Well…damn, running late already and there is no way I’m going to get on the bike by 7…allergies are terrible this morning and my eyes feel like they’re filled with sand…and it’s only 57 degrees and that is just not normal for August in Michigan…I think I’m going to refresh the sunscreen after every ride today and see if that will keep me from getting burned and allow me to get some yard work done today…going to start taking the garden out and that will take the stress of trying to keep it alive away….just a crappy year and I’m tired of it…the grind of the last 1,000 miles on the bike starts today and every day will make a new mileage record but I’m pretty worn out so I may take my foot off the gas a bit and let some healing start…I do need to grill today to get the food stocks replenished…more chicken thighs and pork loin fillets and I do need to assemble the potato salad and think about making more potato soup…but right now I just want to sit here for a bit…riding is starting to feel like a full time job and that’s not right…oh, well…more later…

Well…After doing the three rides this morning, I made it to a new record in miles by a little over 2 miles…the old record was 6.109 miles and I’ve now done 6,111…and there are still almost 5 more riding months to go this year…I thought about setting a new goal of 10,000 miles but I think I’ll just let it flow and see where I get when I get there…thinking it will be about 8,500 miles since once it starts to snow in November, the mileage per day will drop to 16 a day…so, I gave myself an afternoon off but did make the ingredients for potato salad but the potatoes fell apart so I turned them into mashed and will have to make more for potato salad…so I just searched for it and they wont fall apart if you steam them and my daughter just happened to bring me one that will fit the 6 potatoes I need so I’m going to try that out..okay, need to get the weight work done right now…oh, one last thing…I just realized that the newest car I’ve ever owned is my 1994 Miata…no conspicuous consumption from this boy…

Well…today is the day…only have 32 miles to break my all time yearly mileage record of 6,109 today but it’s only 57 degrees out there right now so that will mean going out in a long sleeved t-shirt or waiting for the temp to come up a bit…slept okay last night but I’m feeling pretty worn out this morning and it is going to be a struggle to get on the bike in 15 minutes…didn’t get anything done yesterday but I do need to figure out meals for the next few days since all the leftovers are gone…not sure what is coming out of the freezer but I need to look in there and get something out….maybe chicken thighs again? I do need to start on getting the garden taken out at some point but the bags won’t go out til next week so I have some time…not being able to go out in the sun is a pain in the ass when I really need to get things done…only went out once yesterday and I got scorched even with the 100 sunscreen on…not much to do today…just need to force myself to get moving now and get on the bike…the rest of the day will take care of itself after the rides once I get going…more later…

Well…it rained overnight and it’s still raining now so it looks like it will be an indoor ride today to start off…going to do the grocery run today and I need to pay the water bill and go to the library to get three more books since I finished off the last one last night…slept okay last night but my knees hurt for some reason and I’m hobbling around here a bit…I did get three rides in yesterday and that gets me closer to my all time mileage record..only about 60 miles to go so I’ll get there this week…and then the grind starts to get the last 1,000 miles done…will probably be able to get outdoors later but I could make this an easy day and I really need one of those…stayed up late last night with “The Color of Money” coming on at around 10 and I just got sucked into it and I shouldn’t have…have to get on the bike here in about 20 minutes and it will be the first time I’ve been on the indoor bike in quite a while…have to figure out what I’ve been watching on freevee with the tablet and then remember where I am in the show…not much to do today…just running around a bit this morning and it looks like I’ll get to try out the new wipers on the car and get it dirty again after washing it last week..more later…

Well….as I always do, I checked the radar before I went out on the second ride and there was no rain in sight…but just after making the turn at the beach to come back here, it started to pour and kept it up all the way back and I was soaked through everything…even my shoes were making squishing noises when I got off the bike….so I put the bike away thinking I was done for the day…but 15 minutes later the sun was shining so I climbed back on the bike to get the third ride in…when I got back here, I had to spray all of the crud off the bike before I put it away since the idler sprockets were grinding quite a bit…I did remember to call my insurance agent to check on  a low mileage discount and they have one…it’s going to save me 14 whole dollars a year but that will take me back under 600 bucks for a year so I guess that’s something…I sure hope the rain we got is not the last of it since we are almost 8 inches under on rain for the year…oh, well…I guess I’ll do my weight work…

Well…damn, it is never going to rain out her ever again…it was supposed to rain overnight…80% chance but nothing at all and now they have removed it from the forecast for another week…so that will be 6 weeks without rain out here…pushing up towards the 56 days of drought we had out here last year that killed my lawn…and that sucks…I am so worn out this morning and need to get on the bike here in 20 minutes or so…still trying to choke the first cup of coffee down and it is going to be a struggle to get moving today…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get anything done but I do need to cook today…going to grill some pork chops with broccoli today and I need to figure out what potatoes go with it…maybe mashed? Still damn humid out here and I am sweating already just sitting here so this is going to be another hot day and I am tired of being sticky….not much to do today….can I just live without having to accomplish anything? That should be my everyday thing at my age and yet I keep dragging myself out to put more miles on…why? Who knows? More later…

Well…I’m taking a lazy day today with only doing the rides in the morning and then just watching Olympics and reading some news…I did get to 6,010 miles today with doing three rides and that leaves only a hundred to ride to break my record for total miles in a year… and that sets me up for the final thousand to get to the big goal of 7,100 miles…when I started this journey, I really didn’t know how it was going to go being 71 years old…but I have been pleasantly surprised at how well my body has held up to the abuse I’ve heaped on it every day…really didn’t have much pain today except in my neck that has been hurting for a couple of months and I think needs rest to heal…but that is not going to happen until January 1st of next year since the last goal is to ride every day this year…and the bike has been holding up, too, and has worked great sine I manually reset the rear shifter a couple of thousand miles ago and it looks like I can use the broken shifter for the rest of the year…I hope…I do have a new one downstairs that only takes a couple of hours to install and adjust just in case…so back to the Olympics…

Well…it was a little weird last night when I realized that I was sitting here and didn’t have any pain at all…and that is just not normal with how I’m abusing my body to get to the bike goals for the year…slept okay last night even with it being pretty warm overnight but I have always liked the hot weather so I shouldn’t be surprised…I think I’m going to do a short day on the bike today of only 25 miles since I only need 22 to get to 6,000 miles for the year…and I can really use some rest to recharge after the struggles on the bike yesterday…I think I’m going to try putting a new layer of sunscreen on after each ride to avoid the burn like I got yesterday…not sure if that will work but I need to try something different…something overturned the small water container in the yard last night and I had a bunch of birds walking around the yard that was a little strange…and I had some that I had never seen before and I had no clue what they were…don’t have a lot to do today other than meal planning for the week after I use up the leftovers today…will probably get the ingredients cooked for more potato salad since I have lots of the one dollar potatoes left…darn, have to get going in less than 20 minutes so I should drink more coffee and get moving…more later…

Well…today was the first day I was in the full sun for the entire 3 1/2 hours on the bike today and I got burned through the 100 spf sunscreen so I’m not sure what I’m going to do to keep riding every day…think I’ll treat the burn with some aloe…only have 23 more miles to go to get to 6.000 so that will happen tomorrow…then only 109 more miles to break the record that I set two years ago…it has been a long slog and now I think the new goal is going to be 9,000 miles for the year for the last goal I’m going to set…don’t have a lot to do today but laundry and that is running right now…I should clean some and probably will at least to straighten up the kitchen…still working on leftovers all weekend so I won’t have to cook at all and that is welcome with how hot it is out there…and in here…okay, I need to get caught up on the news so I’m going to do that…

Well…it was really hot here yesterday with the high getting to almost 90 but, since I was little, I have loved the heat…I did leave the windows open overnight and there was a nice, cool breeze blowing through here when I got up…I did sleep okay last night but I’m wearing out with almost 6,000 miles done and I think I’ll do a rest day of only one ride soon…my right knee hurts like crazy right now and I felt that coming on the bike yesterday…didn’t get anything done yesterday with the heat and sun and I’ll do the same today since it’s going to be hot again…no rain again yesterday but I saw that it set up just to the east of here and rained pretty good in the center of the state…oh, well…still don’t have to cook today but I’ll have to start thinking about that later today and change things up a bit…I might make some mashed potatoes since I have 6 pounds of potatoes sitting in the kitchen that only cost me 2 bucks…and onions…I wonder if I should look for an onion soup recipe? Okay, I need to get ready to ride right now at 6:37 to get three rides in before 10…more later…