Twenty

I have just completed my longest rideyet on my new ebike. Twenty miles. 20.1 to be exact. When I reached the house, I ended up riding once around the park to get the total mileage up to 20.

My butt is sore and my legs are tired. But I’m happy! 

I explored a brand-new route. I wanted to get out to the Bowl & Pitcher suspension bridge at Riverside State Park.

When I got out to the George Wright Cemetery, I kept going out. I followed the trail for a couple of miles, maybe more, until I came upon a sign pointing to the right indicating that the Bowl & Pitcher was a mile and half down the trail.

This trail was unpaved and pretty rocky in a couple of spots. But it eventually led me to the bridge.

Unfortunately, there is quite a staircase on that side of the river leading down to the bridge. I got off the bike and bounced it down to my river crossing. Once there, I started riding across the bridge but not before snapping a couple of pictures.

It’s really beautiful out there.

I made it through the park and back up to the main road. I started riding back towards town on what I would call the Downriver Road. It’s a narrow two-lane road with no shoulder and no room for a bike path. It’s not a terribly busy road so I wasn’t too concerned. I just had to stay vigilant.  This road would eventually lead me to Doomsday Hill and back to the Centennial Trail.

I was out for two hours. It’s an absolutely fabulous day with the temperature in the low 70’s. Nothing of any consequence happened while I was out. It was just a damn fine ride. I hope I recover quickly so I can go out again tomorrow.

April 2026 BP

 

I would like to make note that I lost over 8 pounds over the course of this month and I'm try to get to 200 pounds bt mid-July. Average Blood Pressure for the month is 127/79.

200 Miles

As stated in this Blog previously, I have set a goal to have 1,000 miles on the odometer by Labor Day. 

I am happy to announce I am one fifth of the way there. And it's not even Memorial Day yet!

I hit it today while on a ride to the Winco Grocery Mart in North Spokane. It's 5.5 miles each way and took about half  an hour to get there.

The 200 mile milestone occurred at Standard Avenue and Addison Court. I was pretty wiped out after my little 11-mile jaunt. My legs get a little shaky by the end of the ride.

I'm thinking that I should be able to easily make my goal. I guess I'll have to reevaluate as we get closer to the date and/or goal.

I have made it through my first week of Tai Chi for Seniors. I have not lost much weight nor have I improved my stamina. I have discovered that my balance is quite horrible.

Tai Chi Day One

On a wild hair, because it showed up in my email feed, I signed up for an exercise program called "Tai Chi for Seniors". It's costing me about 20 bucks for three months. After that it goes to $70.00 for three months. I don't plan on renewing unless I get some truly amazing results.

So, there is an App on my phone now and I'll be checking in on it each day at 8:00 AM. It will then lead me through about 20 minutes of low impact Tai Chi moves. They are all pretty basic and doable for me. A couple were really difficult. That's good. I need the challenge.

I'm weighing in at 219 today and this program is promising to get me to 200 pounds by mid-July.

I must say that I feel taxed by the first workout. It wore me out.

It's a nice day out so I think I'm off on a bike ride.

3:35 PM: I had a quite a nice bike ride. I logged 14.2 miles in about 2 hours and I'm 30 miles away from reaching 200 miles on the odometer.

Going Bald

 We have just completed a 10 week course through our church entitled, "Gospel Basics". It was a good course, reminding me of a bunch of stuff I've forgotten or taken for granted, as well as some new info.

The course was video recorded each week. I checked out the video a couple of times.

Since Susan and I sat at a table up front, the back of my head was prominently displayed. 

I discovered to my displeasure that the hair on the crown of my head is getting sparce. Here is a picture for the record.

It actually doesn't look too bad in this picture. Perhaps I need a picture from a higher elevation.

I will be checking this sparsity issue from time to time, leading to the day when I just give up and shave my head.

Ride in the Rain…Almost

The weather hasn’t been very conducive to bike riding for the last few days so when I got what seemed like a little opening in the bad weather system, I decided to jump on the bike a go for a ride.

I barely got down the block before deciding I needed to put on a hat and my heavier gloves. I’ve turned into such a wimp about colder weather. It’s amazing I even get out to ski.

I stuck it out and had a nice ride down to the park. I decided to try taking the Centennial Trail eastbound. I took a little detour to the bridge to nowhere. It’s a footbridge they built a few years ago that seemed like a boondoggle at the time. It cost a lot of money and went to a part of town frequented by unsavory women. 

It turns out that I’m pretty glad it’s there. I think it gets used a lot by students at the nearby extension campus for WSU and EWU. I like to use it to get up to the South Hill. I also like to cross half way, stop above the railroad tracks and see how long it takes for a train to pass by. Today it took five minutes.

Just before the train came, the rain came. Just a drop or two at first. But it was enough to prompt me to head for home. The sky didn’t look that promising, kind of dark and gray and laden with moisture.

So I retraced my ride back through the park and headed for home. With about a mile to go, the rain started falling and I decided today would be a good day to take advantage of the “E” portion of the bike.

Besides, it’s been a few rides since I charged it and I would rather charge it when it’s running down. I have found the best way to run it down is to hit the throttle and ride. And it’s fun!!

I made it home in plenty of time to beat the rain, but just barely. It really started falling about ten minutes after I got to the house.

I logged about 5.7 miles on the odometer. Tomorrow is looking like a day to go for a ride.

E Bike Service

I was out doing some errands today and decided to stop at a couple of places and look at bike helmets. I ended up at Walmart in Post Falls and bought the same helmet I had before. After taxes, it was about 32 bucks.

I also stopped for gas while in Idaho. It's a good 50 cents cheaper there. About six weeks ago I paid $2.18 a gallon at the Amerimart at State Line. Today it cost me $4.75. Thanks, Donald!

The problem Mark is having with his bike and trying to get it services has caused me concern for my own bike and it's inevitable breakdown. 

I have sent an e-mail off to the Support Dept for Lectric Bikes. I told them I was considering buying a Lectric Bike but wanted to know what to do when I needed service. 

Now I wait for response.

E Ride

I went out on a bike ride today with Mark. He had his e-bike and I had mine. You may recall that I've been borrowing Mark's bike since last Spring. I put a good 600 miles on it.

Today the course took us downtown, down into Peaceful Valley, out on the Bloomsday course to George Wright Cemetery, onto a great paved trail high above the river back to Doomsday Hill and then work our way back to the house through the neighborhoods.

Mark was complaining that his bike wasn't acting right, surging to high speed whenever he peddled. Just before we got to the cemetery, his bike died. There was no power from the battery.

Mark had to ride it all the way to the house under human power. The worst part was Doomsday Hill. I tried to pull him up the hill, but it didn't work.

So, he got a really good work out for the day. Good thing he's in pretty good shape. That would have killed me.

E-bikes are heavy.

Epilogue: It appears that Mark’s battery may be toast. He charged it overnight and got nothing. He is investigating what to do next. He’s hoping it may be as simple as a blown fuse on the battery. A new battery is about 600 bucks.

Another casualty of the ride was my bike helmet. I took it off while waiting for Mark to climb Doomsday Hill. I got home and realized I didn’t have it on my head.

I drove back but it was nowhere to be found.

Yard Work 2026

I should be posting this on my other Blog that deals more about the house and stuff we do in, on, and around the house. But I have a streak going on this Blog and I don’t want to break it…yet.

It’s been another nice day and we finally got into the yard and got some clean up going. 

Susan worked in the side yard and got up a lot of leaves from under the arbor vitae. The Pruners are coming on Monday and we want to get ahead of the clean up and mess they are going to generate.

I got a fire going in our fire pit and burned up a crap load of sticks.

I’m going to go out for a little while on the bike. It’s just nice to waste this great day.

I am setting a goal of getting the odometer on the bike up to 1,000 miles by Labor Day. I think that is a totally attainable goal and I’m already 100 miles ahead.

I might actually surprise us all and get way over that mileage.

It remains to be seen.

Channeling Peter Fonda

I’m on a pretty good posting roll for April on this Blog. This is my sixth day in a row, which means I’m probably about to blow it. Forget that I even mentioned it.

One of the great things about living in Spokane is that in the Spring, when the weather starts getting nice, you really appreciate it. Today is a Super Appreciable Day. My iPad says it’s 70 degrees. My thermometer in the back yard says 73. 

Whatever the temp, what a day!

I’m currently sitting on the front porch with an ice cold Kokanee beer listening to a guy over in the park having a mental episode as he has an argument with himself. He’s been out there for at least two hours and he’s just spouting expletives with amazing gusto.

I was calling the cat to come to the front porch and every time I yelled “Gnocchi!”, he would yell “Shut up!” He’s a young guy and he’s clearly in some sort of a mental crisis. I’m tempted to be a good Christian and take him over some water and some food, but I don’t want to encourage him to hang around. So…so much for being a good Christian.

Well, the cops showed up and after giving the guy the opportunity to calm down and take off, he continued to leave to shout and yell and berate and then, they handcuffed the poor guy and took him away.

In other mental health news pertaining to me, I have just returned from a fabulous bike ride on this fabulous day. I was out for about an hour and a half and I rode 12 miles. When I got back home I did one lap around the park strictly on electric motor power so I really rode about 11 miles.

If the battery is wearing down as I come to the end of a ride, I like to try and wear it down as much as possible and get a good, full charge on it. Plus it’s fun to buzz around the park at 20 mph with no effort from myself. It makes me feel like “Easy Rider”.

Duel Bike Ride

 I got Susan out on the e-bike today. We rode around the park a couple of times so she could get used to it and then we headed downtown to the park.

She had a little difficulty because the bike is just a bit too large. She is a little tentative on the bike and so, a little nervous.

We ended up riding to the Hub for a couple afternoon beers. We met up with Mark and enjoyed a couple of pitchers. People in there kept buying rounds for the bar so we barely spent any money. And we got to meet the infamous Daniel Lopez. Google him.

I think we managed to ride about 5 miles.

Happy Easter!

Big Toe Update

I have reconsidered my earlier diagnosis of my right big toe. I think I have gout.

My neuropathy in my toes is preventing the gout from becoming terribly painful or debilitating. That’s why it did not occur to me early on that it might be gout. It’s been 10 years since I’ve had gout.

So I need to find some Cherry Juice and start drinking heavily. That’s the preferred home remedy for gout. There is a prescription bill that is very effective called Cholchrys, but I have none of that.

I’m currently writing from the tasting room of VduV Winery. I had a very slow day yesterday until ten minutes before 6:00, closing time. I didn’t get out of here until 7.

I am hoping to have an equally slow day today right up to 5:00 when I leave.

I brought a radio down so I can listen to the first of the Final Four games today. The first one is Illinois versus UConn. I don’t really care about the outcome of that game because my bracket is already toast on that side of the sheet.

Arizona plays Michigaus at 5:50 and I plan to be at the Illinois Avenue Bar and Grill to watch that game on their very large TV screen.

I’m hoping for a win by Arizona, partly because it may help one of my brackets, but more importantly, the coach of Arizona, Tommy Lloyd, was an assistant at Gonzaga under Mark Few. There’s a home town connection there.

Okay, that’s it from VduV for now. Just three more hours and I’m outta here.

Health Event: Numb Big Toe

I’m writing today to document what I’m calling a Health Event.

I’ve had numbness in my toes for years, at least 20 years. I’ve been to doctors to try and figure it out and it essentially came down to a diagnosis of neuropathy, which means, “You’ve got numbness in your toes”.

This morning, I’m noticing that there is a change in my right big toe. I don’t have a good way to describe it other than…my right big toe is number. Not number like counting, number like, more numb.

It’s not painful but it is kind of effecting my gate when I walk. There’s just a touch of a limp when I’m walking. I think I’ll end up adapting to how this feels and just go on.

In the meantime, I have documented the numbness here and I will keep an eye on things to make sure nothing changes color or gets number…excuse me, more numb.

Cartoon Update

Back on January 13th, I wrote about my website, www.adventuresofretiredguy.com. You can check that out to see what I wrote.

Here is the cartoon I have posted for today.

This is now an update concerning what I wrote.

I have made it through my month off and as expected, I did not do a very good job of building up my inventory of cartoons. The goal was to get about two months ahead.

The reality is I have about three weeks.

I did slack off and coast for the month, as I suspected I would. But I ran into a problem right after the first of the month where my iPad died.

I was working on it, in fact, I had just finished a cartoon and sent it to the website, when the thing just winked out. That was it. It was dead.

It was kind of devastating because I had a lot of material on that iPad. I had lots of cartoon ideas and lots of set up drawings. I will now have to recreate those drawings.

The iPad is essential to how I create these cartoons, so I had to get a new one. I went down to the Apple Store and first, had the old iPad checked out to make sure it was really dead. The guy said the Logic Board was fried.

So, I went on to look at a new iPad. I decided I wanted to go from the 11-inch screen to the thirteen-inch screen. $800.00. Add another $75 for a cover and ultimately another $154.00 for an update Apple Pencil and I have spent about a grand on this new iPad.

Because of this, I lost the first half of the month to draw cartoons.

You would think that would make me buckle down and really get to work for the last half of the month, but that’s not the way I’m built.

As I said, I'm about three weeks ahead on actual drawn cartoons and I have a bunch of ideas down on paper to create new ones.

I'll be working at V du V winery tomorrow, so I'll get some cartoons done then and again on Saturday.

In the meantime, I shall just slog along and try to get the inventory built up.

Lunch wid’da Boyz

One of my favorite Retirement Activities is to go to lunch with people. For the most part, those people are “guys”, but I don’t feel limited by that.

On Tuesday, Susan and I went to lunch at Jimmy John’s in Lincoln Heights for our 31st lunch. It’s a group of about 10-12 folks who get together on any month with 31 days. We know each other from church. I would not classify this lunch as ‘the guys”.

I have a regular weekly lunch date, loosely scheduled around Thursday, where I go to lunch with Rob (who I’ve known since kindergarten) and Mark (who I’ve known for about 45 years). The routine is we go somewhere to get a sandwich and take it to the Hub Tervan, where we enjoy our sandwiches with relatively cheap beer.

Today I went to lunch with Geoff and Mike. The routine with these guys is we go to different places and check out their food.

The destination was the Logan Tavern (ya see, I known how to spell it right) and we enjoyed their footlong hotdogs. Ten bucks! I had the chili dog which was quite a meal.

Beer was also included as well as lots of conversation.

I was hoping to ride my bike to the lunch, but the day was quite rainy.  The weather service recorded .17 inches fell today. And I’m too much of a pussy to ride wet.