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The new trail at Brushy is open. It's called Billy Goat in memory of Rob Paulk. He helped build a lot of the original trails at Brushyand and did countless hours of volunteering in the mtb community. https://www.trailforks.com/trails/billy-goat-729615/?fbclid=IwAR2yEYQWcl9eWK_brERaFADb_XYKmrbcYCy_uNFe0IelGgyagpi1oKunrkE

I have struggled with cholesterol for years. It's a hereditary thing because I have tried everything and can't seem to bring it down. For a while I had a doctor pushing me to get on statins because my overall number was well over 200, which is why I tried everything to avoid statins. My new doctor was much more pragmatic. Her position was that as long as my LDL was less than 160 I was fine to stay off statins. Because I ride every day, my HDL was high and my eating/drinking habits kept my Triglycerides in check. 7 years ago I had a calcium scan and the score was ~25. Just had one in January and my new number was 140. Statins it is. Step aside lifestyle this is a job for science.

Well after 3 weeks out of the hospital and back on Eliquis, more bad news. My cardiologist informed me this week that there was an incidental finding on the echocardiogram that was taken during my hospitalization. Turns out I have an early-stage aortic aneurysm that will require some "watchful waiting". I'm now wishing I would have listened to @Ridenfool's wisdom a couple of years ago, about not pushing ourselves too hard in our later stages of life. Instead, I adopted the approach of invisibility. I ignored the danger signs of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, OSA, etc, simply because none of it was affecting my physical performance. My resting heart rate was incredibly low and my max heart rate was incredibly high - healthy heart, right? Even with a healthy heart though, the supporting systems have to keep up, and when they don't, the results can be fatal. I suppose I could consider myself lucky to know about the aneurysm early on, as many people's first symptom is their last symptom. Still, I'm downright depressed knowing that I will no longer be able to push the upper limits of my physical ability. Perhaps a shiny new e-Bike will cheer me up though. 😁