Well…I’m taking a lazy day today with only doing the rides in the morning and then just watching Olympics and reading some news…I did get to 6,010 miles today with doing three rides and that leaves only a hundred to ride to break my record for total miles in a year… and that sets me up for the final thousand to get to the big goal of 7,100 miles…when I started this journey, I really didn’t know how it was going to go being 71 years old…but I have been pleasantly surprised at how well my body has held up to the abuse I’ve heaped on it every day…really didn’t have much pain today except in my neck that has been hurting for a couple of months and I think needs rest to heal…but that is not going to happen until January 1st of next year since the last goal is to ride every day this year…and the bike has been holding up, too, and has worked great sine I manually reset the rear shifter a couple of thousand miles ago and it looks like I can use the broken shifter for the rest of the year…I hope…I do have a new one downstairs that only takes a couple of hours to install and adjust just in case…so back to the Olympics…

Well…it was a little weird last night when I realized that I was sitting here and didn’t have any pain at all…and that is just not normal with how I’m abusing my body to get to the bike goals for the year…slept okay last night even with it being pretty warm overnight but I have always liked the hot weather so I shouldn’t be surprised…I think I’m going to do a short day on the bike today of only 25 miles since I only need 22 to get to 6,000 miles for the year…and I can really use some rest to recharge after the struggles on the bike yesterday…I think I’m going to try putting a new layer of sunscreen on after each ride to avoid the burn like I got yesterday…not sure if that will work but I need to try something different…something overturned the small water container in the yard last night and I had a bunch of birds walking around the yard that was a little strange…and I had some that I had never seen before and I had no clue what they were…don’t have a lot to do today other than meal planning for the week after I use up the leftovers today…will probably get the ingredients cooked for more potato salad since I have lots of the one dollar potatoes left…darn, have to get going in less than 20 minutes so I should drink more coffee and get moving…more later…

Well…today was the first day I was in the full sun for the entire 3 1/2 hours on the bike today and I got burned through the 100 spf sunscreen so I’m not sure what I’m going to do to keep riding every day…think I’ll treat the burn with some aloe…only have 23 more miles to go to get to 6.000 so that will happen tomorrow…then only 109 more miles to break the record that I set two years ago…it has been a long slog and now I think the new goal is going to be 9,000 miles for the year for the last goal I’m going to set…don’t have a lot to do today but laundry and that is running right now…I should clean some and probably will at least to straighten up the kitchen…still working on leftovers all weekend so I won’t have to cook at all and that is welcome with how hot it is out there…and in here…okay, I need to get caught up on the news so I’m going to do that…

Well…it was really hot here yesterday with the high getting to almost 90 but, since I was little, I have loved the heat…I did leave the windows open overnight and there was a nice, cool breeze blowing through here when I got up…I did sleep okay last night but I’m wearing out with almost 6,000 miles done and I think I’ll do a rest day of only one ride soon…my right knee hurts like crazy right now and I felt that coming on the bike yesterday…didn’t get anything done yesterday with the heat and sun and I’ll do the same today since it’s going to be hot again…no rain again yesterday but I saw that it set up just to the east of here and rained pretty good in the center of the state…oh, well…still don’t have to cook today but I’ll have to start thinking about that later today and change things up a bit…I might make some mashed potatoes since I have 6 pounds of potatoes sitting in the kitchen that only cost me 2 bucks…and onions…I wonder if I should look for an onion soup recipe? Okay, I need to get ready to ride right now at 6:37 to get three rides in before 10…more later…

Well…yow, it’s hot out here at 87 degrees so that is going to keep me in here for the afternoon…and the humidity is almost 60% so I’m sweating just sitting here…I did get the rides in before 10 am today and the humidity was almost 80% when I went out at 7am…didn’t rain out here again last night when the forecast said an 80% chance and there isn’t any in the forecast so it will be 5 weeks without rain…the lawn is dying quickly now but that just means I won’t have to mow it for 10 days or so…going to start taking the garden out next week since the cherry tomatoes taste bitter and crappy so I’ll just bag them up and put them out Tuesday morning…I really do think I’m going to use 5 gallon buckets next year since there has to be something in the soil that is killing the plants and I’ll get bags of potting soil for them to grow in…don’t know what else to try…it looks like about 10 buckets should do it…two for regular tomatoes and two for cherry…two for beans, one for green peppers and one for Jalapenos…nope more than 10 since I need two for broccoli, one for cukes and one for peas…I may try to dig out part of the garden and fill it with potting soil just for something to do and then put in a little of everything I grow for a test plot…I guess I have the winter to decide…don’t want the containers to be too big so I can move them around…

Well…I guess I have to resign myself that it is never going to rain out here again…80% chance of rain forecast overnight and not a damn drop…and now nothing in the forecast for another two weeks…and that will make it 5 weeks without rain…at least I won’t have to mow the lawn…want to get on the bike by 7am to get the day started and have three rides in by 10am…have less than 200 miles to ride to beat my all time record so that should happen by the end of next week…slept okay even with the heat last night and the little fan my daughter left me really helps…probably should just take the AC unit out of the window since I haven’t used it at all this summer…and it’s going to be 90 today so we’ll see later today…might just try it tonight to get rid of the humidity…have more leftovers to use today and for the next few days so no cooking again…chicken burritos and soup looks like the meals for today…it’s 71 degrees already today and sticky humid so the rides are going to be a chore just like yesterday…might have to put electrolytes in all of the water bottles to deal with the heat today…so, I should get going and get myself sunscreened and pour the rest of the coffee down…more later…

Well…if you’ve been here a while, you know that little things make me happy…and today that little thing was going out to Menards and getting a new pair of windshield wipers and putting them on the car…the Michelin ones that were on it had started to melt and stick to the windshield and leave huge marks at the end of the strokes…they were actually sticky to the touch and were leaving behind material when they were parked…had to take a plastic teflon scrubber and soap to get all of the residue off the glass…in all of my years of driving, I’ve never seen wipers start to melt before…so I washed the car after that for the first time in two months…it appears that the 100 spf sunscreen is going to work since I was out in the sun 3 hours and just a little pink from it…but now, every time I put the top down on the car, I’m going to have to use at least 50 sunscreen as I did today just for the 10 minute drive over to Menards and back…but I know I was going to wash the car and that takes about  a half hour so I needed it…went over 5,900 miles on the bike today so less than two hundred miles to break my all time record and then every day makes a new one…legs held up okay but I did eat some toast and PB in between the first and second ride to make sure of it…okay, need to do the weight work right now…

Well…man, it was a warm day yesterday and it’s going to be another one today, tomorrow, and Saturday with temps nearing 90 every day…so it looks like a time to hunker down here and get the rides in by 10 every day…and that means getting on the bike in 20 minutes…the 100 sunscreen seems to be working since I was out in the sun for 3 hours yesterday and just got a little pink…it’s already almost 70 at 6:25 am so I think the rides will be in survival mode for the next few days…got a bunch done yesterday and I need to go out and get some new wiper blades for the car today since the ones on it are falling apart and leaving marks on the windshield…and I may wash the car today with it  so dusty…and I may start taking the garden out today since it has stopped giving me anything usable…oh, well…containers next year…slept okay last night but I wonder if I ate enough yesterday to support three rides today? Is a bowl of soup and a chicken burrito enough? Yeah, I know the answer to that and will have to try to do better today…have leftovers so I don’t have to cook until Sunday…damn, need to get on the bike in 10 minutes so I need to get going…more later…

Well…almost forgot to come here for this last one for the month…man, it was a physically taxing day today with the heat and humidity that was here from the first ride at 7am…it felt like I was breathing liquid out on the second ride..oh, and I only did two rides today with mowing and feeding the lawn and trimming a bunch of tree branches…I was so worn out after that and doing the grocery runs this morning, I thought it would not be smart to do a third ride at around 1pm when it was 84 and humidity was still almost 70%…I was already soaked through everything I was wearing by then and really didn’t want to get more dehydrated…so took the afternoon off and just got everything I’ve been ignoring done…so, I need to read a bit since it’s getting late in the aft…and I still have my teeth to do…darn…

Well…damn, how can I be running late already today? Have to get on the bike in 10 minutes and haven’t even had any coffee yet…so I need to gt in gear and get moving…slept okay last night but it’s going to be hot today and tomorrow so tonight could be a rough night…going to get to 90 the next couple of days and with the 95% humidity out here it’s going to be uncomfortable…going to try to mow the lawn today and get the last of the summer food on it before the storms that are coming in overnight…I forgot to spray my face with the 100 sunscreen yesterday and got a little red but I won’t do  that again today…and I need to do the grocery run after the first ride then two more rides and the yard work so it’s going to be a busy morning…my thumb still barely hurts and I’ll take that any day and my back may be healing up some after two months…fingers crossed…nope…just picked up my coffee cup and it hurts again…crap…not much to do today…ha,ha…that made me laugh…going to start running in 5 minutes and hope to be done for the day by noon…but it looks more like 1 pm….man, I’m going to be worn out…more later…