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…

Well…up at 4:04 this morning and out of bed at 5:33 and that sucks a bit…I feel so darn own out this morning and I have tons of things to do that I will need to muster the energy for…two indoor rides and at least five miles outdoors to get to 500 miles for the month…along with the grocery run and I wonder if I can get the first ride in before I head out at 8:15? I did get some good news on the price of my house yesterday when I found out that the tiny 900 sq ft house on a slab with no garage near the back of my lot sold for 141K so my brother thinks mine is now worth 175 K with it’s 1100 sq ft up and 800 sq ft in the basement and a garage…along with a lot that is 4 times the size of the one that sold…so in three years I’ve made almost 90K on this place and that is a long way from being broke 5 years ago…and that gives me 131K in equity that I can pass on to my kids when I go…it sure feels comfortable to be financially solvent…and we went out to lunch at the Mexican place a couple of blocks from here that has good, cheap food…I mean 3 soft tacos for 6 bucks? That’s a deal…I do need to go the the city offices tomorrow to pay my water and property tax bills and that is a grand going out but I have enough in the bank that I can just shrug about it…and that feels good…not much to do today…yeah, that’s not true…grocery runs and lots of rides that will be a chore but I don’t think I’m going to try to get one in before I get out…more later…

Well…was up at a little after 4 today but stayed in bed til after 6 and that has me running late to get on the bike by 8…I am tired today but don’t have much to do but the bike rides…I do need to do meal planning later to figure out how much work I want to do to be able to eat…and right now it’s not much….just poured the first cup of coffee and I hope that it will give me the motivation to get moving sine I have none right now…I do need to mail my water bill and property taxes today or tomorrow but i don’t know if I have the stamps so I may have to go over to the city offices and pay them in person…and that will be a thousand bucks going out…so I won’t be adding to my bank account this month…oh, well…damn, my eyes have been giving me problems for a week now and part of it is my allergies being so bad…and I wonder what the hell is blooming to do that? It’s 7;30 and I need to get on the bike in 30 minutes to get my day going and the possibility of taking the day off is fading into the distance…not sure why this 70 year old is so compelled to get the miles in every day other than weight control…need to lose another 10 pounds or so and the only way to do that is to get off my ass and torture myself…so I’ll leave a fit corpse when I go….more later…

Well…when I got up this morning, I planned to get outdoors for a ride today but it never got over 35 out here with almost 20 mph wind so I just couldn’t do it…I did get two indoor rides and and then grilled some food for a late lunch and then did my weight work…then I decided to do some reading to relax and have gotten 2/3rds of the way through both books…I am really sore from using the wights but there is progress in getting some tone in my so I’ll keep it up til summer…not going to make it to 500 miles for the month..or I might if I do two indoor rides the next two days and then two outdoor rides wed…and that won’t be too bad but I’m going to have to have some 800 mile months in there and I think I can do it…I guess we’ll see…now I’m done for the day and going to relax for a bit as i put heat on my back….

Well…that sucked…the Lions lost and didn’t get to the super bowl and I didn’t sleep and woke up at 4:40…but I did stay in bed until after 6 and just poured the first cup of coffee that I need to work right now…it was a little busy yesterday and I am going to end my healthy eating for a few days by grilling some burgers and brats today that will last me the rest of the week…have two days of soup left and I wonder if I should buy some chicken thighs this week…I guess I’ll have to look in the freezer to see what’s there before I do…got lots of exercise yesterday and I am going to try to do the same today but that means getting on the bike in less than an hour…this warm weather is going to last through the 12th of this month and that puts us only two weeks from March and the start of the permanent warm up for spring…all of the snow on my yard will be gone by the end of the week and I’m going to have to start feeding the squirrels again…they have been more active with the warm up and have taken the bread I threw out there…not much to do today…just the rides, weight work, and grilling…and I need to watch the FA cup match this aft since Wrexham is playing….more later…