Well…after fixing the bike yesterday, I was really excited to get out on it today to see if I really did fix it…and it rides just great and I can’t figure out why I rode it so long broken…I was even able to get out this morning in shorts since it never got under 60 last night…but that ends today with lows in the 40’s starting tonight and continuing for at least 10 days…but that’s pretty normal since we’re going into November Sunday…not sure if fixing the bike helped my legs or not but they don’t hurt as much as they did and maybe they’ll heal up over time…it still feels good that the bottom bracket was the last major part of the bike that I hadn’t worked on and now I know I can replace them when they wear out…but that one lasted over 70,000 miles so I probably will never have to replace another one…it rained while I was riding and I got wet but I had the rain gear on so it was okay with it 60…I do need to clean my riding shoes up with a brush since they got covered in crud from riding and I don’t want to do it in the morning…okay, need to do that and then find something to watch for tonight…
RIP Patrick Stewart
Well…this sucks…just read that Patrick Stewart or “Jean Luc Picard” from Star Trek TNG has died…I just loved that show when it first came out and watched it from “Encounter at Farpoint” through “All Good Things” and I was impressed by the reboot that was really even better than the original…it took a while for me to warm up to an English actor in the captain’s role but he quickly won me over with his class and humanity that was who he was in his personal life, too…damn, as I said before, it seems that more and more of the actors, musicians, and writers that I enjoy are passing as I get older…at least Patrick made it to 86 and left the world a better place…RIP Patrick…
trump and asses…
Well…if you didn’t think that the idiot trump could get any more warped, you just have to read the transcripts of the speeches he’s done in the last week or so…he now has a fascination with men’s asses…yeah, you heard that right…in every speech for the past week he has gone on and on about what men’s asses look like..even going so far as staying on the subject for 4 whole minutes earlier in the week…and this is a common symptom of dementia where a sufferer goes off on some tangent that has nothing to do with what he is supposed to be talking about which was the political candidates he was supposedly campaigning for…what’s next? Showing his ass off for comparison? Every damn repub has the responsibility for this decidedly unwell person still running this country into the ground…they could have invoked the 25th amendment at any point when he started this crap but they just smiled like the ghouls they are and let him start a war that has cost Americans almost 600 billion dollars in higher energy costs and has direct costs of over 100 billion dollars…we can’t afford to give healthcare to the poor but they let this asshole start a war and continue it…god, I hate these people…geez…
October 29th
Well…cripes it’s over 60 degrees out there so I am going out in shorts for the last time this year here in a few minutes…didn’t get up til almost 6am this morning and I think that is because I was up at 4:30 yesterday…so now I have to take a breath and not rush to get out on the bike…it’s supposed to rain but I looked at the radar and there are just a few showers around so that’s not going to stop me…just started on the first cup of coffee and need to have a 2nd one before I head out so I won’t be out til 6:45 or so…I am excited to see how the bike rides with the work I did yesterday and I hope it’s back to normal so I can just relax and not think about it…after that work, I have fixed everything on the bike and I think I’ll just rebuild the grey one when the driveline needs it over the winter…but I still want to get the black one working again and will spend the hundred bucks to get it going…it has been cool to have a parts bike but it’s stripped down to nothing and I need to fix it…going to take an easy day today after the rides but I do need to cook some chicken so I’ll have some for sandwiches and to put in the last batch of pasta…might make another batch of chicken, potatoes, and carrots in the dutch oven since that lasts for days and it’s easy…okay, need to toast a bagel and have the 2nd cup of coffee and get going…more later…
Fixed the bike…
Well…have been having problems with the bottom bracket that pedals and front sprockets rotate on and today it got so bad it was just flopping around as I rode…so I took a look at the black bike, got my removal tool out and my electric impact wrench and the nuts just spun right off so I could remove it…so I carried the grey bike down in the basement to work on it…took the pedals and sprockets off that is really easy…and then did the same with the impact and this one came off easily, too…and the bearing on the right side that has been flopping around for weeks just fell right apart with little ball bearings everywhere and the only thing left on the spindle was the inner bearing race…no wonder it was flopping around…now I’ve been thinking about doing this for a couple of months and if I knew how easy it was to fix, I would have done it sooner…but I’d never done one before and thought it was more complicated than it was…so I ordered a new one to put back in the black bike for 10 bucks…or maybe I’ll put the new one in the grey bike and swap the used one out…not sure yet…now I can read…
Good on ya, Neil…
Well…it appears that the idiot trump is getting a taste of his own medicine with Neil Young suing him for 10 million dollars for stealing his song “Rockin in the Free World” to use at his stupid rallies…and Neil laid into him explaining what the song is about…that it is an “anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten”…but that is never going to get through idiot boy’s thick skull and he wouldn’t care if it did…the idiot has been taking a wrecking ball to all programs that don’t benefit the rich leaving more and more Americans homeless and starving…so I say good on ya, Neil…don’t let this asshole continue to take what he wants from all of us…geez…
October 28th
Well…up at 4:25 this morning and it looks like I will be able to get 2 rides in before the dentist appointment if I get out by 5:30…that’s pretty damn early but with the lights, it really doesn’t matter when I go out…and I charged up the lights yesterday so they should last through both rides since it is going to be dark until I’m done with the sun not coming up until after 8am…I did sleep okay so that helps but it’s almost 5 already so I need to get moving…had an okay day yesterday but really didn’t do much and today looks the same…it’s going to rain tonight and tomorrow so it looks like the first pass at the leaves will wait til Friday or Saturday and I’m hoping more of them will be down by then…it stayed over 50 overnight so I can go out this morning in light thermasuit and maybe even just a regular hat…I have new sunglasses for riding but won’t need them today with getting out early…don’t hurt too much so I’m not going to take anything for it…just gut it out when my legs start to hurt again which they will if the current pattern holds…the leg pain is normally only when I’m starting out but I’ve been back from Italy for over 3 weeks now and they should have adjusted to the time off already…oh, well…more later…
Just groceries today…
Well…it was an easy day today with just the rides and grocery run to do and after that, I was done for the day by 11am…so I just read and cooked and it was a good day of taking it easy…I did get all kinds of the new Prego pasta sauces that were on sale…1.39 for a quart jar is a pretty good deal and I can eat for weeks just on pasta and sauce…and I have lots of chicken in the freezer an aldis still has it on sale for 1.99 a pound so I may stop there after my dentist appointment tomorrow morning…with that appt, I’ll only get one ride in before I go since it’s at 9am and I sure don’t want to get on the bike by 5:30 am to get two rides in…I did stop at the dollar store too this morning and got 2 bottles of eyeglass cleaner for a 1.50 each and two new pair of riding sunglasses, all for less than 6 bucks…and the exact same bottles of cleaner are 7 bucks each on amazon…so they don’t have the best deals all the time…it was fun to go out and just hoon the car around a bit and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow when I put the top down for the trip…okay, need to find something to watch on tv…
One week…
Well…the election is coming down to the wire with only a week until we know the results…I’m probably going to tune the whole thing out for a few days just to get some rest for my brain…I wonder why ole elon or any other of the oligarchs who tried to ratfuck the Brazil election haven’t been charged for it…ole zuck shut down Lula’s access to all of the meta products they were using to organize as elon poured lots of money into getting their fellow fascist bolsinaro elected so they could take over the country but the people said no and re elected Lula…and we can do the same thing here in the states…let’s make the billion dollars that elon has poured into electing maga assholes just go down the drain and then elon is going to know that his threats really don’t work on people who have nothing to hide…I still think that starlink and spacex should be nationalized every no bid contract that he has gotten to make his fortune should be investigated…after all, 30-40 billion dollars of our tax money has ended up in his pockets and we need to know how and why…please get out and vote and let’s make elon and the rest of these billionaires pay for screwing with our country…geez…
October 27th
Well…out of bed a little early this morning since I need to get on the bike by 6am to get the two rides in before the grocery run…and that’s just another point about being retired that I’m not good at yet…just letting things go and relaxing is not in my make up and it just wears me out…so I’m pounding the coffee down to get my brain and body started and I sure hope it works soon…geez..I seem to say that every day…I did get some work done yesterday and I may continue that with working on the dining room today but I’m not sure about that…I really need an off day so I may take that today after the grocery run…haven’t driven the car in a week and I’m looking forward to a top down run even though it’s only going to be about 50 when I go out…might be able to test the top dressing tomorrow when I go out for my dentist appointment…supposed to rain tomorrow morning so I guess we’ll see…I do have to cook today and I think I’ll make some more fettuccine and chicken since I have lots of chicken already cooked and an open jar of tomato/ricotta pasta sauce that has 3 meals left in it…not bad for 1.39…more later…