Dr. John Loehner makes the equivalent of two round trips to Buffalo each month – by bike! That’s approximately 1200 miles. 

Even during the exhausting first wave of COVID, every day he would bike 15 miles from his home in Manhattan’s Union Square area to Montefiore Medical Center, where Loehner is medical director of the Moses Division. And he would bike another 15 miles home some 16 hours later. In addition to his commute, he would try to squeeze in a pre-dawn or late evening ride in Central Park or use a stationary bike. 

How does one muster the stamina at such a fraught time?

“To come in day after day and continue to do the work that needs to be done while seeing so much suffering, requires a refilling of emotional reservoirs,” says Loehner. “For some people, it’s curling up with a good book, or going for a walk or listening to classical music. For me, since I was 14, it has always been getting on a bike.”

From the Queens streets of his childhood, he has gone on to race professionally in 15 countries, from the Austrian Alps to the Western Cape in South Africa in 20-to-123-degree temperatures, 60-mph winds and torrential rain. 

His father was a NYC homicide detective turned captain (think Law & Order during the city’s grittier years). His mother raised her four children full-time, until, at age 43, she went back to school, earned a Master’s degree in education and taught in the New York City Board of Education for 25 years. So hard work is nothing new to him.

With the support (and patience) of his parents, Loehner went pro at age 23 and raced competitively full time for 10 years. But the road that led him there took eight years. To race competitively, cyclists must be licensed. Every country has its own cycling governing body, where aspiring pros need to get licensed in a specific category from Category 5 (novice) to Category 1 (national level, international capable). Rising from one category to another requires a lot of perseverance and dedication. Along the way, Loehner won a national championship In Toole, Utah and set a national record in the 100Km team time trial event, covering that distance on a windswept course in under 2hrs. 

He didn’t set out as a kid to be a professional cyclist. He was just a regular kid who mowed lawns, shoveled snow, and babysat to save enough money to buy what he thought was this really high-level, French made racing bike at a local bike shop, presciently named “Arc de Triomphe Bicycles.” En avant! He has since graduated to three professional grade carbon fiber bikes that are displayed like a work of art in his impressive (for NYC) closet.

Biking at his level is not for the faint of heart. And Loehner has not been unscathed. He has broken bones in his hand and hip, broken his collarbone (a common injury among competitive cyclists), fractured his right scapula and broken his ribs, which punctured his lung and led to a hemopneumothorax. He once needed an emergency craniectomy.

Does he have a death wish? No, it’s more like a life wish. “I’m not letting these injuries dictate how I live my life and where I get my enjoyment from,” he says. “It’s not going to extinguish my passion.”  

And the realities of biking in the city every day are not lost on him. With the advent of City Bikes, there are more people riding, not always adhering to traffic rules where a one-way street is open to interpretation. Combined with distracted drivers and pedestrians, potholes, and just bad circumstances, it requires a certain hypervigilance. It’s certainly not a meditative experience. But for Loehner it is.

“From a mental perspective, a ride offers different things at different times. The start of a ride can be very relaxing, and provides a space to process emotions, work through a challenge or gain new perspectives – both personally and professionally. As a ride progresses, I like to push myself, pedaling harder and faster, listening to the sound of my wheels and feeling the rhythm of my breath.”

So, how many miles has he ridden in his life? “I would say 500,000.” And counting!