Well…I did finally get outdoors on the bike today but had to wait til after lunch until it was warm enough to go out in shorts…got a nice ride in and now it’s time for Talladega and more reading…the dredges are back off my beach today and it appears they are going to do the channel into Muskegon Lake again and make my beach a lot bigger…I did find the tube protectors for the bike that I was looking for and I didn’t really have to look farther than the unmounted tires sitting next to the skeleton of the black bike…and there is a good tube with sealer sitting there so I don’t have to use my last new tube…I really should get off my butt and repair the 8 tubes I have waiting for patches that I have…didn’t clean at all today and with the race starting, I won’t get to any today….oh, well…

Well…slept a little better last might and didn’t get out of bed til 5:30 or so but that is going to go backwards tonight and that sucks…didn’t get much done yesterday and today will be the same with it only 43 degrees out there and that means I won’t get on the outdoor bike until at least 11am…still wearing long pants on the bike and it’s almost May…and still riding the indoor bike and that is just wrong…we have had no spring here and I wonder if it will be one of those years where we go straight into summer? I know I’m damn tired of the cold…and now the heat just came on…cripes…have been feeling really worn out lately and I’m not sure why the heck that would be…have been eating more…three meals yesterday and yet I feel like crap this morning so maybe that’s not it…I do have to find where the tube protectors went from the black bike since I’ll need one for the replacement wheel so I’ll take that front tire apart today and see if there is one in it…not much to do today…I should clean but I think I’ll just read instead…but I need to get off my butt and get the weight work started…more later…

Well…I was a little curious if I had a tire and tube on hand in the cupboard downstairs and I do! So I can set that wheel up as soon as I clean it up…and I even have the Rust Oleum satin black paint to paint it with so all I have to do is get off my butt and get it done…sounds like a project for this week and I’ll probably put it on the bike when I get it done since the one on the bike is a little warped with the 2 broken spokes I’ve had to replace the past few weeks…so, yay! What a pleasant surprise…

Well…after having to spend 400 bucks on a new lawnmower the past couple of weeks, I’m going to put off buying a new bike til next year…and the reason for that has something to do with me discovering that I didn’t toss the wheels from my first mountain bike, a Motobecane, and I looked at them this morning and the rear wheel I need is perfectly straight and the ratchet works perfectly so that will give me one to use if the one I have on the bike fails…but it will have to be painted since it is a shiny aluminum with shiny spokes that won’t match the front wheel…and I’m going to buy a new tube and tire to fit that up since I’ll need it by the end of summer and it will be nice to have it ready to go…I do need to find an axle and grease the bearings since the wheel has almost 34K miles on it and has been sitting for 10 years…so that’s one less thing to worry about…

Well…that little house behind me just went up for sale the other day and I got a flyer in the mail today and I am shocked at what they are asking for it…I mean, a one bedroom on a slab with no basement, 900 square feet with no garage on a lot that is 1/3 the size of mine and they are asking 165K for it…so I guess that means my house is worth at least that…after all mine is 1,100 sf up with another 900 in the basement with a garage and a huge lot…if that’s true, I’ve made 75K on this place in 5 years and I can live with that…

Well…another day, another one with lot of work in it…started before 7:30am with getting on the outdoor bike for the first ride and then back on it before 9 to finish the 26 miles before 10…and then right into cooking the 8 pound pork shoulder that took about 3 hours including clean up that I finished a little after 2pm…I have pork shoulders figured out since this is the 2nd one I’ve done and it came out great…the key is cooking it long enough at an hour and a half and having the meat coated with a dry rub and then sauteing onion, garlic, celery, and carrots to give the meat some good flavor as it cooks…and adding chicken broth for the cooking liquid and that I had left over from the first one…and now I’m going to have a pulled pork sandwich with pickles and Bullseye barbecue sauce for dinner…right now I feel so worn out after doing 26 miles two days in a row that I need a bit of a rest…it was also laundry day and I just got that put away and I think that’s enough for one day…

Well…that didn’t work…have been trying to get my sleep patterns back to normal after stopping drinking and even stayed up to my normal 10:30 to 11 last night but was up at 4:30 again this morning…that makes a good 6 hours and that is about what I slept before but there still seems to be something wrong about that…oh, well…I did just have a weird thing happen…dropped one of my BP meds getting it out of the bottle and the thing landed on edge standing up and the chance of that is pretty damn small…it’s already warm enough to get out on the bike as soon as it gets light so I may get two rides in outdoors again today before the rain comes in…my legs are still stiff from yesterday but I think most of that is from mowing the lawn but I may have to take it easier after going wide open on the bike yesterday…I do need to take the day off the weights to give my upper body the chance to recover but that may wait til tomorrow…who knows? Not much to do today…I am going to make the 8 pound pork shoulder in the instant pot today and I am curious to see if I finally have the recipe nailed and can repeat how good the last one turned out…and that will feed me for a full week…I am finally getting some room freed up in the freezer so I can make the ham soup next week and that will free up even more space…but I’m not sure what I’ll fill it with next…nothing is affordable…more later…

Well…once I decided that today was going to be a two ride outdoor day, I knew I was going to overdo it with adding mowing the lawn right after I got off the bike…I mean going like crazy on the bike for 2 1/2 hours and then onto the lawn for an hour and a half of walking behind the new mower has left my thighs burning and my lower back so damn stiff I may have to take something for it…but I had to get the lawn done today sine it was getting long and we have a couple of days of rain coming and it would have been too long to mulch if I waited til Monday…I do like ht new mower and it does a great job of mulching…and it started on the first pull and that is pretty cool…and it has a lot of extra speed in it…I had the drive halfway engaged and it was just the perfect speed, leaving me a hyperspeed if I ever want to run behind it…I am just so damn worn out, though and I wonder if the getting up at 4:30 am is the cause of that…I did get a 15 minute nap this afternoon so I am curious to see if that has any affect…okay, need to make dinner…

Well…I really tried to stay in bed until at least 5am this morning and I got close but no cigar…I really do need to figure out how to rotate my sleeping so I go to bed later and get up later…I mean getting up before 5am for three weeks now is wearing me out…and yeah, I know why and I am going to continue not drinking even though it has this result…so, it’s 5:15 and I’m pouring down the coffee to get myself jumpstarted and get the day going…just asked my phone how many days in a row I’ve been on the bike at least once and it’s been 917 days so I will get to 1K before the Italy trip and that’s not bad for and old guy…going to finish off the rest of the leftovers today so I can make another pork shoulder tomorrow…still haven’t figured out if pork is bad for me but it probably is…really, everything is bad for me but fruit and veggies I guess but I can’t live on that…although I did buy some apples and 4 pounds of oranges for a buck yesterday and I may even go back to Meijers Monday to get more…one of my Mastodon friends told me that in her area apples are a buck each and 4 pounds of oranges are 6.99 so I feel fortunate that I live in a city with lots of grocery competition…going to wait for the temp to come up and get 2 rides in outdoors today…so that means sitting here til about 9 am for the temp to get up to 53 or so and then I can go out in shorts…not sure if I’ll clean today but my bedroom could use a dusting…more later…