Well…up at 4:04 this morning and that started the arduous process of waking up that ended at 5:41….feel like I didn’t sleep at all last night and I wonder if today is going to be the day that I take a nap in the afternoon? Haven’t done that in ages but I used to be a great napper and I don’t know where that went…I did get a few things done yesterday but they were all just small domestic tasks that were pretty mindless…today is going to be a little harder with doing the grocery run and then getting on the bike downstairs for two rides….damn, the aldis ad changed and the things I wanted to get are no longer on sale and that screws up my meal planning that I really don’t want to fix right now…man, I’m tired…going to go over 1,600 miles on the indoor bike today and I’m still trying to get to 5,000 for the year but I’m not sure if I can get there…I will be able to get outside tomorrow and for a few days and the 30 a day will help…not much to do today…I keep thinking I’m going to take a day off everything but that never happens and I don’t know why other than the guilt of taking it easy….and that gets to be pretty damn wearing….more later…

Well…I haven’t used my steam iron to do clothes in the three years I’ve lived out here but today I dragged it out and filled it with water and did some ironing…the only reason is the three pairs of lightweight nylon pants my daughter got me that wrinkle like crazy when they come out of the dryer…I really like them but that’s the reason I like cotton so much…it never wrinkles and I can wear it straight out of the dryer….I do like the built in sprayer on the iron and it worked quite well so that is cool…now I need to get some laundry started before Chelsea and Newcastle play….

Well…damn, I’m worn out this morning and getting out of bed a little after 5 is not ideal…it’s still colder than hell out here and the heat has been running almost constantly for the past day…the wind has subsided and I didn’t lose any more branches off my big tree so it may survive,,,had to fill the bird feeder twice yesterday with the snow and the Juncos came back for the first time this winter…I guess it’s not winter yet with the solstice  happening in a couple of days…didn’t get a lot done yesterday and the way it looks right now, I won’t get much done today, either….just don’t have any motivation at 6:30 am and with just a few sips of coffee in me…I wonder if this is the day off I’ve been needing for quite a while now? Ha, ha….yeah, I don’t take days off…cripes, this one is really hard to do this morning and I have been working on it for almost a half hour…I did have to shovel the snow yesterday but I haven’t looked out to see it I have to do it today…don’t think we got the 3-5 inches that was forecast and the temp is getting back over 50 in a couple of days so all of it is going to melt anyway…and that will get us through December…last year, I was off the outdoor bike after Thanksgiving but it looks like I’ll be riding on New years….not much to do today….it’s a pain in the butt to have to restrict calories all the time but I’ll keep it up or be fat the rest of my life…so, do I buy another ham this week? Probably shouldn’t but protein at 99 cents a pound? Decisions….more later…

Well…the wind is howling out here this morning but it hasn’t started to snow yet so I’ll take it…but it will snow tonight with the low getting down to 27 so I may be shoveling tomorrow…slept okay last night and only woke up once and then out of bed a little after 6…and I’m doing that after stopping the otc sleeping pills about a month ago…feel so much better getting up in the morning but still feel worn out…just getting old I guess….don’t really hurt anywhere today and that is welcome after all the weird pain I had riding the bike yesterday…but I used voltaren and heat last night to cope with it and I don’t want that to become a habit…going to be on the indoor bike today and I’m looking forward to watching two episodes of “Goliath” while I’m doing it and staying warm…need to air up the tires on the indoor bike today so I can use my new electronic pressure gauge…will be indoors until Wed then it gets back into the 40’s again and I’ll be outside for the rest of the year…I hope…not much to do today…just going to get on the bike in an hour or so but I want to just ease into it with more coffee right now…it is going to be another leftover day and I am going to keep to the one meal a day thing until I feel I’ve lost enough weight and that will probably be til the end of the year….more later….

Well…I did take it easy today but I still got two rides in this morning…but tomorrow I’ll be riding indoors since we are under a winter weather advisory and a gale warning for Monday into Tuesday morning…2-4 inches of snow with winds 20-30 and gusts to 50…will be a good day to hibernate and eat the ham soup I took out of the freezer yesterday to make room for a new batch…but I’m not sure when I’ll make it…probably between chistmas and new years…we’ll see….the bike is such a joy to ride with all the new parts on it but I need to order the parts for the black bike next week to get them on hand….I am really happy with all of the stuff I got last week…the electric toothbrush heads were really cheap but work great…I like that they are bigger that the Phillips ones and I got 8 of them for the price of one Phillips head…so they should last me a few years..and it’s nice having a new everyday eyeglass case so I can put the one I got in Dublin away before I ruin it…I’m getting used to the new pedals for the bike and I think they will work out okay and I read the package and they have sealed ball bearings in them so I don’t have to worry about them getting sand in them…haven’t used the new air pressure gauge yet but I’ll do that in the next few days since the car tires need air…looks pretty cool and even has a light on it for some reason…and for under 10 bucks?

Well…darn, up and down all night last night and finally got out of bed at 6:40 and have about 55 minutes until I need to get on the bike to get two rides in before Man U plays at 11:30…don’t hurt nearly as much as I should after doing two 45’s in a row so I think the voltaren and biofreeze worked well last night…my lower back is still stiff today and doing two rides won’t help that…I wonder if I should put the heating pad on right now to help that? Really don’t want to do anything except sit here and wait for the coffee to work…it’s 43 out there right now so it will be warm enough to go out as soon as it gets light but I still feel cold from yesterday and that is going to be a problem until the end of the year…at least there is no snow in the forecast and that will leave us only two months until March when it will start to warm up again….still have ham to use today but I did take the last ham soup out of the freezer to make room for the next batch I’ll make this week…not much to do today…just getting the rides in will be enough…did laundry yesterday but I should put clean bedding on today…it’s weird having more than one set of sheets like I’ve lived with for 20+ years….more later….

Well… the past two days have been nuts on the bike with this idiot doing 45 miles two days in a row…still don’t hurt too much so I’ll take it…but there won’t be a third day of that…just feel pretty worn out after these two days and the 30 miles a day for the rest of the week…it does look like I’m going to get to 5,000 miles for the year even with having 12 weeks off the bike…only have 180 more miles to go to get there and I have 14 days to do it…there is enough time to even get there just riding 16 per day downstairs…that would be 224 miles so I could even have a day off in the next two weeks…if I wouldn’t have had the medical/travel time off the bike, it would have been a record year with probably 6,500 miles or so…pretty damn close to the 7,000 mile goal for next year…so, we’ll see what happens…

Well…up and moving  a little after 6 today and I’m not nearly as sore as I should be after riding 45 miles yesterday…I wonder if it was the liberal application of voltaren last night? It’s raining out here right now so the first ride will have to wait a bit after sunrise…only going to do 30 miles today to take it a little easier than yesterday…not going to get to 5,000 miles this year but it’s going to be close and that’s not bad for a year where I had 12 weeks off…..didn’t get much done yesterday and I’m not sure what I’ll do today…still working on leftovers so no cooking and I just took the last container of ham soup out of the freezer to make room for the new ones I’m going to make in a couple of weeks…I wonder if I should get another ham since they are 99 cents a pound?  Not sure if I can tolerate the salt…would like some pasta or anything different…finished off “The Robots of Dawn” by Asimov yesterday and started a Lawrence Sanders novel and it feels good to have a book going all the time after not reading much for years…not much to do today…it’s already 42 outside so when the rain stops I can get on the bike and get the day started…put the Eagles on for music yesterday and it hit the spot…I think this morning will be “Dark Side of the Moon” since I haven’t played that in a while…more later…

Well…I know I was bitching about the 70 dollar cost to rebuild the driveline of the bike but damn it’s worth it…took it out today and it rides like a new bike again…so well that I did 45 miles on it today…and I like the weird new pedals I bought for it…they look so thin they should be flexing when I pedal but even when mounting the bike with all my weight on one pedal it stays flat…and forged aluminum with ball bearings for 9 bucks is kind of cool…so now I have to spend another 100 bucks to put the black bike back together since it needs the front crankset, chain, rear cassette, and rear shifter…will probably get that ordered next week so I can store those parts on the bike for when I wear out the ones I just put on the grey bike…

Well…up and out of bed a little after 6 today and that’s pretty normal for me right now…it is a little different with the outside pattern of pain from the rides yesterday including the upper body stuff that doesn’t happen when I ride indoors…but, I’m used to being sore so no big deal…I did get the amazon package last night that wasn’t supposed to come until Sat so that was cool…the new pedals for the bike are a little different and of a unique design and I’ll install them after the first ride…did enough work on the bike yesterday that I really just want to ride it this morning….have new heads for my sonicare toothbrush, eyeglass cases, and a digital tire pressure gauge, stuff that I needed and I would like to buy something just that I want for a change….the coffee tastes good this morning and I hope it starts to work soon so I can get on the bike as soon as it gets light but I do need to let the temp come up a few degrees first with it still in the thirties…will probably have to do some adjusting on the bike with all of the new parts on it and I hope it’s back to normal…not much to do today…only had one meal yesterday and will probably keep that pattern up today since I am losing weight…slowly…and need to get back into the 160’s….more later…