Well…damn, I know it says that it is 70 outside but I am freezing my butt off right now…and I wonder if it is still from going out when it was in the 50’s this morning? I did get three rides in today and then repackaged the kielbasa and burgers and got them in the freezer and I’ll have to make room for some chicken thighs I have in the fridge…going to make a dish in the cast iron dish my daughter gave me with chicken thighs, kielbasa, potatoes, carrots, celery and onions with a tomato pasta sauce as the liquid…should be good but I do have to go out and get the veggies at aldis tomorrow when they open…don’t feel like going today…ooo.. I’ve got mushrooms that can go in it, too…yummy! And that will make about 4 days of meals to go with the 4 burgers I left out of the freezer…going to have one of those for dinner along with the rest of the pasta salad…I was going to work on the stump today but my thumb and neck hurt too much…need to vacuum the floor in the bathroom before Man U comes on at 3 and I want to try to finish up the last book I have going so I can get new ones tomorrow…so, I’d better get going…more later…

Well…darn, I would really like to sleep a full night for once…up at 4:54 this morning and that broke the string of getting up at a little after 5:30…oh, well…I did get my ballot in the mail yesterday so I don’t have to make a run over to the city clerk today…and I’ll wait to pay the water bill til next week since it’s not due til the 14th…didn’t get anything done yesterday but ride 33 miles and do the grocery run and bought too much food again and now I have to find room in the freezer for it all…but not buying booze saved me almost 30 bucks so that is cool and I won’t have to buy any for another 3 weeks since I’m being good 5 days a week now…still need to figure out how to not be bored without cocktails but that just needs a little work and I’ll figure it out…it looks like it’s going to be a 38 mile day today with it being warm enough to get out as soon as it gets light around 8….going to try to work on the stump left over after cutting out the shrub Monday…then I can start getting the fence tied back to the posts with the ties I got yesterday at menards…I got a new 5 gallon bucket for only 4 bucks and may use those in the spring to have a container garden since the in ground was a bust this year…not much to do today…just going to sit here for a while and have coffee and I may have to get out the french press since I didn’t leave much for this morning…more later…

Well…man, this getting up around 5:30 every morning is getting pretty old and I’m worn out again today…and I wonder why the hell I’m being good if I’m going to feel like I did yesterday…had no energy at all and didn’t get anything done but the bike rides and I only did two of them the wind was blowing so hard…hurt my neck again so I’ll have to hit that with biofreeze before I get on the indoor bike for the first ride…have the grocery run to do today and I’m going to hit DD for some mushroom burger patties for 2 bucks a pound and then look around there for other bargains…no one has protein on sale this week so I’ll have to make due with the burger and then make some burritos…it’s only 45 degrees here and it’s not going to warm up til about 10 so I can have coffee after I get back here…have to hit menards this morning to get some fencing ties to fix the fence and get a new 5 gallon bucket since my old one started to leak and I need a bucket to mop the floors…and I need to do that today since I tracked dirt in on my riding shoes and it bugs the hell out of me to walk barefoot on it…so, I need to get going here by 6:30 so I can get out the door by 8…the grind to get to 10,000 starts today and I’ll hit 8,000 today…more later….

Well…when I was out on the bike this morning and heading toward 8,000 miles, it dawned on me that I still have 90 days left in the year to ride…so immediately I did the math in my head and realized to do 2,000 more miles to get to 10,000 would only take an average of 22.5 miles a day…so guess what? A new goal of 10,000 miles is now accepted and gives me something to shoot for instead of the vague one of just getting as many miles as I can…so for this last goal oriented year of riding, here we go to a new goal…and the thought hit me that if not now, when? I’m getting nothing but older and less capable so this is it if I’m ever going to get into 5 figures for a year…so, I’ll get started piling on the miles tomorrow after just doing two rides and 25 miles today…just too strong of winds out there and after all of the work yesterday, I need a recovery day to just clean a bit…and I hurt my neck pulling into the wind that really does need some rest…

Well…another month starts and I am frickin sore today…might even have to take some ibuprofen before I get on the bike today…I was hoping to be able to take a little time off but the rain missed to the north so I’ll be on the bike by 8…not sure if I’ll do three rides today…probably not but we’ll see…got all the work I had to do this week done yesterday other than cleaning in here so a two ride day would help me get that jump started…if my ballot doesn’t get here by Thursday, I’m going over to the city clerk to find out why…they were supposed to be mailed out last Thursday and it shouldn’t take a week to go 4 blocks….it’s going to be down in the 60’s for highs for a while so I’ll need to adjust riding to it and wear some warmer clothes…I am going to buy some rechargeable heated gloves for this winter since I seem to be more sensitive to the cold as I get older…and maybe follow that up with some heated socks…the I could ride comfortably right through the winter if it doesn’t ice the trail over…I can ride the roads here I guess like I did last winter…but I don’t want to think about that right now…still going out in shorts for the next couple of weeks…damn, my right hip hurts this morning…okay…everything hurts and it would be easier to name the parts that don’t hurt…not much to do today…I feel good that I got so much done yesterday but at the end of it, I was so worn out…damn, I hate getting old…just need to do the rides and get the grocery list made up…need to stop at menards tomorrow to get some fencing ties since all of them are missing where I removed the shrub yesterday…and I’m missing a lot of them all along the fence….more later…

Well…damn, I’m sore…spent the day busy as heck starting with getting on the bike for two rides at 7:30 and getting them done by 10…then got the string trimmer out and did the whole yard…then got the sawzall out and went after two of the three trash bushes that are ruining my fence…got all of them but the stumps and put out 5 bundles for pick up tomorrow and hurt the crap out of my right thumb after abusing it with the saw…then I converted the string trimmer to the edger and edged all of the sidewalks and the cleaned up after that…then I fed the lawn with fall food and put everything away and I am beat…I did the math on the bike mileage for the year and saw that I am only 44 miles from 8,000 and that makes almost 900 miles since I broke the record the first week of September…now I think that 9,000 miles is possible for this year and that would get me to 20,000 miles for the past three years combined…and that isn’t bad for an old guy like me…it looks like it’s going to get cold starting tomorrow with highs in the 60’s from now on…so, I guess I’ll have to get the fleece out for the first time since May…oh, well…it is October after all…

Well…up at 5:35 again today and that is to be expected with being good for the first of 5 days…it’s the end of the month and I’m short on these by a few so I just my do a lot of them today…but, I might not with all of the yard work I have to do today…want to get the sidewalks edged and take out more of the trash bushes along with filling and seeding a washout in the front that I’ll have to use a block to stabilize until the grass grows…it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so I want to feed the lawn with fall food, too so it will be a two ride day to get all that work done…I will be able to get out as out as soon as it’s light since it’s 56 out there right now but it crashes down into the 60’s for highs for the next two weeks and I think the warm is going away for the year…as it should be since it’s October tomorrow…it is such  a process to get ready to get on the bike every morning starting with doing my teeth, then biofreeze on my neck, then voltaren on my right thumb and elbow along with 100 sunscreen everywhere…tried 50 for one ride yesterday and got burned so no more of that…old bodies take a lot of work to keep them moving…just like old cars…I won’t say “not much to do today” since I have a lot to do and need to get started on it as soon as the second ride is done at 9:30 or so and I’ll keep working right through lunch…I’m hoping my absentee ballot gets here today along with my 4 new covid tests I ordered Friday…still need to get the parts for rebuilding the bike and that will be a project for this week….more later…

Well…I blame Manchester United for me going out to ride 38 miles today…they just sucked so bad I couldn’t watch it so I got back on the bike and did the extra 12 1/2 miles…I did see 4 deer and the tiniest little hatchling turtle today so that was cool…it was about the size of a quarter just crawling across the trail so I stopped to take a photo of it to post to Mastodon…so tonight I start my 5 days in a row with no cocktails to try to settle into the new pattern…it was funny when I read an article today that gave the recommended amount of booze you can safely drink in a day…and it said 4 cocktails a day for men is just peachy but then the article went on to say that any amount of alcohol is bad for you because it causes elevated rates of cancer of all types…hell, on a big cocktail night I don’t drink 4 of them so that’s pretty weird…but I’m going to stick with the new pattern and only have cocktails 2 days a week…feel a lot better in that pattern and it’s good for me to dry out completely for a while…didn’t get anything done today but the rides and putting some weedkiller on some weeds that had popped up but tomorrow I’m going got attack the trash shrubs in my fence with the sawzall and get at least two of them completely out so I can bundle them up to put out tomorrow…and tomorrow is going to be the last day of the year where it is going to be 80 then we go down into the 60’s for highs until mid October…won’t mind that at all but I’ll have to start wearing a fleece in the mornings and I haven’t had one of those on since May…oh, well…

Well…another morning of getting up around 7 and that is going to end tonight when I don’t have cocktails and I’m okay with that…I’ve figured out that cocktails are too much work and I don’t like feeling like crap…so today starts 5 days off them and I’m looking forward to it…I did get some work done yesterday with cleaning the couch and rotating the cushions and vacuuming the living room rug…but I only did two rides yesterday and today will be the same with Man U playing at 11:30 and not giving me enough time to get three rides in since I can’t get started and it’s already 7:30…just started the coffee and need to pour another cup down as it gets light here…it’s only 58 here and just got a “high wind” alert so I do need to get going soon…it was windy yesterday and I hurt my legs coming back into it but they feel okay now…I have too much food in the fridge that can spoil so there will be no cooking today…still haven’t gotten to the bean burritos I have been talking about for a week now and won’t today with chicken masala leftovers and braunschweiger that is getting close to it’s expiration date…along with the pasta salad I made a few days ago…oh, well…not much to do today…the whole day hinges on Man U playing at 11:30 and getting everything done before that…and it’s quickly heading toward 8am…damn…more later…

Well…with the wind blowing 20mph out of the NE again, the first two rides took everything out of my legs so there won’t be a third today…there is another freighter grounded at the mouth of the channel into Muskegon Lake today and it is a different one than the last two times when the same freighter grounded…I did see another 5 deer and 16 turkeys on the first ride today and that was cool…but going into that wind hurt my left neck again after it had started to heal and that sucks since I can barely move my neck right now…damn…I really should clean some today and I will probably do the couch and living room later but right now, I want to watch the start of the Michigan game…and there is a race on later today so the afternoon is pretty much set…so, I think I’ll stop here and look for a topic for later…oh, and order my 4 new covid tests…more later…