Neil Wylie was in the middle of preparing for a trip to Australia to compete in a big mountain biking event, when a simple trip to the dentist to get some fillings fixed changed everything. But Wylie was determined to make it to Australia and he did. Erin Tasker reports. Photo supplied.Just three months after being diagnosed with cancer, Neil Wylie ticked off one of the most gruelling challenges of his long cycling career.

And after crossing the line on the fourth and final day of the Cape to Cape mountain bike race in Western Australia recently, Wylie was presented with the Johnny Waddell Beacon Award for overcoming adversity, or being “the shining light” of the event.

It was recognition of the tough road he’d travelled to get to that position – a road which began with a simple trip to the dentist.

Wylie said he’d seen the Cape to Cape on television and decided he’d like to have a go at it, so he signed up, before booking himself in for a visit to the dentist.

“I’d saved up a bit of money and thought I would get some fillings redone and tidied up, and I said ‘I’ve got an ulcer that I can’t get rid of’,” Wylie said.

The dentist wasn’t sure what it was so put him on antibiotics, but it wouldn’t clear up, so he was sent to Christchurch to have a biopsy done.

That biopsy revealed that the ulcer was in fact cancer, an oral cancer on the top of his gum.

Wylie said when you heard the word cancer, you naturally thought the worst.

He underwent surgery in July to have the cancer removed and while the plan was initially to remove two teeth, he ended up having seven teeth and part of the bone taken out.

Wylie was worried what he’d be left looking like afterwards, but a plate was made to fit him and, while it took some getting used to, looking at him now you wouldn’t even know what he’d been through.

He didn’t require chemotherapy or radiation and now just has to have check-ups every six weeks for a year to ensure he is still clear.

The whole experience completely changed his outlook on life.

Wylie knows he is lucky to be alive and is determined to make the most of the chance he’s been given.

Included in that, was going ahead with the trip to Western Australia to compete in what has been described as Australia’s longest and most gruelling mountain bike race – a trip he’d been looking forward to.

“I thought, I’m going to do this, even if it kills me,” Wylie said.

“Even if I had to walk it, I was going to do it.”

Having to take it easy after his operation meant missing a good month of training, so he headed into the event off a couple of road races with the Tinwald Cycling Club and some spin classes.

With old friend Murray Hall, a silver medal winning Australian cyclist from the 1974 Commonwealth Games, by his side, Wylie lined up at the start of the Cape to Cape along with 1400 other competitors ready for whatever lay ahead.

He was just happy to be there.

The race was held over four days, with the first stage being 47km, the second 63km, the third 45km and the fourth 57km.

Each day involved anywhere between two and three-and-a-half hours on the bike tackling some tough terrain.

The first two days of the race, which was based around Margaret River, were hard.

But by the end of day four Wylie and Hall were ready to rebook the house they’d rented for the event’s duration, and to head back for another go next year.

Wylie was sixth overall in the Masters 3 category, and more importantly, he beat Hall.

For years, there has been a friendly rivalry between the two and this time the bragging rights went to the Kiwi.

Wylie is no stranger to competitive cycling.

He’s cycled for as long as he can remember, but most of it has been done on the road or the track, picking up numerous New Zealand titles over the years.

Mountain biking is a different kettle of fish though.

It required a lot more strength as there were countless hills and downhill sections to tackle, and while medical officials were kept busy during the Cape to Cape event dealing with injuries sustained from falls, Wylie came through unscathed with a massive smile on his face.

“When I went across the line I was like, ‘yes, I have done it’, that was the biggest thrill.

And I beat Murray, so that made it even better,” Wylie said.

He credited his early diagnosis and the fact he was fit and healthy for the fact he’d come through his cancer ordeal so well, and said he’d been fortunate that family, friends and workmates had rallied around him.

In hindsight, there were signs that something wasn’t right.

Wylie said he’d been tired, but the groundsman at Anzco just put it down to how busy he’d been.

Looking back, unusual behaviour by his beloved seven-year-old rottweiler Holly was also in a sign that something was up, Wylie said.

“Before I found out it was cancer she would come and sit by me, right in front of me, and just stare at me, and I still – to this day – reckon she knew that I was crook,” Wylie said.

“I reckon she picked it up, that she knew I had cancer, because she’s never done that before.

“She would just sit there and stare at me in a daze.”

Since the operation to remove the cancer, Holly had stopped doing it.

Life has returned to normal in the household and today it is hard to wipe the smile off Wylie’s face.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 10 November 2018