"Snowshoeing" in Rocky Mountain National Park
Anybody who knows me well, knows I do not like winter and cold weather. Well, Leana was visiting Colorado and convinced me that snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park would be fun so off we went...except there was no snow as we drove up to the park so we decided to go hiking instead. While snowshoes would have helped, we got around just fine without them.

We had a great time and got to play in the snow for a little while. The best part was that after we had our fill of winter on the mountain, we drove back down to Boulder and Denver where it was 50F and sunny. Gotta love Colorado! :)

The Break
This is my collarbone after I broke it. I still wonder why the first surgeon did not think surgery was neccessary. After the swelling went away, it looked like my bone was pitching a tent under my skin.

This is my collarbone after surgery. It took eight screws and a 5cm plate to put the pieces back together. Five weeks later, the screws are so superficial you can see metal through my skin and I wonder whether they might rub straight through. The good news is I might be allowed to ride the road again next week! :) My vertebrae are healing well and are not causing any problems at this point.

The Final Few Weeks of 2009
My life continues to be a series of dramatic highs and lows. After spending most of November working on my dissertation proposal, I spent the first week of December in Chula Vista coaching a para camp. The camp was a bit of a disaster for me. I was hit by a truck on Tuesday. No major injuries as I was able to stay upright despite the truck going at least 50mph. Two days later I crashed my bike (endo-ed over the handle bars on a descent at 35mph) and spent the night in the hospital. I was in major pain and on a lot of drugs as you can see. I broke my collarbone into three pieces (had surgery the following week in CO), fractured three lumbar vertebrae, and had a bad concussion (my helmet cracked into three pieces). My dad also said I had "chipmunk syndrome" because my face was so swollen. Fortunately, I do not remember the crash and my body is healing well. I am not allowed to ride the road until February but am doing really easy trainer rides as of last week.

Another bummer of last month was that Cosby lost his fight to lung cancer. This picture was taken over Thanksgiving when he was still doing pretty well. He detoriated pretty quickly in the weeks following and my family had to say goodbye to our dog of 12 years.

However, just as cancer was trumped by First Descents (cancer camp) and winning two national titles, the harshness of the past month was trumped as well. I met Eric at para camp (he was piloting a tandem) and he has been a huge part of my life ever since. He is my perfect match and I gurantee you will be seeing him on my posts in the future. So, my life continues to follow Dickens' Tale of Two Cities quote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But the best of times always trump the worst and I would not trade one good thing to suffer less during the hard times. The blessings always outweigh the suffering.