Well…up a little before six this morning but I was in bed at 10 so that makes for a solid 8 hours of sleep…but I feel like I didn’t sleep at all I’m so worn out…but I haven’t had any coffee yet so that may recede after I do…I can’t believe how much riding outside triggers a new set of pains I didn’t have before…my hands, back, and neck hurt this morning and I am pretty darn stiff from getting 28 miles in on the bike the last four days…have some errands to run this morning after the inside rides but then all my bills will be paid until summer…but it hurts to have 1,600 bucks go out…have to start getting ready to drive to Ohio for the total eclipse of the sun that is happening on the 4th of April…will probably be my last chance to see one before I die and I need to do it…it looks like I’ll have to go as far east as Cleveland and just park in a parking lot…lots of driving for 3 minutes but everyone should experience it once in their lifetimes…I do need to order some eclipse glasses for it…not much to do today…need to get on the bike here in a half hour so I can get both rides in before 9…it’s a leftover day for the next 4 days but I do need to plan for after that…really have a taste for pasta and garlic bread so that will be later in the week….more later…

Well…yeah, I know I have been inconsistent in getting political ones out the past few weeks but that changes tomorrow…need to have some discipline that has been applied elsewhere returned to writing…it was another busy day today with getting on the bike before 8 and getting both inside rides in by 10…then I made a batch of chicken masala that normally takes more than an hour..had lunch and went back outdoors for a third ride and it was much warmer and sunny so my hands didn’t freeze today…I’m so far away from outdoor fitness that my lungs were burning after pushing it a bit going out…and that stayed with me all the way back here…after a shower, I got on the weight work that takes an hour and I was done for the day a little after three…didn’t have any rest time at all in between tasks and I’m pretty tired…but my toe hasn’t hurt all day today so I’ll take that as a win…and I’ve been pouring the water down all day to get a little cushion…right now it’s 6:40 and I’m done for the day…just going to take it easy until I go to bed early…tomorrow will be another day…

Well…slept a little better last night and didn’t get out of bed til 6:22 and it was a peaceful sleep with not a lot of tossing and turning…but I feel like someone sucked all of my energy out of me and the prospect of heading downstairs in less than and hour to start riding is not attractive at all…have done 28 miles a day for the past three days…at least my gout has receded and I can move my toe again…need to cook today and that has to happen before lunch so I’m going to have to get moving soon…and that seems like a lot of work right now…didn’t get much done yesterday but my bathroom needs work today…I wonder if I’ll ever allow myself a day off? It’s damn cold out there again today so I’ll have to wait to get and outdoor ride in until the afternoon…24 degrees and I’m not going to freeze my butt off like I did yesterday…my hands still feel damaged with how cold I got them and I don’t want to  add to that…not much to do today…just making chicken masala for lunch and then getting outdoors for a ride around 2 or so….cleaning just doesn’t seem to be in the cards for today but who knows? More later…

Well…just got back from a cold, cold outdoor ride that I probably shouldn’t have done since my hands went all the way though cold to pain by the time I got back here…they thawed out without much pain so I’ll take it…when I was riding along Muskegon Lake, I thought it was odd that Verplanks had one of it’s tugboats out on the lake playing icebreaker today…something I’ve never seen before…it sounded so cool when it rammed into the ice ridges that are still in the lake…posted photos over on Mastodon…

Well…it’s 5:40 and I’ve been up for almost an hour and I wonder how I’m going to feel later? Had to start the coffee maker an hour early so I can get moving but it’s not working at all yet…it’s cold outside at 27 so the outdoor ride is going to wait until the afternoon…but I’ll take the dry weather anytime…there is no snow left on my lot and that is weird for Feb after all the snow we had earlier….I think my gout is getting better since it doesn’t hurt much right now and the ibuprofen has worn off overnight…and I’ve already gotten a quart of water down this morning…I should have figured out what was going on when I was not sweating at all after 8 miles on the indoor bike and that just shouts dehydration….I do need to cook this weekend and today is going to be another batch of potato soup followed by the chicken masala tomorrow…and yes, I do need to make other food so I don’t get tired of what I’m cooking….but I like these recipes so I guess I can keep doing them for a while yet….not much to do today…need to get on the bike soon but it is still before 6 so I guess I can have more coffee first…did laundry yesterday so I really don’t have much to do today…oh, well…I can read…or clean…but first, more coffee…more later…

Well…got another 3 ride day in today for another 28 miles…need to keep that up if I’m going to break my mileage record this year…got all the way to my water stop on the boardwalk at the beach and it was sunny for the first time I can remember which made for a warm ride even though it was only 37 degrees…wind was okay but it got to be a chore coming back into it…and I only had to walk the bike twice, both out at the beach at the end of the boardwalk and at the gates that close of the beach road…my damn gout is still bad but I’m drinking water like crazy and am working on a full gallon today just like I did yesterday and have about another quart to do before I have a cocktail at 8…go two new books from the library and dropped the ballot off but the city offices are closed on Friday so I’ll have to pay the bills Monday…no big deal with the offices only 6 blocks from here…and again, that is one cool thing about living in a small town…everything is close and takes just minutes to get to instead of  a half hour or more in GR…and there’s always parking right in front…damn, I have transition pains as I always do when I move from the indoor to outdoor bike…my neck and shoulders hurt and I’ll have to use some biofreeze on them later….oh, well…

Well…damn, up at 4 or so and then tried and tried to get back to sleep with no success and I’ll be feeling it later…my damn gout is hurting again today but I need to wait to take anything for it  until I’m ready to get on the bike but it’s throbbing right now and I probably should get ahead of the pain…I poured over a gallon of water down yesterday and have started that again today with almost a quart down so far…the toe looks really red and puffy and this is probably the worst attack I’ve had…darn…I did sleep okay if too short and I think the effects are starting to hit with being just so damn worn out today…have a few things to do today and I’ll get started on them in 45 minutes or so…need to get two indoor rides in and then head out to turn in my primary ballot, pay some bills at the city, and then head to the library to return two books and pick up a couple more…then an outdoor ride after I get back if it’s warm enough by then…I really hope the trails stay clear til spring so I can continue to do 28 mile days but this is Michigan in Feb so we will get more snow but at least not until after the 12th…it is going to get cold after that so I’ll be down to just riding indoors….more later….

Well…after I got the indoor rides in, it was warm enough to go outside and ride around the city to get some miles in and after I got through downtown, I decided to see if I could get to the clear part of the trail…after riding through Heritage Landing, I found a way to get through so I headed out to see just how much trail was clear and only had to walk the bike once on a sheltered bridge that still had 8 inches of snow on it…then I rode all the way out to the tunnel of trees before turning around and that 12 miles got me to 28 for the day and that’s a good way to start a new month…still going to ride indoors for the first two rides since it won’t be warm enough to get out until later….last year it took til late march to ride the trails and it looks like I’ll be able to ride outside until the 10th before it gets too cold again…I did find that ibuprofen works great on the gout…better than the prescription I was given the last time I have a flare up…have been pouring water down to try to fix it since it is caused by dehydration…finished up both books I checked out at the library so I’ll need to stop there tomorrow morning to get a couple more after I go to the city offices to pay my taxes and water bill…

Well…damn, the gout still hurts like crazy today even with drinking a gallon and a half of water yesterday….and I guess it’s something that is going to take a while to get over…probably should take some ibuprofen now to help it before I get on the bike…but I don’t want to get up off the couch…okay, how the heck can the weather widget on my screen say record high temps and then cold weather a minute later? Whatever, it looks like I’ll be able to get outdoors on the bike today after the two indoor rides…I really feel like I should be cooking something today but it would be easy like pasta…got some garlic bread yesterday and simple food seems like a good idea…have some shredded cheddar that needs to be used before it spoils so maybe some more bean burritos, too? That won’t be til tomorrow since I still have leftovers that need to be used….we’re going to be two weeks into Feb before it gets below freezing and that puts us two weeks closer to spring…the last snow on my lot is quickly melting and it should be gone in a couple of days and I really hope it’s gone for good…not much to do today…just riding and drinking a lot of water…need to pay some bills at the city offices tomorrow and I am going to try to finish the book I’ve got going so I can get a couple more at the library….more later…

Well…I made it! Got to 500 miles for the month this morning with 488 indoors and 12 outdoors and that is about a hundred miles more than I expected…and today made 31 days in a row on the bike heading toward the 186 day record….my lap right now on the city streets is only 3 miles and I want to add two more miles so I’ll just be able to do three laps to get to the 15 I need for each ride…not much melting on the trails right now so it looks like it’s going to take a while for them to be passable…even riding around 11 am this morning, there was no traffic but I forgot to check the wind and it was blowing pretty hard out of the NW and that made it pretty cold and I really haven’t warmed up yet two hours later…will have to put heat on my back later since changing bikes from indoor to outdoor really makes it hurt…now we wait…