Heart patient dies the day after a 3,800 kilometre bike ride

After bypass surgery had given him a second chance at life Broc Bebout, 57, a retired engineer, died of a heart attack the day after completing a 3,800-kilometre cross-country trip.

Bebout, 57 died on the drive back to his home in Anderson, about 40 kilometres northeast of Indianapolis a day after completing the bicycle ride from Carlsbad, California., to Brunswick, Georgia.

Patricia Brinkman, his wife, said cycling had given him nearly 20 years of good health after quadruple-bypass surgery at age 39, and had encouraged him to eat properly and look after himself.

The director of the cycling group Wandering Wheels that organized the trip, Janech Davenport, said that Bebout and another man took naps during the drive home after discussing heart-rate monitors and other equipment, and at some point the other driver noticed in the rear-view mirror that Bebout's eyes were open and he was struggling to breathe.

In an e-mail to his wife on the previous day, before a celebratory steak dinner, Bebout described the trip as an "incredible experience with incredible people."

Brinkman said it was a trip of a lifetime for her husband and at the top of his list of things he wanted to do.

Pat Miller, a retired Anderson University health professor who was among the 30 people on the cross-country ride, said Bebout was taking medication for his heart and for arthritis and had been coughing for a couple of weeks. He said Bebout had good days when he seemed strong, and days when he felt lot slower, as did many of them did.