Well…it was nice to get back to the normal routine today after being away all day Friday…and the routine included 3 rides and mowing the lawn…I was having a problem with the bike and I thought the new front and rear sprockets were wrong…but I figured out that I had adjusted it wrong when I did the replacement work and the gears were off by one…and that kept the shifter from getting to 24th speed since it read 8 but it was only going to the 7th sprocket on the back…after a 15 minute fix I did the third ride and it works perfectly and it is so nice to be able to pedal as hard as I want with no skipping…didn’t take the car out today but I did start reading the manual and the procedure for locking the top down is new to me so I’ll have to figure that out…I did remember that when the NC’s were built they didn’t come with a spare tire since the 17 inch wheels wouldn’t fit in the trunk so I need to get some fix a flat and a new compressor…but then I thought I’ve driven the 94 or 13 years without a spare and only had one flat in that time…I am going to ask 2 grand for the old one and I think it’s worth it even with the rust…okay, time for a little tv…

Well…damn, a second day of being up before 5am and I am confused how that happened after getting up before 5 yesterday and needing some real sleep last night…still so tired that all I want to do is go back to bed but I’ll be on the bike in a half hour or so…the heat is still on so I won’t be outdoors on the bike til later this morning…the trip with my brother went okay with no political arguments but I think we were avoiding them and that is a good thing…I really should take today as a rest day and I just may…detailing the new car can wait since I’m going to have it the rest of my life and there’s no hurry…I do need to cook today and I may make some pour over coffee in a little while since I haven’t made any in a long while and I think I’m going to need it…I may keep the miles to around 20 today with one ride in and one ride out…I still can’t believe we are in May and the heat is still coming on and I can’t get outside until noon or so…I do need to mow the lawn at some point but that may wait until Monday…or today…who knows? More later…

Well…got the car home and in the garage and it is just big enough to make it a tight squeeze in the garage…it really is a nice car and I’m so happy that it doesn’t have leather seats since they get so hot in the sun you can never put the top down and leave it in the sun…I remember the black vinyl in my Fiat 124 would burn the hell out of the back of my legs when I was wearing shorts…it is quite a bit faster than the old car…I mean a lot faster…and I had problems finding reverse since the old car you pulled on the shifter to get it in but this one you push it down…it was a good trip but when we ran over something that plugged the water intake on one side we had to back up for 10 minutes to clear it and then got going…39 mph and it rode really nice…very comfortable but it was so damn cold we didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors…so it was a good day and now the car needs to be detailed and I’ll get on part of it tomorrow…very nice car that I’m going to enjoy…

Well…damn, up before 5 this morning and was up and down all night and that’s pretty normal when I have a big event coming on…and today is pretty big with going over to Wisconsin to pick up the new car…can’t wait to get back here with it and then have a relaxing night…will probably be studying the owner’s manual tonight just to make sure I know how to operate this modern, to me, car…have my canvas shoulder bag all packed up with everything I should need for the trip…book, laptop, mp3 player two pairs of glasses, sunglasses…and my Miata club hat…going to try to get two rides in and the weight work done before I get picked up at 9:15….going to be cold and raining all day today but that’s okay…the ferry has enclosed and heated cabins so it should be cool…but I am going to dress for it since it’s only 42 out there right now…so that’s my day for today and I need to get after the first bike ride in 20 minutes or so…need to make some toast to eat before I ride…more later…

Well…feel like crap again today and it’s going to be a chore to get going…just poured the first cup of coffee and I may have to make some pour over coffee…it’s raining and will be most of the day but that won’t be enough to keep me from driving the old Miata one more time to run out to DD to get some bad for me food…I mean chili cheese hot dogs? Or buffalo chicken thin sliced lunch meat?  Both for 99 cents a pound? Then it gets parked next to the garage until I can sell it…I do need to hit the library for more books, too since I’ve read three out of the four I checked out…damn, I like the sound of rain after how dry it’s been here…won’t be outside on the bike today but that’s okay…I think the new gearing is wrong on the bike but I need to count the teeth on the sprockets to see what the problem is…crap….one more day to the new car and I’m pretty excited about that but I will be relieved when it is parked in the garage tomorrow and the whole thing is done…it’s only 49 here right now and that is not the way May is supposed to be…oh, well….more later…

Well…it’s been one of those days that just got away from me…the bike chain started slipping from wear yesterday and I hoped that just replacing the worn out rear cassette would help but once you wear out one part, the others are too worn to work with the new ones so I bit the bullet and spent three hours today replacing the front crankset, chain, rear cassette, and tearing the rear wheel apart to grease the bearings that were sounding pretty rough…and after that I had to adjust the shifter and probably should have replaced that, too but I was just tired of working on it…and now it’s going to take days to get my hands clean…but right now I just want to read a bit after this day…

Well…damn, I’m so worn out this morning that I can’t get going but I don’t really think I need to get going if I’m only going to do two indoor rides today but I may be able to get outdoors later…I do want to try out the new cassette on the back wheel that I installed yesterday…the old sprockets were worn down to nothing and it started to skip like crazy so I’m hoping that will give me some time until I have to replace the chain and front crankset…it’s funny that I always get about 12K miles before I have to replace the driveline on the bike…it didn’t get down to frost last night staying about 38 degrees but I’m still glad I brought the buckets in to protect them…going to head to to DD tomorrow to get some buffalo chicken lunch meat and I’ve never heard of that before…but at 99cents for almost a pound it could be a deal…and I need bold flavored food since I can barely taste anything anymore…going to try the thawed potato soup today to see if freezing it worked or if I have to throw it out…have so many potatoes here with Meijers having them for a buck for 5 pounds and I think I have 15 pounds in the kitchen that I’ll have to get creative to use before they spoil…not much to do today…I really may take an easy day today since I feel so worn out this morning but we’ll see…more later…

Well, now I know why I started my garden in the buckets…there is a frost advisory on for Muskegon tonight so I just brought them in the back door where they will stay warm…the bean and pea plants are really taking off and are 6 inches tall already and I have both regular and cherry tomato plants up…but I’m sure I’m not going to declare success until there a big and little red tomatoes ready to pick…I did get the insurance transfer set up today and for the first time in my life I have a car that is nice enough to have full coverage so I bit the bullet and told them to do it…about 300 bucks extra a year but I really don’t want to be out 12,500 bucks if some idiot totals my car…so that bill is in the mail and that means another thousand bucks going out next week to pay the taxes and transfer fees along with the plate renewal…man, I’m going to have to cut back for the rest of the year to restock my checking account…oh, well…tv time…

Well…the first thing my brother said to after I told him I bought a new car was “what’s the blue book price”….and I hadn’t even checked it…just had a gut feel that it was a great price for a great car…so last night when I was watching a boring show on plex, I decided to look up the price and man, am I getting a good deal…the cheapest grand touring special edition on the site was 14,995 and they ranged up to 16,900…and the lowest miles on any of them were almost 90K vs the 49k on mine…so it looks like a screaming deal to me and it will be my last car for sure…okay, need to read a bit…

Well…damn, that sucked…up a little after 3 and then up and down until I dragged my ass out of bed around 6…and I feel like crap today and I wonder if it’s just getting old and doing too much work yesterday? It looks like I won’t be outdoors on the bike today with the wind just howling out there at 20-30 and gusting to 50 and I can use an easy day…have to start thinking about how to manage my energy levels and part of that is making sure I eat enough…only had an Italian sausage and a 7 oz pork loin filet yesterday and that keeps me under 1k calories and that is not sustainable…and I know that but with not being able to taste anything, I really don’t care to eat….as if the winds we have are not enough, we are supposed to get “high winds” around noon today and that really makes for a normal day around here…not sure what I’m going to do today but I could do the grocery run after the first ride for the last ride in the old Miata but I don’t know if I’m up for that…only more coffee will tell me what to do…more later…