Well…up at about the normal time for me today at a little before 6 and I’m feeling worn out today as I do every day before the coffee starts to work…moving my schedule up by a day since I want to make a new recipe today called garam masala that is an Indian vegetable dish that is like a curry and I’m really getting into the spices that are in them…and I have the longest grocery list that I have had in a long time with having two more new recipes that I’m going to make this week…slept okay last night and I didn’t wake up with any new soreness and I’m happy about that…just the normal soreness and that’s enough…still can’t figure out how the heck I bruised my earlobe but it is getting better so I guess I can just chalk it up to the fact that I’m weird…one of the writers that I follow recommended a new series of sci fi novels that I need to see if the library has them and I’ll do that this week…but not today…it’s going to be a busy day today with the grocery runs, getting the rides in and then cooking so the afternoon will be needed to rest a bit….more later…

Well…you know you’re getting old when you hurt yourself sleeping…woke up this morning with my left shoulder hurting all the way over to the shoulder blade and a bruise on my left earlobe…yeah, I have no clue how that happened other than having it fold over and then sleeping on it all night with it pinched…all I know is it looks weird and I cannot remember hurting an earlobe like that…and my back hurts all the way across the lower part from riding outdoors the other day…so I feel damn creaky today and I don’t like it one bit…I think I may be getting my dehydration fixed since my right big toe is not hurting and I started to sweat like normal on the bike this morning and got off it soaked from both rides…poured down 5 quarts yesterday and I’m on number 4 for today so I’ll get to 5 easily…Michigan plays at 5 and I’m a little nervous about that…the good Michigan team has to show up or they’ll lose….oh, well…

Well…here we go again…it’s another year starting and I wonder what this year is going to bring? Last year was an interesting one with having cancer and then getting to do the dream trip to the UK and Ireland and still getting over 5,000 miles on the bike…but I skipped riding yesterday but won’t do that again today…slept okay last night and got out of bed at 5:44 so I have a couple of hours before I have to get on the bike and I’ll get 16 miles in to start the year…not too sore today with taking the day off yesterday and using voltaren and heat on my back last night…today is a great football day with Michigan playing Alabama later in the afternoon…I picked out three new recipes to try this week so I’m going to move the grocery run up til tomorrow so I can get started…going to do a new recipe for three days in a row and get a lot healthier with two of them being vegetarian….and I’m going to cook with lentils and chick peas that I’ve never done before….lots of Indian influences in the new ones and I like the spices since I still can’t taste a lot…not much to do today…just going to have more coffee and on the bike in an hour and a half…might do a load of laundry today but I don’t have to….more later…

Well…decided to take the day off the bike so I can post the total miles for the year…Inside-1,726 miles…outside- 3,394 miles for a total of 5,110 for the year…not too bad when I had a goal of 4,000 and it’s only 1,000 under my record year of 6,109 miles…next year’s goal is going to be 7,000 miles and I should be able to hit that if I don’t have any health problems that kept me off the bike for 3 months this year…

Well…woke up pretty depressed this morning and I’m not sure why that would be…I wonder if today is going to be that elusive day off I’ve been thinking about?  It’s the last day of the year and I really don’t want to think about how bad of a year it’s been…I mean having cancer and two sons who don’t talk to me anymore? That would suck in anyone’s book…but I’m not going to wallow in it…pretty damn tired today and I know it’s going to be hard to get started but I know I will…but I’m not sure about riding today…I hurt everywhere after mixing indoor and outdoor rides yesterday and I wonder if I’m at the point where riding 30 miles a day is doing permanent damage to me? When you get old, recovering from this much work is much harder…okay…enough of that…going to just revel in the fact that I made it through another year and I should get to my 71st birthday unless the cancer comes back…should I just eat anything I want to today? That would be luxurious and I think I may have earned one day of that…I guess we’ll see…more later…

Well…after doing 16 miles downstairs this morning and then making soup, the sun shining was just too much for me to resist so I dragged the clean bike up from the basement and did 15 miles out there…a very nice, hard ride and the clicking is almost gone so I’m working on the right area of the bike…once the trails ice over, I’ll take the bike back down and pull the idlers in the rear shifter and clean them completely and that means taking them apart…the still have some sand in them but I can live with it until later…I did hurt my right thumb and I’m going to have to put some voltaren on it since it hurts to do this even and I’m not sure how I hurt it…oh, well…the soup came out good and I have three new recipes ready to go after I do the grocery run this week and can’t wait…still only going to do one meal today even with riding 31 miles today…need to lose another 8-10 pounds…

Well…running a bit late today with being up and down all night and having no energy at all today…only two sips of coffee in me so far so it’s going to take it a while to get working…my vision is really blurry this morning and part of it is my allergies are flaring again…ran the hepa filters all day yesterday and I’m going to start them again here in a minute…need to get moving soon to get two rides in downstairs before Man U plays early afternoon and I need to make some potato soup for lunch so I need to get started on that by 10:30 or so….going to be eating out of the freezer until Wed and grocery day when I’m going to pick up what I need to try three new recipes for some healthier food going forward…one that looks interesting is called chana masala and it is a vegetarian masala with no fat in it and I can use that…and I have chickpeas and lentils to use, too…need to get more variety in my diet…I did add potato soup over the past month so I guess that’s something….not much to do today…need to get on the bike by 8 to get two rides in before soup making time but I sure don’t feel like it right now….man, I’m tired…more later…

Well…this is getting to be a habit…didn’t do a darn thing again today with just doing the two rides and then watching football all afternoon…kept it to one meal again today but it was a bigger one so I probably had close to 800 calories today or maybe even a little more…did the rides indoors today since it has been raining off and on all day and just barely got to 40 and I didn’t want to have to clean the bike again…and I made the 5K goal for the year so I can go down to 16 miles a day with little guilt…going to have almost 1,700 miles indoors this year and that is almost 700 more than I’ve ever done…need to make potato soup again tomorrow since I have all the ingredients and don’t want them to spoil…it is such a cheap, filling meal that only costs me about 3.50 to make and lasts 4 days…need to start looking at other stuff to make after this ham is in the freezer…I think pasta is going to be one of them and I’ll drag the recipes out my daughter left that use ground turkey since she left me two pounds in the freezer…okay, need to start making the list for the grocery run next week….

Well…that sucked…had a rotten night of sleep and that is even worse with sleeping well for a couple of weeks…so I’m worn out today and need more coffee than I have to get moving….oh, well…at least I don’t hurt much and I’ll take that…was thinking about getting outside on the bike today but it’s been raining and I don’t want to be cold and wet and get the bike dirty…so I’ll ride indoors today and for the rest of the year….had such an easy day yesterday that I do feel a little guilty for not getting much done…and today looks about the same with some soccer on and no cooking to do…going to make more potato soup tomorrow that will last me most of the week and then start to figure out other food to eat…I think that will start with pasta using some 5 bucks a jar sauce my daughter left me from July…I am going to try to take a day off at some point but I really don’t know when that will be…need to keep losing weight and that won’t happen if I don’t work at it…not much to do today…going to sit here for a bit since it’s only 7 and I don’t need to get on the bike til 8…or 9…who knows…more later…

Well…this was one of the easiest days I’ve had in quite a while with just doing two rides downstairs and cleaning a little in the kitchen…and I don’t feel bad about it one bit….even though I hate elon with a passion, I am going to watch the launch of the x-37 space plane on the Falcon Heavy tonight at 8…should look pretty cool as a night launch…and they will probably try to land the two outside boosters and I can’t remember if I’ve seen a night landing or not…stayed with the one meal plan again today with about a half a bowl of soup and a couple of brown and serves…for about 600 calories for the day…but I am going to have some cheese and crackers later for a snack…need to cut up some celery since I have a stalk and a half in the fridge and only need about 3 pieces to make another batch of potato soup…will make hams soup next week since I do need to use the celery for that. too, along with the carrots I’ve had for a week…and that will refill my soup stock and add to the two containers of turkey soup I made last week…I really do need to start varying my diet some…that will start next week…