Well…damn, Man U is playing right now so this may be a short one….slept okay last night but I’m not feeling like it right now and the feeling of being worn out continues again today….and it’s probably my fault since I wasn’t good last night….and I won’t be again tonight with it being new years eve but then I’m done for a couple of months…need to take better care of myself so that will be a good start…it was nice to get an outdoor ride in yesterday but I’ll be indoors today with the temp only around freezing and I don’t want to be cold….but I won’t go down until 10 or so unless Man U stinks the place up and I get bored with them…didn’t get much done yesterday and today will be much the same with soccer and Michigan playing at 4….riding outside uses different muscles than inside and my back hurts like crazy this morning so I need to put the heating pad on in a minute….need to figure out what I’m going to cook in the next few days since the turkey is almost gone and I need to clear out some space in the freezer for the carcass but i don’t know what I feel like making….not much to do today…it would be a perfect day to take it off but I won’t….but I am going to have more coffee and watch soccer right now…then down on the torture machine….more later….

Well…when I got up this morning and it was 46 degrees, I decided to try to do an outdoor ride just to scope out the trails and see if they were passable…and they were for the most part…I did have to walk the bike in a few spots but it was okay…the road by the beach is closed with sand drifts over both it and the boardwalk and I had to ride in the road coming down the hill from the beach with snow drifts over the trail at the top of the hill…I left the bike in the garage so I can ride outside for the next week..it’s even supposed to be over 50 one day next week and I hope that clears the entire trail…will still have to ride in the road a bit with all of the sand over the trail out by the beach….I did hurt my back and I will have to heat it here in a few….more later….

Well….damn, I really do need a day off to recharge but I know I won’t do it….my back hurts and I feel run down and that seems to be the new normal and I don’t like it one bit…had an okay day yesterday and got sucked into a Star Wars marathon with the last of the series and it was cool that I didn’t remember them at all…it was 5 years since I’d seen them and I hope that was not from memory loss….I did do two rides yesterday and I am going to try to do that again today but I sure don’t want to….I am hoping that I can get back to the zone where I can just get on the bike, let my mind go off on it’s own, and then it’s over….but that hasn’t been working lately and it’s a chore to just think about going down there…I wonder if I should drag the bike up and do an outside ride today? It’s 47 degrees right now and most of the snow has melted and it could be doable….and I don’t hate riding outside like I do inside…okay, that will be the goal for today….but I still need to wait til it gets light out there…can I just do one ride outside and accept that it is enough? Not much to do today….I am winding down the year and I’m not sure what I’m going to do mark that….I think there is football on later today and maybe even some soccer so I can stay amused for the day…more later…

Well…it looks like I’m back to the 3-5-7 pattern again…up at 3:03, up again at 5:37 and out of bed before 7:30….but getting up that late make me run late for getting on the bike by 8 so it looks like I’ll not get to that until 8:30 since I do want to have some coffee in me before I get on the bike…it’s always a struggle when I ride without a jolt of caffeine…..it looks like we’re going to get a lot of snow melt over the next week or so with temps in the upper 30’s into the 50’s and I’m okay with that….cripes it’s 44 right now and getting to almost 50 today….watching a show on British tv right now that has Motown music from the BBC and I’m transported back to when I was 11…and I’m still here at 69…what does that say? Nothing I guess….didn’t get much done yesterday with the plan to take the day off but I’m not planning to do much today…not a day off since I’m going to ride the bike twice…Marvin Gaye is on from 1965….strange….not much to do today…my back hurts for some reason and I’ll probably heat it between rides to keep it from seizing up…this has gone on way too long…..still have leftovers so I don’t have to cook anything today but I probably should plan meals for later in the weekend but I don’t want to…I have 18 minutes to get on the bike and that is too soon….more later….

Well…as you know from my earlier post, the plan was to take the day of the bike as a little reward for getting to the goal this year…but at about 2 I just couldn’t take it anymore and my guilt got the best of me so I suited up and went down to at least get one ride in today and put in a burner, averaging over 16mph and I was drenched when I got done…but I feel much better both physically an mentally for doing it…and now I can sit here and watch soccer without feeling guilty…and I’ll get back to the routine tomorrow to try to get to 6,100 for the year…

Well…I was able to get out this morning to do an abbreviated grocery run and I even got gas for the car for 2.90 a gallon so I won’t need to do that again until the end of January…and I am sitting here right now without having ridden the bike today and I am wondering if I’m taking the day off? Have already had the heating pad on my sore back and I really could use some rest…and I did make my mileage goals on the bike yesterday so maybe I’ve earned it? A nap on the couch would be so luxurious but I’ll probably get on the bike after lunch…man, that’s sick…what do I have to do to have one day off? Okay, I know…I’m taking Sunday off as normal so I probably shouldn’t be so damn lazy….we’ll see….

Well..damn, can I just sit here instead of getting on the bike this morning? I am so damn tired today that I could go back to bed…but you know I won’t….so, I need to get on the bike in 21 minutes and I just started my first cup of coffee….had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get anything done but ride the bike and today will be the same other than the grocery run…don’t really have much to get today but I do need bird food since I am out of it and have been for a couple of days…it is going to be warm for a week or so and I think a lot of the snow will melt with the rain that is coming in…haven’t been out in the car since last Thursday and I hope I can get out of the alley today…it would be a pain to bury the car in the slush since it’s already 31 out there….have been having problems with my eyes lately and I think it’s from stopping the allergy meds that have been suppressing my immune system…I wake up every morning with my eyes full of crap and a stuffed up head that is putting pressure on them that  is distorting their shape…have had a headache since I stopped the meds and that is miserable….not much to do today…I just need a day off to do nothing but I can’t do that….I wonder if there is a control alt delete for my brain? I sure could use a reset right now…not getting on the bike…just can’t do it with how I feel….more later….

Well…damn, it was a busy morning around here with being on the go from the time I got up until just now at 1pm…started out with getting on the bike and getting the first ride in, then on to making the ham soup that I had all the ingredients for and that meant doing all the veggie chopping that took over a half hour…before then I got the ham bones in the instant pot so it could cook as I did the first ride…then the veggies went in the pot and cooked for 12 minutes and then added the beans and tomatoes to let them get warm…after that I got back on the bike for ride two and then had a bowl of soup for lunch…then it was clean up time and I just finished that and came here to do two of these…so, I think I’ve earned some soccer time with the first game and then Man U comes on at 3…and once that happens, I’m done for the day….oh darn, I do have to do the grocery list this aft, too…so I should get at that right now…

Well…running a bit late this morning with getting up at 3:04 and getting out of bed at 6:23 but it took more than a half hour to come here and get started…just worn out and feel like I didn’t sleep at all…again….not sure if it was my messages to the city but they did come out and plow the streets up here last night so I should be able to get out for the grocery run tomorrow…they still haven’t plowed the alley but it appears it is packed down enough for me to give it a try….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the bike rides and today looks the same but I do need to make ham soup today to make room for the turkey carcass to go in the freezer but I’m not feeling it right now…probably won’t get to that til the afternoon but need to get that done before Man U plays at 3….I did start watching “Tulsa King” last night and it’s a pretty good show but I am going to get to the end of “Yellowstone” soon and that is too bad…it is going to warm up starting tomorrow so I think a lot of the snow will melt and I’m okay with that….I do have to remember to get some bird food tomorrow since I am out of it and the bird feeder is looking a little low…not much to do today….just the rides and soup but I am wondering what would happen if I took a day off the bike after getting to the goal for the year…I mean 6,051 miles is a lot for an old guy to ride and I am sore from it…or from shoveling the snow…not sure which but my side hurts like crazy…I still feel fat as hell so I probably should get going but I need coffee first….more later…

Well…damn, I made it…got to my goal for miles on the bike for a year today…6,051 miles as of today beats my previous record of 6,043 from a few years back…and that includes 4,823 miles outside and 1,228 on the inside bike…it feels kind of good to have made it when I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it when the snow came in and iced over the trails and I went from 30 miles a day outside to 16 miles a day inside…so I may try to do 49 more miles and get to even 6,100 and I have 5 days to do that…then I zero out the computers and it starts all over again…won’t beat that next year with having 6 weeks that I won’t be able to ride with the PSA test coming up the first week of Feb and then the 19 days in the UK in the fall…but that’s okay…it will just make ’24 the year I ride 7,000 miles…that’s the goal anyway…yee ha!