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20 Jun |
I keep having these moods Cycling, Life
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And I’m having them a little more often than I would like.
The hardest part about getting older is realizing how profoundly everything changes, and this mornings bike ride just seemed to emphasize that point way too much.
Now while I’ve only been a member of this bicycle club for the past two years, I’ve been riding with them regularly for at least the past 5 years. Still as I surveyed the parking lot of riders this morning, I realized a few of the usual riders, ones I have come to enjoy socializing and riding with, were missing, and this wasn’t the first time.
Plus it’s not just Saturday’s ride, but the Wednesday ride, has changed, as well, with new riders participating, regulars not, and even going to a different destination. Admittedly, the Wednesday rides have mostly gone back to the ride I’ve grown accustomed to, but this past Wednesday, none of the usual riders, who push the pace, showed up, so it was slower than it has been. Plus one of the regular riders wasn’t feeling good, and didn’t go to the coffee shop.
Then there’s the fact that since I’m doing more hills, and I’ve lost some weight (which has helped me in the hills), I’ve lost some speed, making it harder to keep up on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s.
Oh well, it’s just been one of those weeks.
Hopefully things will change as summer approaches, the weather gets better (it rained today which may have helped contribute to this feeling of malaise), and all the teachers start participating more during the week, now that school is out.
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23 May |
The world is passing me by Cycling, Edie, General Health, Life, Work
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Oh, how I yearn for the good old days, when getting through an airport security line wasn’t such a hassle, when a 250 Mb hard drive was considered huge, I didn’t have lymphoma, the dollar was still king, and the US actually made stuff.
Last week was Digital Process Data (DPD) training week at work. Now for those who don’t know what DPD is, basically it’s the computer data (software) fed into numerical controlled (NC) lathes used to machine parts into complicated configurations. It’s also used in the design and inspection of those parts.
Now that, in and of itself, isn’t difficult to understand or deal with (at least it’s no more difficult to understand than all the computer graphics we are subject to on TV and in the movies now a days), but without going into any great detail of everything else involved, i.e. controlling, disseminating and validating the software, suffice it to say it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds. And it’s especially more complicated when you can remember what it was like only a few short years ago.
It reminds me of a saying by Eric Hoffer,
In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
And what I came to realize this past week was, the world is changing [rapidly], and I’m just not sure how interested I am in trying to keep up with it any more.
Maybe that’s why I like riding my bike so much!
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20 May |
Some good news, and then……. Cycling, My MCL
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Well after racing at Eldorado Park last night, and a relatively intense ride this morning, I’m encouraged. My knee did not hurt at all.
Not only that, but I just received the results of todays blood work, and my absolute lymphocyte count dropped to 81 thou/cumm (ref 4-11). That’s down 20%, and hasn’t been that low since February 2007.
Of course, one test does not a trend make, and as you may surmise there is also some bad news. My hemoglobin dropped slightly again to 11.6 g/dL (ref 14-18), platelets to 187 thou/mcl (ref 130-400), and my LDH increased to 147 IU/L (ref 91-180).
Now I’ve seen all those numbers before, and with the exception of my hemoglobin those results are within the normal range, so I’m not overly concerned just yet, plus I know I don’t feel as bad as those numbers may suggest.
For someone with an 11.6 g/dL hemoglobin, I think I’m still in pretty good shape. I managed to stay in the pack for the entire race (one hour) last night (albeit in the back of the pack), plus I managed to stay with some much stronger [and younger] riders for the vast majority of this mornings ride.
Now if only knew Becky would be coming back to work a lot sooner than in 8 weeks, I might start feeling even better.
