Retired CdA Dentist Writes Memoirs

Coeur d’Alene resident Dick Smart, 69, just finished his memoirs about decades of traveling by rail bike across three continents. Smart, a retired dentist now partially paralyzed from a brain tumor, said he wrote the book to share his cycling passion. “I just wanted to let people know what a fun time it was,” he said. (Photo of Smart in the 1980s)

He can recall in vivid detail his adventures on bicycles adapted to glide stealthily along deserted railways, including his final ride on Aug. 8, 2012. It was along the Payette River north of Boise, and Dick Smart was scouting for a group outing that was to include fellow rail bike enthusiasts from Sweden. “We waded like little kids in the river,” he said. The plans came to a sudden halt the following day when Smart suffered a seizure back home in Coeur d’Alene. The retired dentist soon would learn he had a brain tumor, and his attention turned to the battle to survive. A year and a half later, surgery and treatments have proved ineffective. There is no known cure for his fast-growing tumor. But Smart, 69, is happily reflecting on his long love affair with rail biking with a new book recounting his globe-trotting adventures/Scott Maben, SR. More here .

Question: If you were dying, what would you want people to know most about your life?