How do you combine your passion with your career? If you’re Jon Buchanan, MD, you bike to your job as an orthopedic sports medicine doctor.
Most days, that’s pretty simple – a 5-mile commute to the Avera Human Performance Center in Sioux Falls, SD. But if you’re Buchanan, you’re also up for a challenge.
Enter the bike commute to his outreach clinic locations in Sioux Center, Iowa, and Gregory, SD. If you’re wondering, Gregory is about 150 miles from Sioux Falls. Sioux Center is about 65 miles.
“I would say in 10 to 15 years I drove to work probably 30 times,” Buchanan said of his clinic in Sioux Falls. “It's just the way I get around. I always wanted to see what it would be like to ride longer distances and when I travel I’m always looking at the shoulders on the road and wondering if I could do it on a bike.”
Biking Home – 150 Miles
Buchanan typically flies to Gregory to save time. The 45-minute trip allows him to see as many patients as possible.
Biking, though doable, meant taking a day off. Because a one-way trip was 150 miles, he flew to Gregory, taking his bike aboard, and rode home after a day of patient visits.
He rode about three hours the first night, stopping in Platte for dinner and in Parkston to sleep. He packed overnight gear, including a tent, so he could camp and get going early the next morning. He rode another five hours the following day to make it to his house.
Since then, Buchanan said, “Rumors have spread, and people ask, ‘Did you really do that?’ Yeah, I did.”
Besides the challenge, it’s also a way to find common ground with his patients who often have sports-related injuries.
“Patients’ biggest concern is they don’t want to be shut down,” Buchanan said. “My biggest rule is if I can get people back to their sport sooner than later, all the better. That’s what I would want for myself.”
Outreach Clinics: Seeing Patients Where They Live
Avera’s footprint spans 72,000 square miles across five states, and while it has larger communities such as Sioux Falls and Aberdeen, the area is vastly rural. In fact, about 0.1% is considered urban.
Outreach clinics, or trips doctors make to clinics in smaller towns where a specialist is not practicing, are key to providing care to patients near their homes. Avera Orthopedics sends providers to clinics across its footprint to meet with patients in person. This could be for a preliminary check-in to discuss pain and treatments or even follow-up care after a surgery or procedure.
“Because Avera is centrally located and covers a huge area, these outreach visits are really important to bring medicine to where patients are,” Buchanan said. As a sports medicine orthopedic doctor Buchanan sees patients for injuries related to movement. Some examples include osteoarthritis, tendinitis, sprains and strains, as well as fractures, dislocations, rotator cuff injuries, shin splints and ACL tears.
Learn more about orthopedic outreach clinic locations.
Why Bike to Gregory?
Buchanan doesn’t always bike to his outreach locations. He heads out of town a few times a month. But like all crazy plans, he started wondering if he could do it on a bike.
He started with the smaller ride to Sioux Center. So far, he’s done the ride about three times. The first was the hardest because it was about 95 degrees. It took him about seven hours, sometimes going less than 5 miles per hour into a headwind.
“In order to ride longer distances, you have to be prepared with all the gear you need,” Buchanan said. “The first time to Sioux Center it was hot and I got really dehydrated and was cramping. It was really brutal getting home that day.”
Buchanan had done longer rides before; his longest was a ride to Okoboji and back home. He’s also done a lot of bike camping through mountainous places like the Grand Tetons.
Though he won’t be riding to any outreach clinics over winter months, he does commute to work at his office in Sioux Falls nearly every day. When it’s snowy he rides a fat bike, which has wider, thicker tires for more grip in the snow. In the future, he’ll continue to look for fun rides, whether it’s to outreach clinics or bike camping. Though he concedes Gregory may be a one-time adventure.
“If I can go places under my own power, it gives me a sense of accomplishment,” Buchanan said. “One of my goals is to ride my bike across the country, coast to coast, just to say I did it.”
Read more stories about Avera employees.
