I start Tuesday with a 75 kilometer loop ride - the loop ride with an extension at the beginning and a extension at the end to get to 75 kilometers. I quickly trim the roses and get a cooling showe rin before reading the news and markets. Just before 11:30am I get on the Yamaha YZF-R3 and ride down to Seal Beach to meet with one of my financial advisors. We talk about a lot of ideas and we ake one big move. I can't quite pull the trigger on converting regular IRAs to Roth IRAs which would have tax implications now but be beneficial tax-wise later. On the way home I stop in at Togos to pick up a sandwich and two older guys want to talk to me about my R3. I tell them that though it has just been broken in and I'm starting to wind it up, it is s much fun to have a lightweight, manueverable bike. One of the guys had various R1's for the last twn years (which is what I had for 20 years and 110,000 miles) and we, in unison, say "It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow". It turns out the guy is a motorcycle builder of custom choppers but he doesn't like riding choppers and would rather ride superbikes. At home with the Togos sandwich I watch the Moto2 race and enjoy it. And later, after helping the retired schoolteacher with her new Panasonic microwave that seems to be acting up, I watch the presidential debate.
I start Wednesday with a mountain bicycle recovery ride to the old yacht club and back to home. Only in the last couple of kilometers do my legs feel like they've had a longer ride (in the heat) on the previous day). At home I change clothes and mow the back yard and edge, trim, and mow the front yard. I then spend some time debugiing a big set of bicycle inner tubes and tires that have gone flat or aree old and I'm trying to see if any of the tubes/tires can be re-uaed (with re-patching). One tube gets tossed immediately because the patch froma day or so ago doesn't work. And coincidentally my order of four new rear tire inner tubes arrives in the mail. Thus, I'm set wih resources now, but I'll keep debugging to see if a tube can be changed (a $11 savings) and I'll keep a couple old tires for bridges if needed between a current tire being destroyed and a new tire arriving in the mail. This effort occurring despite a purchase of two brand new tires laste last year and a number of tubes. My flat/puncture streak MUST come to an end. After a cooling shower I attend the Long Beach Human Trafficking Task Force meeting via Zoom. I order more probiotics and hydrocotrisone foot creame (all free via my health plan) and then I watch some Netflix and take care of small little tasks around the house. I catch a few minutes of the Dodgers' game and look forward to Thursday with no cycling or running to rest the legs.
Thursday is a slow day (as planned). I do trim the roses and water the roses, read the news and markets, and get in a workout for the abdominals, core muscles, and biceps. After a quick shower I meditate and go get my blood drawn for an upcoming physical exam. At the bloodwork lab I expect a big argument because their main lab has been sending me requests for payment and I keep sending them letters indicating that I am appealing Medicare's decision to not pay them for a test back in January. I actually bring a check with me because I'm ready to pay - having received a "final decision" that Medicare and it's bill paying private company have denied my final appeal. Thus I probably need to pay. But as I tell the nurse that I probably owe them some money, she says my record looks okay and there is no hold on my blood draws. Very puzzling, but I hope it is true. It's $400 or so that I can spend and maybe Medicare and the billing company realized they've already spent more than $400 responding to my requests and have given up. But if I do receive a bill in the mail, I will pay it having used up my entire set of appeals per standard Medicare processes. Later I relax for a bit until I have to help the retired schoolteacher with her 14 year old MacBook. In the end, despite the two visits, I cannot solve her problems. And I tell her that I can try and resurrect a 14 year old laptop that I was going to give to a friend six years ago, though that runs Windows and she would get confused. So I tell her she probably has to go the Apple store and they will undoubedtedly suggest she buy a new machine. Which she should - a 14 year old computer? (Of course this resurrected laptop is 14 years old but hasn't seen service for six years. And I'm not sure how to wipe the disk properly such that personal data cannot be restored and the operating system is still working.) I do get the 14 year old laptop working.
I don't know where today's Friday the 13th bicycle ride will take me, but I want it to be long. I feel good going north on the Los Angeles river and get around the detours in El Monte and continue to just short of the Santa Fe dam. At one point the rear of the bicycle feels weird and the heart-sinking feeling of another flat tire is with me for a while, but I keep riding and don't look down at the rear to see if it is going flat. Maybe I just hit a patch of oil or something ona few kilometers of street riding that made it feel like a flat. Regardless I continue south on the San Gabriel river trail expecting to turn off at Del Amo for about 100 kilometers. But I tag up with a few riders and we can tow each other - thus at Del Amo I keep going south. By the time I get to the bridge I look back and the other riders have disappeared. I don't know when they dropped off of my tow. I continue on south to the ocean trail, across the city of Long Beach, and then north on the Los Angeles river trail. Despite not stopping for an energ gel, I feel surprisingly good for about 120 kilometer ride. I grab a quick shower and drive to the grocery store for some supplies and then come home to read the news and markets. I notice that my weight has dropped five pounds in two weeks and - SHOCKER - my blood test results are already in. The thyroid tests are now normal but everything related to red blood cells, hematocrit, and oxygen-carrying indicators are all low. They've been low for a long time and nobody can figure out why. Yet, how can all of my oxygen-carrying indicators in the blood be low and I can still ride 120 kilometers without too much difficulty? After reading the news and markets I perform some maintenance on the garage door and then watch FP2 for F1 from Baku, Azerbaijan. And later I watch a bit of Netflix.
I'm badly hungover on Saturday, but I get out the door on the mountain bicycle near 6:20 am for a recovery ride. After a few kilometers of warmup I feel good and get in a good ride until the last few kilometer where I tire. I trim the roses and grab a cooling shower and meditate and ride the bicycle to pickup a giant bottle of wine for today. Back at home I try to resurrect a cellular automata process that I used before for crime proliferation thinking that it could be used for the upcoming Cerebral Beach hackathon but related to homelessness. It takes a bit of effort, but I get it resurrected and then I convert the process to a subroutine that can be used with an optimization or an AI algorithm for the hackathon. I watch an engaging F1 qualfying from Baku, Azerbaijan and them get to eat lunch near 1:45 pm. I lose myself in some college football though I don't care who wins any game. And then go back to work on the Cerebral Beach Hackathon effort. I need to decide by 19 September whether I am going to attend or not. So I still have a bit of work to do.
On Sunday morning I am still hungover from Frday's long bicycle ride and Saturday's bottle of wine. Nonetheless I take the mountain bicycle out for another recovery ride to the old yacht club and back to home. When I return home I start taking the new Yamaha YZF-R3 apart to add a fender eliminator kit (i.e., a kit designed to cleanup the rear end of the ugly stock R3). I get pieces removed and will finsih it off on Monday. I take a cooling shower and somehow, on the bicycle, I get a loaf of sourdough bread and a big bottle of wine home. I read the news and then watch a close, but undesireable, F1 race from Baku, Azerbaijan. And I also add some timing events and debugging printouts to see where this cellular automata is spending so much time - in anticipation of using it at the Cerebral Beach hackathon. The celullar automata needs to run faster to utilize with an AI algorithm. I've marked off Monday, after a morning run, to complete the installation of the new R3 fender eliminator kit (which may or not be legal) and to work on the cellular automata algorithm before I sign up for the Cerebral Beach hackcathon. Thus on Sunday I watch some football and Dodgers' baseball and have a good plan for Monday.
I start Monday with a 64 minute run/walk and I feel strong throughout. I get in a quick shower and then start in removing the Yamaha R3 rear fender and installing the new one. There are a couple of steps where I have to backtrack and install spacers. But I get the rear fender eliminator installed withut the stock license plate light (because it won't fit). I check everything out and the turn signals work and everything seems solid, so I put everything back together. As I clean up and put the delivery boxes into the recycling bin I see an LED license plate light that came with my fender eliminator kit. Well, I'll just ride without my license plate illuminated for a while until I get a fix-it ticket or get the motivation to try to install it without disassembling the entire rear end. (It serves me right for not doing a complete parts inventory and checking the entire deliver box before doing the install.) Today I continue poking around the cellular automata program to try to make it run faster for use with an AI algorithm. I have until Thursday to sign up for the Cerebral Beach hackathon and then there is still time to work on this before I get there. (Assuming that I get accepted to participate and that I can find team members to contribute.) In the early afternoon I watch the final IndyCar race of the season and, as usual, am underwhelmed. Later in the day I watch a bit of the Dodgers' game and then some of the Monday Night Football game.
I start Tuesday with my traditional extended loop bicycle ride of 65 kilometers. It's a good ride with no incidents and nothing out of the ordinary. I quickly clean up and trim the roses and grab a shower. After meditating I take the Yamaha YZF-R3 for a ride and stop to buy a bottle of wine at CVS on the way home. I check the rear turn signals and fender eliminator installation and everything works (minus the uninstalled lice plate illuminator) and everything feels solid after the 25 mile ride. At home I read the manual and reset the clock and rev limiter light on the the Yamaha YZF-R3. And I also pull out the "guest bicycle" and check the brakes and lubricate the chain - in anticipation of a visitor this Thursday. At home I continue to work on the cellular automata program - each iteration should NOT be taking this long to complete. SoI'm trying to track down that problem before signing up for and attending the Cerebral Beach hackathon. I want a fast, solid code that we can utilize with an AI algorithm and that we can add features to in order to make it a real, useable tool for government officials. I do some dusting around the house and vacuum the baseboards to remove loose dust in anticipation of a visitor. ANd I finally get lunch, my first food of the day, near 1pm. I don't know if this falls into the intermittent fasting category, but it seems like I finish eating at 7pm on a night and do not eat anything until near 1pm the next afternoon. It seems like it is within the strict definition of intermittent fasting, though that's just the way my life is right now. Get out cycling and running and no morning muffins or other food until I get hungry well past noon. Late at might I have my monthly oldies night and pau youtube oldies from when I was in high school (about 100 year ago).
Wednesday starts with a recovery ride on the mountain bicycle to the old yacht club and back to home. I feel strong soI surge up one gear all te way across the ocean trail and all of the way up the Los Angeles river trail (despite a slight headwind). After trimming the roses I grab a shower and make a quick trip to the grocery store. Most of today is spent cleaning the floors (both hardwood and kitchen) and just tidying up a bit for tomorrow's visitor.
I start Thursday early by watering the roses and reading the news and markets for a bit. I then go lift weights - it's a decent session. ANother shower where there is only cold water to start. The electronic controller is flashing 82F (last time it was 76F). I have to unplu the controller and restart it. Is it starting to die? Near 9am I ride the Yamaha YZF-R3 to Torrance Memorial hospital for a contrast MRI. Usually my MRIs have been at their affiliate a block away at Polak Imaging. But today, since it is at the hospital, I'm not sure where to park and leave early. The MRI goes smoothly and soon I'm riding home to grab lunch and relax. Near 3pm I drive to the Aviation Metro station to pick up Person Ha_KY. We go eat Japabese food and catch up for his short trip.
On Friday Person Ha_KY and I go for an extended recovery ride (which takes us on my typical recovery ride to the old yacht club and back to home but adds some kilometers to the border of Seal Beach). After the ride we fix his bathtub shower drain which has decided to drain very slowly and then we try a new and well-suggested Indian food restaurant close to home. We both agree the food is okay but uninspiring. After lunch we drive around and find some empty pickleball courts and note for future reference. Back at home I call the auto parts dealer and find new front and rear brake pads for the World Rally Car and soon the ack of the car is jacked up and're removing the old pads and putting in the new ones. We go for a test ride afterwards and the brake squeal is gone. The rear brakes were doing the squealing and I promote the idea that I used ceramic pads (instead of the stock) pads as to why they squealed so much in such a short time (becuase there was still a ton of brake pad material left). After getting cleaned up we walk to the grocery store for salad and izza and wine and end up watching the Marx brothers' movie Night in Casablanca.
On Saturday we ride out Del Amo, take a look at the crowded pickleball courts at Liberty Park, and then continue east on Del Amo to find the "ghost" cycling trail. The ghost cycling trail is a little used trail that is a bit rough and bumpy to start with but smooths out and joins the San Gabriel river trail at the bridge. We then continue south to Seal Beach and then return home along the ocean and Los ANgeles rver trail. Today is an ocean cleanup day so there are lots of volunteers ot cleaning up te beaches of debris. After a shower we have a burger lunch and then change the front brake pads on the World Rally Car. This goes much quicker because we re-learned how to change the pads as we did the rears yesterday. After a short break we go to Veteran's park and get in line to play pickleball. It's a short wait until a court opens up and Person Ha_KY is patient with me as this is the first time I've played pickleball and the first time I've picked up a racket in 25 years or so. I kinda get the hang of it and we see two players waiting and we invite them to use half of our court as I get accustomed to the game (though I still don't know the scoring). Soon Person Ha_KY says that the four of us should play a double game and after the first game we switch partners and play again. And then switch partnerrs so that everyone has teamed with everyone else). And we play a fourth gae where during one point, I return the ball and I don't know what happened but I fall. I lay there for five or ten seconds and it seems as if everyone on all eight courts are loking over. But I get up with no blood and we continue the game. Afterwards I tell Person Ha_KY that I will voluntarily report my fall to my doctors as I visit them this coming week just to keep them informed. After the last game we drive to our favorite Thai restaurant and have delicious yellow curry. I give my number to Person P_Th and Person Ha_KY and I drive home and kill time watching television. (After the fall I've requested that Person Ha_KY keep an eye on my general behavior and driving behavior to see if I'm okay even though I did not hit my head during the fall.)
On Sunday Person Ha_KY and I go for a bicycle ride to Seal Beach. As we are re-entering the ocean trail a flashmob of more than hundred cyclists gets just in front of us. The flashmob is riding all different sorts of bicycles, socializing, mainly staying on the correct side of the trail, and out for a cruise. Person Ha_KY notes that they all seem to be latino - not a problem. I don't recall seeing any women or girls, but there must have been some. Regardless we have to just ride behind them slowly along the length of the ocean trail. After showers we go eat at Del Taco because Person Ha_KY has never been there before and I told him about the eight layer veggie burrito. We kill some time and I drive Person Ha_KY all of the way to the airport with an intermediate stop for ramen for him. (The restaurant is all out of anything that I can eat.) And then I rush on home, stopping for gasoline close to my house.
I start Monday late because I accidentally only set my secondary alarm. Thus I'm out the door for a 12 kilometer run/walk at 6:30am. After a shower I meditate and read the news and markets. I make a quick trip to CVS pharmacy and the library and then ride down to visit my primary care physician. He's happy with my progress even if my red blood cells, platelet count, and hematocrit are still below the minimum acceptable levels. I tell him about the pickleball fall and he agrees with me that it is good to keep moving as long as when you take a fall you don't hit your head or break a bone. When I ride on home I watch qualifying for MotoGP/3/2 and F1. And then relax the day away with some football.