Well…damn, I’m worn out this morning and I broke a pair of glasses overnight so I need to go out this morning and buy another pair so I can read…it’s such a pain to have to wear glasses to see anything…I’m pretty tired of life right now…it’s cold out there so I’ll need to wait to ride today unless I go downstairs and I sure don’t want to do that right now….so, I’ll have coffee and sit here for a bit and hope my body revives…one of these days I’m going to take a day off and feel guilty for the rest of my life…it’s only 52 out there right now and it’s not going to warm up much before the afternoon…cripes, I still feel cold from riding in the rain yesterday but I liked it…something new to experience and with how little rain we’ve had, i enjoyed how it felt…didn’t get a lot done yesterday other than laundry and it will probably be the same today although I should clean the living room and figure out meals for the rest of the week…Meijers has bacon wrapped pork loin fillets on sale for a buck each so I may get a few of those but I’m not sure what I’ll have with them…have a few potatoes left but the prices of them are too high at a buck a pound….not much to do today…it’s 7am and I’m not moving much but need to….damn, I’m tired…more later…

Well…got two rides in today but the only problem was that it was in the pouring rain…started on the first one with no rain gear and only got about 3 miles before it started to rain but I decided to just continue since it was almost 70 and no lightning…by the time I got back here my shoes were even squishing so I put on a dry t-shirt and grabbed my rain gear and went right back out for the second ride..it was just pouring down and I could hear the rain hitting my hat…when it started raining hard, it started to get cooler and was down into the 50’s so I was glad I had my gear on that kept me warm…riding in the rain gets the bike and me so frickin dirty that I had to hose my raincoat off after I did the bike and I had so much dirt on me that it coverd the floor of the shower…it felt damn good to be dry and warm again…and I didn’t get much else done but laundry so I’ll consider it a day off…back at it again tomorrow…

Well…that sucked…up at three and then out of bed by 5:25 and I can’t believe how worn out I am just from driving 85 miles and having a couple of beers with friends…just getting old, I guess…at least the car worked well and survived the thrashing I gave it flying along at 85-90…getting close to 200K miles on it and I am still a Mazda fan after having two of them with super high mileage on them…it was a pain in the butt getting back on 96 coming back here with the ramps closed and had to detour down by the Whitecaps stadium…glad that it was on a weekend or it would have been a backed up mess…the F1 race is on at 8 this morning and it won’t be light enough to get a ride in before that so I’ll have to wait til 10 to go out and that means a short day again today with only 25 miles…my right elbow and knees hurt like crazy this morning and I am tired of being sore…I look forward to getting back into my routine today and I really do think I’m becoming a hermit being alone all the time…but I’m okay with that…it’s relaxing…not much to do today…I really should cook something since I’ve been living on sandwiches for days now but it looks like just a salad and pasta for today…I need more coffee…more later…

Well…I did make the trip into GR and it was fun to see K an K again…and I even texted my son to come and hang out sine he lives about 10 blocks from O’toole’s…and he gave me the idea to not sell my house when I go but to turn it into a family house that everyone left can use to take vacations and go to the beach…to rent a place like this for a week would be a thousand bucks and I like the idea of leaving something for the kids to enjoy after I’m gone…I’ll have to discuss it with my daughter and see that she thinks…all in all a good day…

Well….it looks like I’ll be heading into GR this afternoon since K’s husband is turning 50 and they are having a bash for him at O’toole’s at 3:30…still pretty apprehensive about it with covid still raging but they do have huge windows that should be open today with the nice weather and there is a breeze blowing so that should help…going to wear a mask anyway just to be safe…the thing that tipped me over to going was checking the coolant level in the car and it was still full three weeks after I checked it last but I did put a gallon of coolant in the trunk just in case…haven’t seen K since last year around this time and I think her sister is in town, too so that will be cool to see them both…

Well…running a bit late this morning and I’m having trouble getting going today and I know I did it to myself with only have a sandwich and pasta salad for lunch and a bowl of soup for dinner and doing three rides yesterday….need to get out on the bike here by 7:30 so I can get a ride in before F1 qualifying at 9…the get the second ride in before Man U plays at 12:30…so it will be a 2 ride day today…and I can use the rest…no rain again today but I have my fingers crossed that it will rain tomorrow…slept okay last night but I’m pretty worn out this morning…I’m old after all and I wonder if I’ll ever feel energy again? Not likely…and that sucks….boy, this is strange waiting for it to get light to get on the bike…the season is changing and I kind of like that…have always loved the fall and for a long time it was my favorite season…the leaves have started to fall but I think that is more from the stress of no rain out here than the season change…the trees have looked pretty wilted with the lack of rain and I wonder how that will affect the colors this fall…man, it’s dark out there at 7:15am and I’ll be out without sunglasses for the first ride…not much to do today…just the rides and then into sports with F1, soccer, and then the nascar race from Bristol tonight…need to take it easy soon and today could be that day…more later…

Well…I shouldn’t have to be repairing a handlebar bag that is only 5 months old but the zipper on mine failed yesterday and I needed to figure what I could do to salvage it…so I got the velcro out that I bought for a repair on a set of riding gloves and got to work…and it worked out just fine to keep the flap closed on the ride this morning and it’s easier than the zipper that was always stuck so I consider that a win and will probably use that bag for years…I did find the waterproof cover that came with the bag and stuffed that in the bottom  just in case I ever ride in the rain again…I feel so bad that I forgot to do the dishes from dinner yesterday and broke my rule of no dishes in the sink overnight…and that’s the first time since I moved out here…and I can’t figure out how that happened…damn, maybe it’s I’m getting old…I did get three rides in today for 38 miles so I can have two meals today…and I am really happy with how the bike is working with the new shift cable and eyeball adjustment…I may just be able to get the rest of the year on the broken shifter…but I am going to order the parts for a rebuild just in case…when it snows I’m going to tear the bike completely down to service it since it has over 45,000 miles on it and I haven’t greased the wheel bearings or the bottom bracket; the axle that the pedals connect to…okay, need to do the weight work…

Well…slept a little better last night after having a couple of cocktails but I’m not sure I like the tradeoff…I guess we’ll see the next couple of days…I really don’t like waiting for it to get light to get on the bike since it makes me late for anything I want to do for the day…I did get a lot of work done yesterday and it’s nice to have a clean fridge finally…not sure what I’m going to eat today but I did remember to take a container of soup out of the freezer…and I have an open jar of pasta sauce that needs to be used so that will probably be it…and some bean burritos or salads…so I guess I do have some choices…I need to do the dining room floor today along with cleaning the living room but I need to get two rides in first…they predicted a 60% chance of rain today but it fell apart coming over the lake so we add another day of drought to the month or so of no rain here to go with the month before the 10 minutes of rain we had at the end of July…I wonder if the weather will ever go back to normal? Probably not…oh, well…not much to do today…just need to get on the bike here in 15 minutes or so and I’m only doing two rides today but I’m already gaining weight from cutting out the third ride…doing the math I’ll be gaining a pound every 5 days unless I cut out 600 calories a day and I’m not sure where that is going to come from…maybe down to one meal a day? Who knows? More later…

Well…I had plans for the day that would have made it move smoothly and get a bunch done but, of course, plans only work sometimes…when I went out for the first ride, the zipper on my bike bag fell apart and that’s to be expected for cheap rhinowalk bags…so I got on the the bike anyway and when I got up the hill and made the turn at the beach, the rear shift cable broke inside the shifter housing on the handlebar and that means the bike shifts all the way to 24th gear and stays there so I abused my legs all the way home…couldn’t make the last climb up to the house in that gear so I had to get off the bike and walk it up the hill…then I put a new shift cable in, luckily I ordered 10 of them when I bought the new shifter, and then eyeballed the adjustment and hit it almost right so I jumped back on the bike for the second ride and it worked well…after I got back here, I attacked the fridge and freezer and got those cleaned and had a half of a 30 gallon bag to toss in the trash…then I dug out some velcro and sewed some into the bag to be able close it and it worked out okay…they should have done velcro to start with…cheaper than even cheap zippers and it doesn’t wear out… still might put a couple more pieces in it but we’ll see…now it’s 3 pm and soccer is coming on before the ARCA and truck races from Bristol later….

Well…47 years ago today my daughter was born and I still remember that day like it was yesterday…slept really crappy again last night but I had a dream at some point so I must have gotten into REM…really sore this morning and I hurt just about everywhere but that will work out once I get moving…but that won’t be until the temp comes up from the 52 it is right now…so I won’t be on the bike until 8 or so…making for a two ride day…going to sit here for a bit and relax as I try to wake up and pour the coffee down…I did get some cleaning done yesterday and today is fridge day since I haven’t cleaned it in a while…need to organize the freezer to know what is in there and get some meal planning done…might take one of the last two containers of soup out to make room for more so I can use the ham bones up that I know are in there…today will be chicken legs with pasta salad and then a big salad for dinner to use up the lettuce and tomatoes I have in the crisper….will probably make bean burritos this weekend and I’ll make some more chicken masala at some point before the fresh ginger and Greek yogurt goes bad…not much to do today…it is a little nice to have some time to ease into the day instead of rushing to get moving and I’m going to savor it…the fall Bristol races are on for the next three nights so that will keep me entertained without using any of the shows on Plex…and after thee days of being good, I get to have cocktails tonight but I am going to keep moving toward only having them two days a week…it’s funny how I still feel hung over even without drinking….oh, well…more later…