Cyclist with cancer finishing new lap

In 1987, Randolph Westphal was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to a year to live.

On Wednesday, he arrived in Spokane Valley after clocking more than 151,000 kilometers (about 94,000 miles) on his fourth bicycling tour of the world.

“A lot of people find hope in my story,” Westphal, 48, said in a thick German accent.

Westphal has been around the world three times and is 9,000 kilometers (about 5,600 miles) from the completion of this tour. For more than nine years, he traveled with a malamute named Shir Khan. Shir Khan was killed in an accident, so Westphal purchased the dog’s grandson, Yukon. Westphal later picked up a second dog, Nanook.

Yukon and Nanook had a son, Chinook, and now the whole family travels with Westphal in a trailer attached to his bike.

“This is the best company somebody could have,” he said.

The dogs ride in the trailer when Westphal coasts down hills and, in return, give a little extra pull to get him up the inclines.

Westphal said he prefers to bike in cold weather, in part for the dogs. So his route leads to Alaska.

Biking in winter aside, it has not been an easy road.

Westphal said he has had 26 surgeries related to his cancer.

But he said his biggest challenge is not a cancer recurrence or even difficult terrain in winter. It’s drivers.

In 1996, he was hit by a semitruck and left for dead by the side of the road.

A thick ring of scar tissue a few inches above his left ankle marks the place where surgeons reattached his nearly severed foot.

“A lot of people, they don’t know how to use a steering wheel,” he said. “Or brakes.”

Westphal said he has had continuing trouble with his leg, including an infection that forced him to cut out of a trip across Montana.

“So I’m on the road or in the hospital,” he said.

In addition to traveling as an example of someone winning the fight against cancer, Westphal hopes to build environmental awareness. He pointed out that people turn off their cars when they park in a garage because letting them run would make the air toxic.

“This is my garage out there,” he said, gesturing to the hills surrounding Spokane Valley.

Westphal, wearing a red Jack Wolfskin shirt, said the company sponsors his trips by paying for his intercontinental flights. Along the way, he also relies on the kindness of strangers.

Julie Cohen, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express on Mission and Argonne, said she got a call Tuesday inquiring about giving Westphal and his dogs a free room.

Cohen said she had never heard of Westphal, so she looked him up online and learned about his quest.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s amazing to me.”

Cohen told Westphal he was welcome to stay as long as he likes, but he plans to ship out today for the next leg of his journey.

“It’s easy to die,” he said. “It’s hard to live.”