Brockport man bicycles all over world in memory of his wife

Michael Fahey thumbs through an album of photos taken during his 1,150-mile cycling trip along the Camino de Santiago from Paris, France, to Santiago, Spain.

It took Fahey, 25 days in August to cycle this historic Christian pilgrimage route, also known as The Way of St. James.

The photos are rich with beautiful churches, small French towns and symbolic artwork created by pilgrims.

Fahey, 71, believes he had a silent partner all along the way: his late wife, Ruth, who died from breast cancer in 1995 at 48 years old.

They had been married 27 years, and Fahey made a decision to honor her memory and spread awareness of breast cancer by cycling around the world.

In the 18 years since, he has pedaled across 39 countries on six continents — always coming home to the log home he and his wife built together in Holley.

It has been a journey of loss, love and living life to the fullest.

Along the way, he wrote in a journal. Based on the journals, Fahey and his daughter Shari (who rode cross-country with him on a trip) this year published the book Biking to Save my Soul: America, Ireland and England.

Losing his life partner

Ruthie, as Fahey affectionately calls his wife, was a nurse practitioner, and the couple had three daughters: Shari, Kathy and Shannon. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.

"Breast cancer runs in her family," Fahey says. "Her grandmother died of breast cancer, and her mother had it."

The cancer was extremely aggressive, and Fahey stopped working to be by his wife's side as her caretaker.

Fahey started biking, an activity he enjoyed as a child growing up in the Finger Lakes, as a way to gain mental clarity during his wife's illness.

"I bought an inexpensive road bike at Toys R Us," Fahey says. "I would bike into Brockport to pick up her medications. I would bike to (Lake Ontario) to meditate and pray for Ruthie."

After his wife died, Fahey says friends and family asked him what his next steps would be.

"That was a very difficult question," Fahey says. "But I thought to myself, 'I'll bike across the United States, that's what I'll do.'"

When Fahey told his daughters about his plan, they were not so sure.

"I thought he was crazy for even wanting to do it," recalls Shari Fahey, who now lives in Minneapolis. "I was nervous with him going all by himself."

Shari, then 24, decided to go with him.

The two rode 3,000 miles from Newport, Ore., to Annapolis, Md., in 38 days, raising money for the American Cancer Society in Ruth Fahey's memory.

Taking on the world

"When I finished 3,000 miles I said, 'Why not do the world?'" Fahey said.

And that is what he has done. Through sandstorms in China, bicycle malfunctions in Russia and rainstorms on a Welsh mountain, he has been on a quest to honor his wife's memory.

He has met countless fellow travelers along the way and made friends with many natives of the lands he has visited. A Nomad family in Kazakhstan invited him to bunk down in their hut one night, and Chinese villagers invited him to speak at their schools.

"I'm impressed," Shari Fahey says. "He does a good job spreading awareness about breast cancer around the world. And I think it's helped his recovery a lot."

Michael Fahey also has made a career change from banking to bicycle safety instruction. He is a certified Effective Cycling Instructor and speaks throughout the area about biking and his journey.

Would he have biked around the world if his wife hadn't died?

"I've thought about that question often," he says. "Probably not."

But life is a journey that brings unexpected paths. One of his most important trips, he says, was St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. There, he buried his wife's ashes.

It was a place they had talked about visiting and possibly retiring to some day.

"She loved the beach," Fahey says. "It's always warm."

Putnam is a Brockport-based freelance writer.