I will forever cherish. Finally, Sharla was diagnosed with “Dementia with Lewy Bodies, presenting as Parkinson’s Disease.”

Our lives changed following that revelation.  Sharla continued the weird and terrible Lewy Body roller coaster ride.  The spring of 2019 was our last real trip together as we went to a dude ranch in Arizona.  But the traveling was difficult, to the point that I couldn’t leave Sharla alone in the airport.  In 2020, a tough year for everyone, we decided to downsize and move into a garden home at Aldersgate Village Retirement Center in Topeka, so she would be closer to more help and have access to more care when needed.  The need for more care came sooner than we expected.  Five months later, March 2021, Sharla moved to an assisted living memory care unit where she could have 24-hour professional care.  Sixteen months later, this past July 22 at 6:50 AM, the love of my life passed away.  Our 45th anniversary would have been on September 2.

Even though Sharla will continue to be part of me, our roads now diverge.  Her path is now in a grander place; mine is here.  Where will my road lead? Will my road merge with someone else’s in the future?  I don’t know.  I do know I intend to ride on because as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in The Hobbit: “The road goes ever on.”