September 26th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I worked on the bike for quite a while trying to get the brakes working enough so I am sure of them….slept okay last night but I am still sore everywhere from the new/old bike and it looks like there will be aspirins before the ride today…didn’t get much done yesterday but working on the bike so I will have to do some cleaning today…there are two new developments going on around here and, without and rain to speak of, there is so much dust in the air that I can smell it in here…and my car looks like it is covered in mud when the dew hit it in the morning…not sure if I’m going to wash it until it rains some….not much to do today…probably going to go out and have a couple with G later but that is about it….more later….

Thanks Dale Jr.

Well…with the widespread protests against endemic racism throughout sports yesterday, and the fascist response to them by Richard Petty and Richard Childress, NASCAR team owners….threatening to fire anyone that works for them if they express their constitutional rights under the first amendment…it was heartening to read the statement put out twitter yesterday by Dale Earnhardt Jr….I’ve always respected Dale Jr. for his thoughtfulness and honesty, and yesterday, that respect grew when he tweeted this: “All Americans R granted rights to peaceful protests…Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable-JFK”  Now, those are some powerful thoughts and I am sure that the troglodytes that infest the NASCAR community will just frickin hate them….Dale Jr. understands that injustice needs to be addressed and it is the right of all of us to do so in our own way…taking a knee during the anthem, or writing a little blog here, or hitting the streets when another person of color is murdered by police…it is what our country was founded on and, when the government won’t do anything to fix these problems, it is our right and responsibility to do what we can….thanks Dale….

Now I remember….

Well…have been chronicling the saga of getting the old bike running again and just finished the first long ride on it in almost 10 years…now I remember why I used to love riding it…it weighs about half of the mountain bike and it is so responsive…you just have to think where you want it to go and it goes there…I am really surprised how much of operating it came back to me in the first ride…how the non-index shifters have to be moved to get smooth shifts without any noise…and that is one of the really cool things about it…it is silent going down the road and I can put as much pressure on the pedals as I want without any skipping…it is a little jarring with no suspension but I was used to that by the end of the ride….when I look at it, it is the distilled essence of a bike, it’s design would be just as familiar in the 1890′s as it was in the 1970′s….I may be a little less happy tomorrow when the new muscle pain kicks in but it was a great ride today…maybe I won’t buy a new one…

September 25th

Well…running on time this morning but I am really sore…new muscles being used on the old bike and all of that…slept okay last night but was still up too darn early…the 5 am crap is starting to wear on me some but I don’t know what to do about it…can’t even nap in the afternoon anymore….not sure if I’m going to be riding the old bike every day…going to have to see how badly it beats on me…don’t want to do permanent damage while I wait for the new bike…didn’t get a lot extra done yesterday after working on the bikes so I’ll need to clean up after myself some today….but not right now….it’s coffee time and I need to read some news….more later….

I was going to say boycott NASCAR…

Well…after the comment by Richard Petty and Richard Childress today that they would fire anyone who exercised their 1st amendment rights and took a knee before the race today, I was going to say that you should boycott NASCAR….but, while I am done with them, it is up to everyone how to respond to this crap…I sure do hope they fire someone for following the constitution, they would probably be out of business with all of the lawsuits since it is settled case law that you can’t do that…especially since these two idiots already announced their intentions….there is one thing that you can do to express your displeasure that would really hurt these troglodytes as I have done…send e-mails to their sponsors that pay their bills…Petty’s car is sponsored by Smithfield foods and I’m sure they would be concerned when they get lots of e-mails of objection…and one of Childress’s cars is sponsored by Dow Chemical…so make them pay the only place they care about…in their wallets….

A strange day…

Well…today started off like most of them except for forgetting to come here and do this…and it was the last ride on the Motobecane today when the frame where the rear shifter was mounted broke and destroyed the shifter, broke two spokes and threw me off the thing…glad it was on an uphill and I wasn’t going too fast…but I did have to push the damn thing back here…and then spent a few hours getting the supersport ready to ride again…had to get a new back tire and tube…unfreeze the brakes and get them adjusted, transfer the computer over to it, and put the bag on the handlebars….had to remove the rat traps on the pedals, too since the straps were rotted away…and I had to clean 9 years of cobwebs and dust off it….took it out for a ride and it is really weird riding an non-suspension bike again…it actually hurts when you hit the larger bumps on the trail but I can’t afford a new bike until next month so I guess I can live with it…it actually was a little fun riding the antique…it is 46 years old and looks it…but it should be a conversation starter….I was going to get it running anyway so maybe this was kismet….I think it will make me appreciate the new one more….

Oh, I did get out to have a couple with K as a surprise and that was fun….

September 24th

Well…for the first time almost forever, I forgot to do this this morning…and what a morning..the bike finally died and I had to walk back 4 miles pushing it….and then I spent the rest of the morning getting the Schwinn ready to ride again…had to get a new rear tire and tube and that cost 30 bucks…and then get the brakes unfrozen…they work just like I remember…kind of work, that is….I got spoiled with the disc brakes on the mountain bike…so it looks like I’ll be on the road bike for a month or so…other than the brakes…the 46 year old Schwinn still rides pretty good…but there are going to be new muscles hurt and you feel every bump in the road….and I am used up after all that so I’m taking the rest of the day off….more later…

Anyone been raptured yet?

Well…has anyone been raptured yet? Today is supposed to be the day….I looked outside and didn’t see anyone floating to the heavens yet so I’m a little confused…after all another crackpot said today is the day…I wonder if I will be able to get a new car or a house when they are left abandoned? Or maybe a job when they go? I wonder how many times the apocalypse has been predicted over the years and it didn’t come true? More times than I can count probably….and yet, we’re still here….at least for now…

September 23rd

Well…had an okay day yesterday and had the surprise of shooting pool…and I won so that was cool….slept okay last night but feel a little slow this morning…and Man U is not on tv at 10 so that sucks a little…didn’t get anything else done yesterday and today looks much the same with football on all day…Michigan plays at 4 and State plays ND at 8 tonight so I know what I’ll be doing later…I did get sunburned a little on the trip out and back to pool yesterday and that was okay…..it is going to be in the 90′s again today and I think that will last until wed of next week…might just go to the beach Monday since the water temp is still up around 70….not much to do today….I probably shouldn’t have eaten jalapeno chips yesterday….my stomach is really crappy today….but another pizza today might fix that…more later….

Now we know why….

Well….if you wondered why there is such a rush by the repubs to take health insurance away from 30 million people and kill thousands, now we know….three people…yep three people told them to do it or they will shut off the money taps that keep getting these idiots elected. And, I’ll bet you know who two of them are…yep, the Koch brothers…two people who have done more to ruin this country than anyone else and who are now going to buy the repeal of the ACA and kill thousands of people just so they won’t have to pay taxes. Now, I hope you folks out there understand how sick this is….repealing a law that has given people across this country peace of mind and saved the lives of countless thousands just to give billionaires a tax cut….I know I rant about this stuff almost every day but damn…how do people get to be this evil?