Well…damn, it’s only 48 degrees here and I’m going to have to wear long pants to get on the bike this morning…and I’m going out in the dark to try out my cool new bike light and I’m pretty excited about that…geez…I’m old and I still get excited about little things like a bike light…have been meaning to buy one for years but just kept putting it off…this one is pretty cool…it has a tail light that has 4 modes to it including a waterfall like effect and the light itself has 4 levels of brightness and it also flashes so people will see it…pretty cool…didn’t sleep for crap, though, and was up at 5:10 and that’s too damn early but pretty normal at this point…it’s still 70 in here so the heat won’t be coming on and I wonder if I should shut it off before the trip? Didn’t last time and it was okay so maybe I’ll just leave it…was so damn sore on the bike yesterday that I’m going to treat with lidocaine before I go out…my right arm and left knee were howling before I got back here and that was damn annoying…can’t figure out the reason but it’s probably that I’m just getting old…and that sucks…ha, that made me laugh…not “getting old” but I am old and not matter what I think I’m never going to get better…I did see a Swedish study the other day that said riding a bike every day lowers your risk of chronic disease by 27% so I guess I’m doing something right…maybe…more later…

Well…after working my butt off yesterday getting my clothes washed and packing started, today I didn’t do a damn thing but the two bike rides this morning…I’m already close to having everything ready to put in the suitcase and I still have 4 days to do that and get the house ready for me to be gone 16 days…and that means mowing the lawn Wed and going to the library to get books for the 7 hour plane ride to Italy…I did buy a bunch of stuff yesterday that was supposed to be here today but it almost 6pm and nothing yet…and I really wanted to get the bike lights so I could charge them and install them so I could use them in the dark tomorrow…oh, well…have heard a little glitch in one of the pedals on the bike so I bought a new set on sale…and new riding gloves to replace the old holey ones I’ve been using all summer after I discovered the length of the newer ones was crimping the nerves in my wrists and causing a lot of pain…so tomorrow I get back to getting ready to go with putting the garbage out and cleaning the fridge of things that will spoil in 16 days…so I’ll be eating out of the freezer with lots of potatoes to use up the bag in the kitchen…and I have two pork chops to use so that will get me to Wed…but I won’t resort to fast food since I haven’t eaten any since I moved out here 5 years ago…so this will be interesting…okay…time to read until tv…

Well…slept a little better last night with not getting out of bed til 5:30 or so and I feel okay this morning so I’ll take it…need to get my butt moving to get the rides in before 9am when the F1 race comes on but that is going to be a tall task…I did remember to add a rechargeable bike light to the order from yesterday since it’s a little spooky riding on trails that I know but can’t see at all…had a weird thing yesterday when my bank sent me a replacement for my expiring credit card that I thought was just going to go away but now I still have 3 in my wallet with over 14K in credit available…a far cry from 7 years ago when I had no credit at all…and my credit score is still over 800 but that doesn’t matter since I’m not ever borrowing money again…got a bunch of packing done yesterday and will work on that again today but it looks good to be finished by Wed…I really could be ready today if I needed it…have the timer on the lamp in the living room and I am waiting to see if I have it set right…it looks like all of my order has been shipped and will be here today and that will be the last one before I go…okay, need to toast a bagel and get my butt moving…more later…

Well…after getting up at 4am today I really had to get after getting everything ready and packed for Italy…did two loads of laundry and have packed a lot of stuff…have enough t-shirts and boxers but I only have 5 polo shirts and I needed at least one more and needed another set of pedals and a new pair of riding gloves so I bought all of them…got a cotton polo shirt for only 8 bucks and the pedals were 3 bucks less than the last set and the gloves were only 5 bucks so some good deals that will be here tomorrow…and I can check in for the flight to Richmond the day before so I can breeze through the airport…still going to take more than 3 hours to get there but I have learned patience and with a book to read, it’s no big deal…still have lots of details to get ready but with 5 days to do it, no problem…I did see the turkeys on the 2nd ride today and they are just huge…and they pay no attention to me just like the deer and I think that’s cool…going to be warm in Virginia and Italy so I’m only bringing a couple of light fleeces and can layer under them if I need it…and I can hit the library for the books I need Tues or Wed since I get them for three weeks and I’ll be back here on the 4th to take them back…starting to get excited about going and seeing my daughter for the first time since the UK trip 3 years ago…and get to spend some time with her…going to be fun…

Well…damn, up at 4:14 this morning and that really, really sucks…already feel worn out and haven’t even done anything yet…but this will give me time to get the weight work done before I head out by 6:30 to be done with the rides before 9am so I can see F1 qualifying and then the Motogp sprint at 10…going to be a good sports day today with Michigan playing at noon and lots of soccer on which will be perfect for doing laundry and packing…might have to make extra coffee again today but we’ll see…started the day with 8 cups in the pot so that might be enough if I don’t take any on the bike…I do like the new front tire on the bike and the old one must have been failing for a couple of weeks since the bike no longer thumps going down the hill here and it had been doing that for a while…it’s always funny when I pack to go somewhere since I really don’t have very many clothes and they all go into the suitcase…so I’ll be wearing whatever I can dredge up this week…traveling with electronics is sometimes a pain when I have to remember all of the charging cords and adapters…have cords for my shaver, my extra battery for the mp-3 player, the phone, computer, tablet, flashlight…lots of them are interchangeable so that makes it easier but still a pain…I did get the lawn mowed yesterday and will have to do that again on Thursday so it’s not too long when I get back…so today is going to be more of the same and maybe I’ll get a nap in later…more later…

Well…I know this is the sad anniversary of 9/11 and I do feel it that way even though I didn’t know anyone killed in the attacks…I grieve for my country and what has happened to it since that day…the hate and racism against Muslims and anyone else who didn’t agree that we should attack a country that had nothing to do with the attacks…and that led us to the idiot trump and his asshole cronies who have done more damage to the US than those planes flown into the buildings that day…but the day will always be personal to me since my MIL died that day from a long illness…this tiny little middle eastern woman who took one look at the hippie with hair down my back and welcomed me to dinner at the very dining room table that now sits in my dining room…I loved her like a mother and she returned that by loving me like a son…and I will never forget that…so today has been bittersweet as it always is and I don’t mind that…it’s part of being a human and I am a better person from knowing her….

Well…up and moving at 5:07 this morning and it is damn cold at 52 degrees and we are quickly heading into long pants weather on the bike but I think I’ll go out in shorts when I go out today…this is a really sick thought…I’m getting used to getting up around 5am and having time to have coffee, do this, and get the weight work in with no rush before getting on the bike…better than rushing around all the time like yesterday…have to continue getting ready for Italy and packing today and need to do laundry so I can pack clean clothes…I’m packing a lot of shorts since it’s going to be near 80 every day but I do need long pants to go to the Sistine chapel in Rome since they don’t allow shorts…so I’ll be living in my 2nd choice clothes for the next week as I pack all the good ones…did a lot of work on the bike yesterday that was needed…had to tighten up the rear swingarm bushing and reset the handlebars to get them aligned with the front tire as they were a little out of it…not sure how that happened but the screws holding them were not tight but that is to be expected how many miles the bike has on it…I think I’ll change out the rear tire so they match before Italy since it is down to half tread already…the new tires have about 3 times the tread depth as the old ones and appear to be quiet…not like the knobby tires that came on it that made a lot of noise…not much to do today…just going to get on the weights and maybe have a bagel…just made another pot of coffee so I’ll have some to take on the 2nd ride…oh, I did see a new flock of turkeys in the rich people’s development yesterday…15 adults so I knew it wasn’t the flock I’ve seen since the babies were little…never saw one turkey when I was young so that’s pretty cool…more later…

Well…I have been able to get caught up all day and I didn’t even get any time to read…but a lot of that is my fault so I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…the day started with the first ride3 where I got almost to the beach and the front tire started to fail with a huge bulge in it thumping away through the handlebars…so turned around and rode back and that took me out of being able to get two rides in before the grocery run…got back here and luckily I bought a couple of tires months back to change onto the front…then I did the grocery run and forgot my 12 bucks in coupons so I had to come home to get them and go back to Meijers…after that I did the run to aldis where I didn’t get any cream cheese because I don’t like the plain stuff…so it looks like just toasted bagels with butter until the trip…after DD I wended my way through town and all of the construction to go to the city offices to pay the water bill and taxes…and the check for the taxes fell out of the bill so I had to come back here to get it and then back to the offices to pay it…then I got on the bike for the 2nd ride a little after 11 and didn’t get back here til almost 12:15 and then I had maintenance to do on the bike that took about a half hour and discovered a crack in the seat tube in the frame so it looks like I’ll have to get the black bike working and that means a complete rebuild since I’ve been stealing parts off it for years to keep the grey one going…after that, I did more packing and didn’t get that done til almost 4pm…oh, Meijers sent me a coupon for 7 bucks for bounty paper towel so I had to use that along with ones for free stuff…so yeah, it’s been a damn busy day and I am just worn out…I do like the new tire and will put the 2nd one on the rear so they match…probably not until I get back from Italy, though…yay…I get a half hour to read….

Well…damn, I knew that sleeping was not going to get easy even with not getting out of bed til 6:25 yesterday…so, I’m back to waking up at 4:30 and that sucks…and I have a lot of stuff to do this morning so I need to get at it…and I need to eat something before I get on the bike since I know I was under with calories yesterday…going to hit DD this morning to buy freezer food for when I get back from Italy so I can ease back into normal life….need to do the weight work before I get on the bike so I don’t skip it like yesterday…only going to do one ride before I get going unless I get the first one done before 7:30 since I can’t hit Meijers until 9am with having a prescription to pick up…going to have to keep packing today so I’ll be ready to fly in a week and that means laundry today but I still need clothes to wear so I’ll have to do another load next week…at least it’s not raining so I’ll be able to keep the car cleaned and put the top down for the runs today…need to go to the city offices to pay my taxes and water bill after the groceries so I am going to get going right now…more later…

Well…I really wasn’t planning on doing another 30+ miles today with the rain that was forecast but it didn’t rain here so I kept going to get two rides in…I noticed a funny thing on the ride, that the road through the rich people’s development is a “private” road and I really do like pissing off rich people so that is a bonus for the detour…I’m expecting them to come running out of their houses and yell ‘get off my lawn” or some other bullshit as I ride through…and I will laugh my butt off when they do…I did see some of my deer from the dunes in that development today eating the newly planted shrubs that the owners had put in…and that made me laugh out loud…then just down the street my big flock of turkeys were in a yard that had a hand painted sign that said “turkey crossing” and had a cartoon turkey on it…pretty funny…so it looks like the detour is going to be okay and I realized that doing a half mile hard climb results in a cool thing…what goes up, must come down and I got to coast back down the hill at almost 30 mph…and I did see more than houses and cars and I just had to open my eyes and look up to see it…I did start packing for the Italy trip today and got some stuff done and I’ll keep that up over the weekend so I’ll be ready to go on the 18th….okay, time to watch a little tv…