putzing around kind of day -- I dug into the disaster that is the vanity in the Master Bath and pitched a lot of stuff. Went to Menards to pick up a few items. The mask mandate in Illinois was lifted effective today and it seemed like maybe half of the customers were opting to not wear masks. Some of the employees were wearing masks.

Another 12 degree day --- I'm feeling ready for some warmer temps!

Went into Springfield and met Steve and Larry for lunch (they were doing a volunteer training gig at the A. Lincoln Presidential Museum). It's been a while since I've been downtown -- the restaurant is right across the street from the Governor's Mansion so there were some nice views. Of course, the Illinois Governor hasn't lived in the mansion for several years but it's still a cool old place.

I've been considering changing up my gravel bike this year -- the Niner has 1,000s of miles on it and is about due to have the drive train rebuilt. With the supply chain, it's not like a person can just go into a shop and pick from a big inventory. The local shop recently got a Diverge frame in and can build up a GRX drivetrain by cannibalizing a couple of other bikes they have. The owner is bending over backwards to get me to go with the Diverge rather than the Lauf, so I'll probably go this route.

One side effect of cutting cable TV is that I don't have the news on as much, playing in the background. It's been refreshing not having a steady stream of bad news, especially with all that's going on in the world right now.

Worked on paperwork for our taxes and some web/graphic stuff for the bike club. Another round of sleet and snow started up in the afternoon and it sounds like schools are closing on Friday. Ugh...

Did another challenge from the Flahutes series that the Bloomington Cycle shop is sponsoring -- today in honor of February 22, 2022, the goal was to ride exactly 22.2 miles, either inside or outside. It was raining so riding inside was an easy decision. I picked a flattish course in Zwift and got done fairly quickly. Once I hit 22.1, it was a little stressful pedaling veeerrrryyyy slowly so as not to go over the .2 mark.

Went to Kohls and found a couple of cute tops and some new jeans. The store is being remodeled and it looks really nice and fresh. Was glad to see this, it had been looking frumpy and stale in there and was a little depressing to shop there.

Had a bike club social at a local brewery in the evening. Since I'm retired and my schedule is more flexible, I went a little early to get appetizers ordered. The hostess said that the reservation was for 30 people, which seemed a little optimistic to me, but I was proven wrong and the turnout was even greater. Good time was had by all