Pics of the new bike, finally

Sorry about the delay in posting a follow-up.  Had good reasons though.  The doctor found that I had "elevated liver enzymes" in my bloodwork about a month and half ago.  The problem with that is, the elevation could be a sign of liver cancer.  Although the chances of it being liver cancer were fairly low, they wanted to get a better picture of what's going on.  Well, after an ultrasound, and about a quarter of all the blood running through my veins being drawn, turns out it's just a "fatty liver".  Basically saying I'm just overweight.  Well doc, I could have told you that.  Anyways, thankfully it wasn't cancer, because Lord knows I DO NOT want to go through all of that again.

So, on to bigger and better things.  I still haven't made any concrete plans as far as some kind of "epic" ride or anything.  I think for this year, I'm just going to work on getting in shape, and riding as many different places in the area as I can.  There's a lot of trails here I haven't had a chance to ride yet, like Ft. Yargo, Bear Creek, etc.  A lot of places that sound fun.  So, I'll do that, and maybe next year do something crazy.

I also promised a few pictures of the new bike.  Here they are.  It's a 2011 Trek Xcal.  29er wheels, 2x10 drive train, Rock Shox Reba RL fork, and other cool tech type things on it.  I know I need to worry about just riding more, instead of getting all the really nice components for it.  It's hard not to though.  I am going to try and hang on to this one for a while.  It's a great bike, fits me just about perfectly, and is fun to ride.

Well, 2010 is over with

Well, 2010 is over with.  Sure went by fast.  And I feel like I didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked to do.  I really wanted to get back into exercising, riding my bike more, and really buckle down on doing more school work.  But for some reason or another, I just never really committed to any of it.  I could go on with the excuses, but I'm not going to.  So, for 2011, I'm going to try harder at everything.  I have a new mountain bike, and am still working on what goals I want to set for myself this year.  One thing I'm thinking of, as far as mountain biking, is to ride in a 50 mile/12 hour marathon.  I may be biting off a lot more than I can chew, but at least it's something to focus on and move towards.  If I can just get my knee/leg to cooperate a little more, I'll be good.  My knee should be good to go for a little bit.  After a couple of x-rays, the docs said I basically have no cartilage left in my knee.  So, I had a series of shots to help "lubricate" the joint, and hopefully they'll last at least a year.  I sure didn't enjoy the shots, but they seem to be helping.  Along with the knee shots, I am starting a workout program that is specific towards mountain biking.  There's a lot to it, and it's a little intimidating, but I'm going to try it. 

 

Okay, so other than the mountain bike thing, I finally finished my Fire Inspector II certification.  I am so glad that's over with.  There's so much to it, it's almost overwhelming.  I feel like I could do the job fairly competently, though.  I'm looking for a position with the government (I have over 12 years total in, so might as well stay with it), but it's kind of slow going.  Not a lot of open positions that I can qualify for at the moment.  But I'm going to keep looking.  In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can go on some inspections with the base inspectors, to get a better feel for how they do it, and get some actual experience under my belt.  I also want to start taking some college classes again.  I'm not too sure on what to focus on at the moment, but I can at least get the general classes out of the way. 

 

On the cancer front, I had my two year scans/tests in November.  Everything came out great!  Which is a huge relief for me.  Sure doesn't seem like it's been 2 years since the transplant.  But thank the good Lord above that I've made it two years.  And with the two year anniversary and clear scans, I've officially been released as a patient of the transplant group.  Yee Ha!  I've been released back to my original oncologist doctor, Dr. Hahm, who is awesome.  She's going to have me do a scan/test in 6 months, and another at 1 year.  As long as those two are good and clear, I should be finished with the testing!  And will be given the all clear!  Oh Lord, let me get though this next year with my sanity intact!  With all of this good news about me, I kind of feel bad because I haven't contributed back to anyone or anything.  I feel compelled to do some kind of volunteer stuff or support help for those that are still going through treatment.  I have no idea on what to do, or where to put that focus at, but I'm going to try to do somthing this year.  More to follow.

 

So, with this being my first post of the new year, I'm going to work on posting more often.  Looking back at my posts for 2010, it's not nearly enough, I don't think.  For my next post I'll put up pics of the new bike, and try to flesh out some kind of plan for my mountain bike "event".  Until then, everyone enjoy the new year. 

Bring a can of WD-40 with you to the doctor...

Had the orthopedic doctor's appointment a week and a half ago, and my knee isn't as bad as they thought.  From the symptoms, it seemed like I may have had a tear in the meniscus.  But after the MRI, it wasn't that, but a lot of the cartilage in the area, especially behind my knee cap, is just about gone.  So, short of a total knee replacement, there's not much they can do besides some "lubrication" shots (which I automatically began thinking they would connect a can of WD-40 to a needle).  Which I should start those very soon, at least hopefully.   Besides, I'm way too young for a knee replacement.  On top of the WD-40, I started taking that Glucosamine combination stuff, so we'll see if that helps. 

I was actually able to get a short ride on the bike today also.  Lord am I out of shape!  That's alright though, I have a refreshed outlook on my health and all that.  I have a long way to go to be able to do one of my "epic" trips, but a couple of books I've picked up lately and websites I've found have inspired me to really focus on the goal.  So, we'll see how things turn out.  Who knows, I may even be living in a different state by then. ;-)