Well…that was an ugly night with having the worst case of acid reflux I’ve had in a long time…woke me up at 2 and kept me up most of the rest of the night as I waited for the antacids to work…and it didn’t help that it was the first full night of the time change and that always screws me up for a few days…not sure why that would be but I know I’ll still be doing time corrections in my head for a few days…you’d think that getting 50 miles in on the bike the past two days that I would be worn out and sleep better but it really never works that way…oh, well….didn’t get anything done yesterday but it looks like I’ll have time to get a few things done this afternoon with the rain coming in later this morning…so that means I need to get on the bike around 9 after the showers that are on the way move through and before the rains starts again at 11 or so…there won’t be enough time to get a double in today so I guess I’ll get started on the last window in the kitchen…if I feel better…feel pretty crappy right now and my allergies are flaring like crazy so that is going to make for a day to be endured…and I really do hope that I can get a nap during soccer later but that hasn’t been working lately, either….more later…
Category Archives: My Life
Out on the bike in a t-shirt and shorts!
Well…not sure if doing two hard runs both yesterday and today is a mistake or not but I am getting dang sore already and that will need some ibuprofen a little later…it was pretty cool to be able to get out for the second ride today inĀ just a t-shirt and shorts for the first time this year and that made the ride just so much more fun and I was able to work up a good sweat, too….did that whole second run today flat out as hard as I could go but I did notice that I am nowhere near summer fitness levels so there sill be some gains to be had..but the weather isn’t going to cooperate with temps heading back down into the 40’s for highs for the next couple of weeks and rain in the forecast almost every day until the end of March…and that sucks since I am trying to get to over 600 miles by the first of April but that will take doubles almost every day and that is just not going to happen…it was still fun to get out on the new bike and not have to think about the damn chain skipping…or any of the other things that is wrong with the old bike…not sure when I’m going to start working on that…have some work to do on the car first so we’ll see….
March 8th
Well…I’m not sure what it is about Sundays but I almost forgot to come here again this week…was getting ready to get on the bike and just realized that I needed to come here and do one of these…and the time change didn’t help, either…I’ll be feeling the effects of that for a couple of days and I’m not sure why that is…feel pretty crappy this morning and it’s entirely my fault but the coughing and stuffed up head isn’t…I sure hope it’s not allergies this soon in the year…yeah, I know, it is but I’m holding out the delusional hope that it will not get worse…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but put the new bike together and ride twice but I did get the dining room window finished…don’t think I’m going to do any work today other than get two bike rides in…I did get the tire liners and tools to install them late in the day but I’m not going to do that today…going to keep my fingers crossed that I don’t get a flat today doing two rides….that would be a pain to walk back 5 miles….not much to do today…going to get out on the bike here in a few minutes for the first one and then watch some soccer before the second one after Man U plays City at 12:30….going to make some chicken with asparagus and potatoes for lunch…it is pretty cool to have a large enough glass dish to cook them all in it….more later….
Got the new bike!
Well….I was really surprised today when the new bike came around 10 am when fedex usually delivers late in the day….but, I’ll take it since I put it together and was out on it for a shakedown run by 11:15…and that’s even with getting the computer mounted so not too much time at all…it did help that this one is the same model as the old one since it is the only one with full suspension in my price range, so I already knew everything about it…after starting out on the first ride all I could say is wow! All of the controls are feather light and I barely have to touch the shifter and it is in the next gear…it is so light that I didn’t even hurt my thumb doing two rides and getting almost 25 miles in…even the rear brake is so sensitive that I can lock the rear wheel up with just two fingers….it is just so cool to have a bike that works like it’s supposed to and I can go hard….I had forgotten how nice it is to just power up hills instead of having to shift down 4 gears to keep the chain from skipping…and it works my legs like crazy…so much so that I was already getting sore just sitting here having lunch between the rides…I AM going to need some ibuprofen later today to be able to move and to get ready for another double tomorrow…one crappy thing is that the tube protectors still haven’t shown up so I think I just wing it til Monday when it is supposed to rain and the take wheels off and install them then…oh, one last thing…I expected that the grey paint would just be regular gloss grey….but it is grey metallic and it looks pretty cool out in the sun…can’t wait for oit to get warmer and get some long rides in…
March 7th
Well…up too damn early again this morning….and I knew that if I just rolled over and tried to sleep some more it wasn’t going to work so here we are…so that means that there may be some napcar in my future this afternoon…I did get some work done yesterday and I’m down to only one window left after painting the one in the dining room yesterday…but I have to put the second coat on it this morning…I did find some clear lacquer spray that I used on the rusted part of the frame to try to keep it from bleeding through the white paint…it is a little funny that the spray can of lacquer is over 20 years old and it still works great…I may have to use it on another window frame that is rusted and the rust is making ugly brown marks…and the window over the sink is probably the worst one that I’ll have to take a wire brush to…think I’ll put it in the drill and see if that makes it a little less work…I tried to strip it but that didn’t work on the 60 year old paint…the new bike is supposed to come today along with the tire tools and the tube protectors that I have to install before I can take it out…and that means I have to stay here all day since fedex won’t leave it without a signature…so no last ride on the old bike…I think I’ll go look at the tracking to see if there is a projected time for the delivery…not much to do today…just the painting and the bike stuff along with watching soccer all morning and I need some rest already…or more coffee…yep, I think that’s easier….more later…
March 6th
Well…running late this morning and there is really no reason for it other than I just laid in bed for a while after I woke up…and I never do that….I wonder why this morning? Oh, well…feel okay this morning if a little slow and I guess I earned that with not being good for the first time this week….not sure if that is going to continue this weekend but we’ll see…didn’t get much done yesterday but the bike ride as I need to keep resting my hands to get them to heal and it appears to be working…much less pain and I can even do this without wincing…I did remember that I needed to repair the top on the car where more stitching gave way and got that done just before it got dark last night…used every clamp I got from HF to hold it while the glue set…and I needed to get that done before I take it out in the rain…I used the two big clamps and the 6 little ones I got for a buck and it is handy to have them around here….I may not get out on the bike today if the wind comes up like it’s supposed to…20-25 mph is way too much to ride into especially with a bike that I can’t put any pressure on the pedals…but, I haven’t checked if it is windy yet so I may be able to get out early if it’s warm enough….not much to do today…I am going to start working on the window in the dining room so I can paint it over the weekend and then maybe start on the final window over the kitchen sink but with getting the new bike tomorrow, that may distract me some and I may just want to ride….more later….
March 5th
Well…running about on time this morning and had another good night of sleep…or as good as it gets for me…but, you’re bored with that so I’m not going to go on about it…I will say my hands are getting better so I’ll probably get back to working on windows again today to get the last two done…I do need to run out to depot this morning to try to find some thin zip ties to put the computer on the new bike…and I want black ones so they blend in with the black front forks and handlebar….and the only ones I have here are too thick and grey….it looks like tomorrow will be a day off the bike with the wind forecast to be over 20…but, we’ll see…I may be able to get out early before it gets too bad…and I don’t want to lose any days if I’m going to get to 5K this year…I may just put the summer tires back on the car to get ready to buy the new tires next month….I can get a set for 200 bucks out the door and it only takes a couple of days to get them…and the ones on the summer wheels are completely worn out but the winter tires are too so I guess it’s a toss up…and I do like the way the car looks with the aluminum wheels more than the black steelies…not much to do today…have some work to do downstairs and the errand to depot, then out on the bike….and I need to cook today…going to make a chicken burrito for lunch but still have leftover chicken for sandwiches for later….yeah, I know…sounds like too much boring chicken but I marinated the chicken for burritos so that is a nice change….more later….
Not much of a day…
Well…I’m not sure if doing two of these a day on my life is cheating or not but I have time and a few things to say so I guess I’ll just do it…and, I never promised more than one political one a day…or, did I even promise that? Who knows? Didn’t have much of a day today since I was resting my hands trying to get the cracks in my fingers healed and it has helped quite a bit…my thumb still hurts a bunch but I have been living with that long enough that I can cope with that pretty well…I feel pretty good that I only spent 26 bucks on groceries today when I budget for about 60 a week…and I officially have no room left in either freezer so it looks like I won’t be buying much next week either…I need to just use what I have and get out of the habit of buying protein when it is on sale…bought some boneless skinless today and I am marinating some of it to make some chicken burritos tomorrow…I did get the window in my room finished…finally, and got all the dust and paint chips cleaned up and that is a relief after how much work that one was…only two more to go but they are in much better shape so much less work…I did get a bit of good news today….the new bike will be here Saturday, along with the new tire liners and tools to install them…. just in time for a double on Sunday with the temp getting to almost 60…but that means I need to get the tire liners in and the computer on the new one Sat night, oh, and put it together first…but that should only take an hour or so…I am geeked to get the new one and get a couple of hard rides in without having to think about how much pressure I can put on the pedals to keep it from skipping…and to be able to fly again…can’t wait…
March 4th
Well…that kind of sucked…after the good sleep yesterday, I was really hoping that it could turn into a trend but 3:04 came and blew that up…but, I did fight to sleep all the way to 5:27 so I guess I can call that a semi win…I did skip the ibuprofen and antihistamines last night and don’t feel too much worse this morning so I think I’ll try that again tonight…need to make sure I keep that stuff for when I really need it…okay, this is a little weird…for the first time since I’ve been here, the grocery run is only going to be Aldi’s this morning…no Meijer’s since there is nothing I really need from there…and I don’t need much from Aldi’s, either….so this is going to be a cheap grocery week with no cocktail materials either…damn, not sure if being good is worth it but it is sure nice to save 100 bucks a month…as you saw, I did order the new bike yesterday and I am excited to have one that works instead of skips…I did check out the cost to replace the entire driveline of the old bike and it looks like about 125 bucks for the parts since I have a new shifter that I bought last year on sale and got it for under 20 bucks…I did buy some tire liners for the new bike and splurged on some tire removal tools that will make installing them easier and should protect the paint on the wheels….and, since I have been playing a lot of vinyl records lately, I needed to buy some anti static cleaner to replace the d-3 discwasher fluid that I have finally used up …they don’t make it anymore and the bottle I have I know I bought back in the 80’s….only 40 years on a bottle that cost 8 bucks? Okay, that’s not a bad deal…not much to do today…going to take another easy day since that seems to help the cracking on my fingers and I really don’t have much left to do in here…need to store up some energy for the huge amount of work that needs to be done outside….more later…
Just bought the new bike…
Well…after paying my capital one credit card bill yesterday, I decided to not wait any longer before ordering the new bike so I just did it…it was a little painful to spend 369 bucks but I was going to do it anyway so why wait? Bought a dark gray and black one this time so I can tell the bikes apart when I have them both in the garage…when I get the new one, I can then start on rebuilding the old one without having to worry about not having a bike to use while I tear it down and order the parts…if I can tear it down and order parts that is…I’m not sure how to get the swing arm bushing out to replace it and that goes for the front drive sprockets, too…but they put it together so it should come apart…I guess fixing it will depend on how much it will cost but it would be cool to have an old bike to trash out in the rain and mud while keeping the new one for dry days…I guess I’ll find out after I get working on it…one more week and it should be here…I’m a little excited…