Bad Cycling Weather

The last time I rode the bike was Friday, 17 December.  Beautiful day for it.... but over the weekend we received about 10" of snow followed by another foot a couple days later, then a couple inches on top of that.
We had over 24" of knee-deep snow followed by several days of below-freezing temperatures, so the snow has been slow in fading away.  Then this last week between Christmas and New Years has been spent largely at home busting up firewood and enjoying visiting kids and grandkids.  A few more cold shots....

Here's a shot of the snowman Christopher a nd Jason constructed, with very wet snow that was beginning to melt but produced a snowman that would make Calvin and Hobbes jealous:

I expect to begin riding at least the 14+ miles a day starting my first day at work on Monday, 2 Jan 2012.
We might try a joint Jacque & Jim ride down the Bosque trail on Saturday:  We'll see.

A Dry Butt is a Wonderful Thing

Friday Morning Warm-Butt Track
Friday Evening Return Track

My recumbent lawn-chair-on-2-wheels seat had only a fairly thick coating of fresh frost this morning (14 degrees) which brushed off nicely with a couple swipes of my mittens, with no imbedded ice to refigerate my hind end as I rode to work.  The difference in comfort level compared to yesterday's frozen-fanny episode was, of course, wonderful.
I neglected to mention last night as I rode out from under the Montgomery bicycle underpass, I again encountered "the screamer".  I mentioned several months ago about this lunatick who got outraged at me as I passed him a bit further south, around sundown, because I had blinking red lights on my bike.  He was somehow offended by this and screamed at me as I went past and continued to scream at me even though I was a long way past him and ignoring him.  I swear he was still screaming audibly half a mile away.
Well, last night he saw me coming toward him as he walked north on the trail and I walked south, and began screaming gibberish at me as I neared him and thankfully only 40 or 50 yards after I passed him,
I'm always tempted to taunt him just as I get close enough to sprint by him and avoid any attempted physical response, but at age 64 I have learned it's seldom worth the risk to get in a slice-and-dice comment.  If he was sane enough to understand such a gibe he likely wouldn't be screaming insanity at me in the first place.  If he understood it enough to REALLY take offense, who knows if he's:
-Faster than I (not hard to imagine)
-Stronger than I (ditto)
-Armed??
(Sigh) Oh Well.  I suppose I'll just continue to allow him to scream insanities so long as he continues to allow me to get past him with only minor injuries to my hearing.
I really enjoyed my ride back to where Jacque was waiting for me in her Exploder tonight.  It was cold enough to require mittens (though no chemical hand warmers were needed, unlike the mornings) but the breeze turned into a mild tail-wind that kept from freezing me and it was just a great ride.  Love it.

Great Ride, Frozen Butt

Today's freezing but enjoyable track via APRS

The weather has been pretty nasty recently.  I can and do ride the bike no matter how cold it is but with freezing rain and snow dominating the last several days I have missed out on the desired exercise.
Yesterday, Wednesday, when I left home it was snowing and miserable slush, giving way to blue sky and dry roads just as I exited Tijeras Canyon and entered the Albuquerque City Limits.  BAH - I was driving Jacque's Exploder but should have taken the time to mount the trailer hitch-mounted bike rack and brought the long monster along.  It was cool and cold all day but the wind was very mild and no rain, ice, nor snow.... I felt cheated for not having brought along the recumbent.
Jacque and I decided last night that she would give me a ride to "town" this morning and I would ride the bike the last 7 miles, as usual, and she would go to her normal morning water-exercise class.  It was a bit of  a pain in the butt to take the bike rack off the RV and bolt it onto the Exploder, but the real pain in the butt began when we got to town and I saddled up:  The bike has been out in the snow all week and built up some crunchy ice in the padding and webbing of the seat which did not want to come out easily.  I dusted off the snow and ice as best I could and saddled up and took off.  I had an extra wind-breaker jacket layer this morning and was warm enough everywhere EXCEPT my hiney which immediately got chilled and thence near-frozen the farther I rode.  I got to work after a good and uneventful ride but with a seriously cold and numb backside.  It's noon as I write this and it has ALMOST dried and thawed out by now.
It's always dicey changing vehicles, or clothes, for me.  I invariably forget something I later find necessary when I move my large stash of STUFF to another set of clothing or a different vehicle.  When I started unoading the bike from the rack this morning I realized I had left me GPS/Ham Radio handlebar set in my normal commuter-car, so I was unable to exchange insults or anything else with my normal coterie of other ham radio operators who enjoy hassling and teasing me while I'm on the bike.  The Tracker Radio (APRS) is stashed inside the back pocket of the bike seat, however, so I was able to activate it and obtain a track of position reports on the way to work (see above link).
Pre-Ride BG:  262(!)   --  BG when arrived at Work: 68
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.6 (New Gel Cell battery pack, charged 5 days ago)
Beginning Temperature: 34 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.3 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             19 mph
 

Balderdash, Curbed Again

Track me until. the tracking stops for some reason
Heading home last (Friday) night after work, all was calm, all was  bright, er, dark...... and then I hit the SAME STUPID CURB that bent my front fork last week.  This inspires me to do (at  least) 2 things:
(1) - Get a brighter head-lamp
(2) - take some reflective paint and tape and mark this crossing so I and others can avoid injury and damage.
This time, however, no damage seemed to occur to the fork, frame, or wheel.  I may have hit it at a slower speed, but it still didn't help my self image the least bit.  My commitment to avoid foul language took another beating, as well.  I was really surprised my chewing-gum-looking blobby welding job on the current front fork survived this stress.  I have been watching and worrying about it since I re-welded and re-painted it
Today I am in the midst of frantically cutting firewood (mostly juniper and :"gift:" scrap lumber from friends' remodeling projects) - we have been really burning the stuff heavy duty with the freezing and sub-freezing and sub-zero weather we've had for over a week now.  We still have several inches of very cold frozen snow in all directions, including our primitive roadway to our house.  I bladed the road today using our old trailer tongue "V" pulled via a chain attached to Jacque's 4WD Ford Exploder.  Then I set about gassing and lubing up the chainsaw and cut a couple sled-loads of the stuff, and got exhausted and took a long break.  Now I'm all rested and warm and comfy so I better get back out there again;  daylight's a-wasting.....

b-b-b-B-Back in the Saddle Again

Today's Freezing Forte via APRS
Well, late Sunday night I finally finished stitching the new black-mesh fabric onto my lawn-chair-looking recumbent bicycle seat.  Saturday, the day before, I had successfully welded a cracked front fork, painted it, and installed it on the bike.  Since Jacque was gone to Dallas to visit the grandkids over the weekend, I did all the necessary work inside the house where it was nice and warm, with the stretch-recumbent bike parked right in the living room, right in front of the wood stove.  I really love my twin-V dual Kick Stand, which when folded up looks just like a normal kickstand but when extended for parking makes a "V" support that elevates the rear wheel.  This allows brake and chain and wheel adjustments, and allows bike repairs without a bike stand.  To keep the front elevated with the front wheel and fork removed, I just put an upside down bucket underneath the front of the frame;  the V kickstand kept everything steady and no danger of falling over.
Welding the front fork was a bit tricky:  The metal in the fork tubing is very thin while the stem where both sides of the fork meet is very heavy pipe, and takes forever to get orange and white-hot so the metal will flow together for a good weld.  It took quite a bit of careful effort to get the thick stem heated up to welding temperature while trying to avoid overheating and completely melting the thin tubing of the fork.  The finished weld is not too pretty but seems solid.  I scraped and sanded it and painted it bright yellow;  a color I'd like to paint the whole bike eventually.  Even with all this effort, it was small potatoes compared to re-fabricking the seat.  It laces up behind like a fat old woman's corset, so it took a long time to untie all that cord, cut the new fabric to approximate the old fabric, hand stitch reinforcement seams on all borders, punch holes for the lacing cord to match the old fabric, etc, etc.  My fingers were already dry and cracked and sore from all our recent cold weather so it was a mild bit of torture working the big sewing needle back and forth through all those seams.  Finally I was able to start lacing the new seat cover in place, trying to make it fit well and tight, etc.
So, I was "finished" with the bike late Sunday night.  I couldn't ride it on Monday since it had been below zero and  snowing all weekend, and the roads and snow and ice were so miserable I wouldn't have even driven to Albuquerque to work except for the fact Jacque was flying back Monday Night to arrive at 9 PM.  So, since I had to fight my way to town sometime during the day in order to be ready to pick her up, I drove on in to work.... 2 hours late.  Thankfully the snow stopped before noon and no more came down until about midnight, so picking Jacque up was no problem except for the bitter cold and we arrived home safe and sound.  It snowed a bit more Monday night and when we arrive home it was FIFTEEN BELOW ZERO.
I'd left the water dripping so thankfully no pipes have locked up yet in spite of the bitter weather.   The roads were snowy and icy again both Tuesday and yesterday, Wednesday, so I drove my Taurus all the way to work each day (having to put tire chains on the front wheels to get up the nasty mile of private road to our home).
The roadways here in Albuquerque have seemed to dry out fairly nicely, and smart remarks by one of my local ham radio buddies (Tom, KG6MVB) convinced me it was time to ride again.
It was 12 degrees on our outside-wall thermometers at home this morning, meaning it was barely (if) above zero out in the air away from the house walls.  Several of the ham radio guys and gals told me it was in the upper teens in Albuquerque as I drove to town to park the car and saddle up the bike.  It was tempting to put on another layer of a warmer coat this morning but experience has taught me no matter how cold it is, I get overheated quickly with a coat on.  My layers this morning were:  Garment, thermal turtleneck wicking shirt, thick long sleeve work-shirt, sleeveless insulated vest, and the ever necessary day-glo green/yellow reflective vest that also helps a little bit to break the wind.  Polar Fleece skull cap underneath the bike helmet, wraparound safety goggles to protect the eyes from the biting breeze, and a Velcro-attaching face mask fo give the nose, face, and throat a break from the breeze as well.  I did NOT get very overheated until about the last mile of the 7-mile commute today, and then most of the heat was bothersome under the face mask, which is easy to remove and hang on to while riding without stopping.  I also didn't break any speed records today... you know how it is.  It takes weeks of exercise to build up any stamina at all but only a day or so off the exercise and it all seems to fast fade away.
Pre-Ride BG:  UNK   --  BG when arrived at Work: 188(!)
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.1                Ending Voltage: 12.0 (Old Gel Cell battery pack, charged last WEEK)
Beginning Temperature: 37 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 34 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.3 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             18.3 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
53 mins 34 secs                            46 mins 08 secs                   7 mins 26 secs 

The Bigger They are the Harder They Fall; Lazy Blogger Playing Catch-up

Boring Normal Upright Bicycle Tracker-Path
I haven't missed more than 1 day out of the last 300+ workdays riding the bike, but Thanksgiving involved a 4-day weekend and thus I got no bike miles whatsoever during that period.  We did, however, finish Jacque's new quilting / long-arm sewing machine room... almost.  It still lacks a few finishing touches.  We ran out of moulding and the doorway from the main sewing room (aka small ex-bedroom) into the new room needs to be framed, dressed, and painted (it used to be a front window and was cut out to make a walkway).  The exterior door baseplate needs finishing to keep the cold drafts at bay.  But the room is essentially el finito, filled with all that stuff, and the long arm machine no longer fills our dining room.  So we can resume our life of entertaining friends.  Hah.
Since the loss of daylight savings time I have been getting up at 4:15 AM instead of 5:15 AM with the goal of getting to work early enough to be able to LEAVE work early enough in the evening to have at least a partial daylight ride back to the car.  Hasn't worked out well at all.  Even if I get to work an hour earlier than usual it's still difficult to depart early enough to catch any evening daylight.  Monday I was riding back to the car and, while crossing a street with poorly marked bike-path entries on each side, mistook the RIGHT-hand pylon for the CENTER pylon and passed it on the right, resulting in my crashing nastily into the 5" high curb, sending me and bike and stuff up into the air and landing sideways after jumping the curb with both front and rear wheels.  If I had been riding a "normal" bike I would have gone over the handlebars, which is almost physically impossible (Thankfully) on the low-riding recumbent.  I thought surely the front wheel would be toast.  After looking at it and spinning it by hand, it appeared to have no damage at all, so I remounted and rode on.  Trouble is, now every time I turned the bike the slightest to the right or left, my foot (AND the cranks) hit the front wheel, resulting in nasty noise and angst.  I carefully looked it all over again when I limped back to the car, under the streetlights, but still couldn't see any bent frame, fork, etc.  But when I arrived home and compared it with an older fork I removed from this bike a year or more ago, it was obvious the fork had been bent backwards to the rear at least 4 full inches.  So now the recumbent is parked awaiting repairs.  The old fork, while still straight, was removed because of a large stress crack on one side.  Also, the recumbent seat fabric is falling apart and needs to be re-fabricked.  I have the fabric but have been putting off installing it, but hopefully this weekend.... AFTER I weld and repair the necessary front fork.  These last 2 days I've been riding my backup bikes, upright DF (Diamond-Frame) both... and I'm shocked at how much more effort is required to rack up the miles on them.  I am most motivated to get with the program and get the recumbent repaired and returned to service.
There has been no snow nor rain recently, so no ice has seemed to exist, UNTIL I noticed last night, right at a very sharp corner-turn, a small patch of ice evidently formed from a water sprinkler leak in the adjacent commercial parking lot grass border.  So I have to continue to remind myself to watch for curbs and corners that harbor ice even when there's not supposed to be any.  BAH
Pre-Ride BG:  87   --  BG when arrived at Work: 73
Beginning Battery Voltage: Unk, current APRS does not report this  Ending Voltage: Unk (Gel Cell battery pack, charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: Unk    Ending Temperature: Unk
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.40
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
7.8 Mph                                         10.0 mph                             20.2 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
57 mins 0 secs                                44 mins 20 secs                   12 mins 40 secs 

'Twas the Wednesday Before Thanksgiving

Pre-Thanksgiving Two-Wheel Trek-to-Work Track
Well, it's been, like, a WEEK since I rode the recumbent last.  Longest absence from the bike in the last couple of years.  In spite of the cool, nay, freezing temperatures outside in the mornings, Idon't like to miss a day.... Because I really miss the riding and the feeling of well being that comes daily after cooling down from a ride.
My excuse has been the effort to maximize daylight in order to finish construction on Jacque's new sewing room which will primarily house her long arm quilting machine.  I'm down to the last 2 ceiling panels and thence the flooring will commence.  Jacque piped up in her inimitable fashion and told me this morning "Let's stop trying to rush the sewing room.  No matter what we do we can't get it done in time for dinner tomorrow anyway."  So I took the sweet hint and dressed in bicycle layers and did my usual 7.47 mile commute from the top secret parking place this morning.  I was more slow than ever this morning and I assumed it must be due to a week of not riding.  However, I was shocked to find my blood glucose at 265(!) when I got to work.  Something was wrong in my insulin pump connection or plumbing somewhere.  It was almost out of gas (insulin) anyway, and started bleeping about 40 minutes after arrival at work, so I had to re-load and re-insert the apparatus.  Hopefully this fresh load of insulin will have more punch.  And I can get back to eating like a pig again.  Erp.Oink
Pre-Ride BG:  216   --  BG when arrived at Work: 54
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5                Ending Voltage: 12.5 (Gel Cell battery pack, charged last WEEK)
Beginning Temperature: 55 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 66 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.37
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.2 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             18.9 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
54 mins 0 secs                                45 mins 33 secs                   8 mins 27 secs 
The ride back to the car was wonderfully nice:  The boss ordered us to leave early and I was happy to do so.  It meant I got to do my afternoon ride in the daylight instead of just while the sun is setting and totally dark by the time I'm halfway back to the car.
Pre-Ride BG:    152                                   Post-Ride BG:  56  
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.6 (Why it's a tenth of a volt higher than this morning is a mystery)
Evening Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.41
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
7.8 Mph                                         10.0 mph                             20.9 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
56 mins 59 secs                                44 mins 19 secs                   12 mins 40 secs 

Restful Days Off

Tuesday's Track

Hmmm..  Getting lazy about keeping up the blog, I suppose.  I haven't yet missed a workday of comuting by bike, but have had limited time available to mess with the blog.   Which is just as well since nothing of interest has transpired.  Even most of the pretty women that enliven the boring scenery have dropped out doubtlessly due to the colder weather, though there are still several hardcore gals still riding with snow-bunny suits similar to mine:  Lots of layers, face masks, and fat gloves making it difficult to know whether the passer-by is eye candy or otherwise unless they say "HI" in passing which is USUALLY an accurate indication of their gender.
I'm getting tired of taking the extra time required to mount and dismount my GPS/Radio stuff on the handlebars morning and night. Since my APRS tracker is an inexpensive but well hidden package inside part of the seat (and is left on the bike day in and day out, powering on only when I mount the rear pannier and connect the PowerPole battery plug), and I rarely, if ever, actually use the sexy Garmin 350 GPS on the handlebars, I've decided to mount a less expensive and less attractive (theft-wise) ham radio walky-squawky on the handlebars and just leave it there,. with some sort of weather protector perhaps as complex as a plastic sandwich baggie to put over it in inclement weather.  Will include photos, I promise, I'm sure the world is anxiously awaiting this achievement of engineering.
As for today, tomorrow, and Friday, well, I have taken them off work as vacation days in hopes I can get Jacque's new sewing room finished.  I'm sure  I'll be so stiff and sore by tonight I'll be wishing I was riding the bike in my wooley itchey underwear.

Finally: Frigid Friday

Following Frigid Friday Fatalistically

I need to stop complaining about the cold.  Every time I do, it gets even colder.
This morning the weather guessers claimed it was warmer than the last couple of days which have been FRIGID.
Fine and Dandy, but it seemed COLDER to me on the bike.  It may be the humidity was higher, and tugging the chill factor along with it, but I was not overly warm unitl well into the last third of my commute this morning.
I've noticed my reported temperatures on the back of the bike have looked  almost summerish... I connected the spare pouch-mounted  GPS to the output of the Argent APRS board, and it appears the additional +5 VDC load on the internal regulator heats up the other parts on the interface board.  How else to avccount for an 81 degree reading yesterday evening when it was barely above freezing?
Pre-Ride BG:  79   --  BG when arrived at Work: 54
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4                Ending Voltage: 12.3 (Gel Cell battery pack, not charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: 51 F (Bogus!) (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 66 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.3 Mph                                         10.0 mph                             20.7 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
53 mins 32 secs                             44 mins 52 secs                    8 mins 40 secs

BRRrrrr. Is Winter going to last much longer?

Thursday Bicycle Tracking
The upcoming weekend is supposed to be much warmer than most of this previous week, but I'm already tired of winter and it's just barely gotten started.  Riding the bike doesn't chill me as much as just going out on the deck or across the yard to get a load of firewood.  It's been BITTER feeling, even though the temps have not yet sunk much, if any, below 20 degrees.
Today's temperatures seem almost the same as yesterday's, but it seemed to be mucho colder - to me.
I tried a different layer this morning:  Instead of a cotton Tee shirt on top of my turtlenec, I wore a knitted sweater/vest Jacque made for me last winter.  My arms always get so overheated I thought perhaps the sleeveless sweater would not only allow my arms to remain cooler but also keep my core warmer.... and, since it;'s wool, drier as I work up a sweat (that is, perspiration, for my more sensitive readers)and hopefully it will wick away the moisture and keep me warmer even if it does get a bit smoggy in there.  So far I'm happy with it.
I'm also not the only lunatick on a bike in this weather.... the cycling traffic has fallen off noticeably with the cold weather, but only about by half.   I probably still encounter at least a dozen other cyclists daily, and that's only in my relatively short 7.5 mile commute.
Pre-Ride BG: 172   --  BG when arrived at Work: 144
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.7 (Gel Cell battery pack, charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: 44 F (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 63 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.45
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
9.1 Mph                                         10.4 mph                             19.2 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
48 mins 59 secs                             43 mins 9 secs                    5 mins 50 secs

Whoopee Wednesday

 Today's Track via APRS/GPS
Pre-Ride BG: 196                  BG when arrived at Work: 64
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.3 Ending Voltage: 12.2 (Gel Cell battery pack, not charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: 45 F (in ABQ)                 Ending Temperature: 63 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.1 Mph                          9.7 mph            20.2 mph
Total Trip time              Moving Time        Stopped Time
49 mins 01 secs           45 mins 59 secs     03 mins 01 secs

Winter's Back, in Spite of my Lack of Interest

Another cold breezy Ride-Track
Mercy. The outside temperature was 20 degrees F when I woke up this morning.  It was several degrees warmer than that when I got to Albuquerque and out of the warm car and onto the bike, but it was still COLD.
Pre-Ride BG: 116 BG when arrived at Work: 50

Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.5 (Gel Cell battery pack, not charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: 41 F (in ABQ) Ending Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
9.7 Mph 11.1 mph 21.8 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
45 mins 59 secs 40 mins 9 secs 05 mins 50 secs

Snowing, Dark, and Cold.... What a Lovely Day for a Bicycle Ride

Today's cool ride track via APRS/GPS
Today made for cold biking but almost satisfyingly so... just enough for me to take satisfaction in being able to ride in spite of the weather.  Last night it snowed so heavily from the eastern outskirts of Albuquerque all the way through Tijeras Canyon and up North-14 to home I would have stayed the night on Jake and Stacy's couch rather than fumble along in the cold and dark, almost totally blinded and yet not having ANY safe area in which to pull off the road and wait out the storm.  Then this morning I had to scrape ice off the car windshield to get out of the yard.  When I arrived at my parking lot to ditch the car and mount the bike I found solid blobs of ice encasing parts of the derailleur and the sprocket gear rings and the chain.  I chipped all those off before riding off, fearing otherwise it might make the chain just pop right out of place, and that's not a fun problem to solve when it happens.
Then, all the way from the car to work, every few hundred feet more ice chunks would flake off the bike and go SPLAT! on the trail, often spooking me with the noise, making me think I'd lost something important off the bike.
Thankfully the trail and path and streets were clear of ice, so I didn't do any unrehearsed fancy tricks (Like sliding upside down with the wheels in the air).  All the ice was actually left over from last night's trip home through the blowing snow.

Pre-Ride BG: 116                          BG when arrived at Work:    50
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Gel Cell battery pack,  not charged last night)
Beginning Temperature:  41 F (in ABQ)        Ending Temperature:  51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.44
Overall average speed         Moving Avg           Max Speed
9.7 Mph                              11.1 mph               21.8 mph
Total Trip time                    Moving Time          Stopped Time
45 mins 59 secs                  40 mins 9 secs     05 mins 50 secs

Monday: Cold. Wet. Great biking

Cold this morning, rained on for a couple miles this evening.  Wonderful ride in spite of the wind.
It's late and the weather outside is ugly and I need to saddle up the bike and scat back to the  car as fast as I can and hope I don't get soaked.

Low and Slow

Today's Cool Ride
My blood glucose was high (194) this morning when I arose.  I pumped the recommended amount and went about getting ready for the day.  I SHOULD have checked it again just before I left for work.  Within a few miles from my cycling-start of the last 7.5 commute miles I felt like I had particularly low strength.  I experienced  similar sensations yesterday and assumed it must be the unaccustomed cold temperatures.  I thought about stopping and eating a snack "Just in Case" but didn't, since my blood glucose has been running high the last couple of days.  I finally stopped just outside Balloon Fiesta Park and drank a couple of snorts of my lemon-lime sugar water.I couldn't drink much of it since it was COLD from the wind while riding.  It seemed to help a bit, though, and I got to work and found my BG was 59.  Not good for trying to exert effort in any fashion.
It's late in the afternoon now, quitting time, and I did a quick BG test and found it to be 114... much too low still to take off on the bike.  Good thing I checked it so I'd realize I needed to eat my PB & Honey sandwich snack before I take off.
Pre-Ride BG: 182                          BG when arrived at Work:    59
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.3       Ending Voltage: 12.2   (Gel Cell battery pack,  not charged last night)
Beginning Temperature:  48 F (in ABQ)        Ending Temperature:  52 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.39
Overall average speed         Moving Avg           Max Speed
8.7 Mph                              10.0 mph               19.8 mph
Total Trip time                    Moving Time          Stopped Time
50 mins 59 secs                  44 mins 19 secs     06 mins 41 secs

18 Degrees of Glory

Today's Chilly Cycling Catalogue
Yesterday was a grand example of why I should never pay attention to the weatherman. - it makes me even question my OWN ability to look at the portending sky and make any valid assumptions.
The weather-guessers have been proclaiming "Afternoon High Winds and Arctic Temperatures" for the last several days, and the actualities have been rather mundane.  Yesterday morning I awoke with memories of the wind howling outside much of the  night.  The weather-dude again announced high winds and horrible cold temperatures by early afternoon.  I was all set to ignore this and ride the recumbent anyway but when I walked out to the car I could see lowering clouds off to the west and other side of Sandia Crest, and a very reddish tinge to them.  The old saying "Red Sky at Morning, Sailor Take Warning" always resonates with me so I made the difficult decision to just drive all the way to work and take a day off from cycling.  It turned out to be quite cold, but the winds were quite minimal and when I left work in the GAS HOG CAR, I was again chagrined to notice how calm it was and regretted, again, that I had not ridden the bike.  I guess in future I will try to rely on what's going on NOW weather wise and ride if at all possible and dodge or worry about the afternoon weather when it happens.  Absolute worst case scenario:  Jake (my youngest son) lives only about a mile from where I work and I could always call him or his wife Stacy to come rescue me and let me sleep on their couch.  Which doesn't sound unpleasant at all, though I'd likely get in trouble for being too rowdy and noisy with my VERY invigorating grandchildren.
This morning?  Colder than yesterday (18 degrees at the house when I got up, and 33 degrees when I saddled up the bike in town) but quite pleasant riding weather.  Lots of other hardy weather-fearless cyclists out there on the paths too, including a rather lovely eye-candy type that would encourage crowded cyclist trails should the word get out that she's a regular.

A fleeting View...

Pre-Ride BG: 138                          BG when arrived at Work:   100
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Gel Cell battery pack,  charged last night)
Beginning Temperature:  33 F (in ABQ)        Ending Temperature:  44 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.42
Overall average speed         Moving Avg           Max Speed
8.4 Mph                              10.0 mph               20.3 mph
Total Trip time                    Moving Time          Stopped Time
52 mins 59 secs                  44 mins 35 secs     08 mins 24 secs

Winter's Cancelled Due to Lack of Interest: It's Fall Again

Today's APRS/GPS Route.
This morning I rode with hand-warmers toasting inside my mittens on the way to work.  It actually seemed a bit warmer than yesterday:  I didn't wear the ski mask but it still felt great to have the pinkies a bit warmer.
I've had trouble getting my blood glucose down the last 48 hours.  I had just changed infusion sites and the BG has been off the chart since.   I closely inspected my new infusion this morning and saw it was bruised and bloody;  a bad sign.  I pulled it out, cleaned it up, and reinserted it elsewhere on my belly.  It now seems to be working, but only slightly., as seen in the readings today.  I'm having to pump extra and with very weak results and nasty high bg readings
Tonight, as the leaving time approached, I looked out the work windows and was alarmed to see dark clouds gathering.  I rushed to leave before it started raining and was mildly surprised to find the weather absolutely balmy outside in spite of the clouds.  It turned out to be a lovely ride back to the car.
BG before ride home:  159   BG after getting home, before dinner: 255 - which resulted in NO dinner.
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 11.9   
Beginning Temperature:  69 F        Ending Temperature:  77 F
 Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.41
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
10.6  Mph                           11.6 mph            23.4 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  42:00 mins                       38.25 mins          03:35 mins

It's Now Officially Itchy Underwear Time

Today's cold but unchanging tracking-route
Well, this morning it was 31 degrees when I rousted my sleepy self out of bed.  So I dutifully donned my winter cycling wear.  I've never had to use leggings, although I do use Velcro straps to tie my pants legs shut at the ankles both to keep the pants out of the chain and to keep warmth in and cold air out.
For the upper torso I wear a turtleneck wicking shirt that's supposed to allow me to sweat  or (perspire, for my more gentle readers) while wicking such moisture away from the body to keep me from overheating and freezing all at the same time, or closely timed to each other.  This shirt helps keep me warm underneath but I don't notice it keeping my other undergarments dry at all.  But, as they say in first aid and survival courses:  Cotton Kills, at least in cold weather.  On top of that is a long sleeve shirt, then a bright yellow bike windbreaker, then a blazing yellow-green reflective vest which also blocks a bit of wind.  As usual for colder weather, I did not get overheated until about the last 2 miles of my 7+ mile commute, after which I was frantically unzipping things to let in some of that wonderful cold air.  I also wore my wooly polar fleece skull cap and my ski mask and my ski gloves which are so bulky I can barely work the shifters and brakes, and pretty much NOTHING so small as a radio knob, although I can still work the handlebar-mounted transmit switch for the radios.  I also wore my clunky winter leather high-top shoes since the tennie-runners have not been keeping the feet warm recently.  The only winter gear I didn't utilize today was chemical hand-warmers, and, Unless we have a dramatic warming spell I will henceforth be using them every day.
Pre-Ride BG: 229                          BG when arrived at Work:   147
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7       Ending Voltage: 12.7   (Gel Cell battery pack,  charged last night)
Beginning Temperature:  48 F (in ABQ)        Ending Temperature:  55 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.45
Overall average speed         Moving Avg           Max Speed
9.5 Mph                            10.6 mph               19.5 mph
Total Trip time                    Moving Time          Stopped Time
46 mins 59 secs                  42 mins 04 secs     04 mins 55 secs

Free-Fire Friday, or the Smell of Cordite

Today's Frozen Fingered APRS/GPS Track
Unless it decides to warm up, and soon, I guess I'll be riding with full winter gear from here on until Springtime in the Rockies comes again.  My ride wasn't terribly bad this morning except for my face and fingers falling off as they froze..... Well, Not Really.  The face and fingers were quite uncomfortable, though.  Temps got down to freezing last night.  Even with mild sunshine fluttering over me, it was still too cold to be riding without warmer gloves and a facemask.
All the wooden bone-shaker ABQ bike bridges were coated with heavy frost this morning.

Yesterday I forgot to mention I lost my favorite day-glo yellow-green BikeABQ tee shirt.  Jacque had cut it open in the front for me and added velcro so I could open and close it easily with one hand, even in motion if needed.  I wasn't wearing it during the morning ride but carried it bungee'd to my front pack so I could wear it on the warmer afternoon ride back to the car.  Like so many other valuables I've lost somewhere along the bike path over the years, when I got to work the wonderful bright shirt was nowhere to be found.  I've kept my eyes peeled for it in case it appears lying along the path, but the path has lots of walkers and users and I have never found anything I've lost except one radio antenna I found by turning around immediately and riding back along the path.  It would probably help if I had my name taped, inked, or embroidered into any of these items but as usual, I seldom think of such things until I experience another loss.
Last night before I retired to bed I heard our area coyotes yipping not far away, but they sounded well away from our property.  I was rudely awakened about 3:00 AM to the sound of MORE yipping coyotes, and they sounded VERY close.  We are doing our best to make our property seem very inhospitable to such critters, especially since they attacked out Papillon lap-doggy a couple years ago right outside our home as we sat out on the deck only a few feet away.  They are too fleet-footed for me or I would have killed one or more of them by now and hung their hides on the fence next to our entry gate, as did ranchers from my youthful memories.  This time I leaped out of bed, grabbed the 12-gauge pump action, and in underwear and slippers crept out on the deck in the dark and listened to see how close they might actually be.  I could not see any without benefit of  moonlight, but they sounded like they were just on the other side of our storage shed not far from where they attacked our beloved Tinkerbell as before noted.  I was able to pump a round into the chamber but it took me several precious seconds to realize the gun's safety was still activated.  I disengaged that unwelcome feature and fired twice, quickly, in that general direction.  The ear-splitting blast of the gun and the brightness  of flame from the muzzle resulted in ...... TOTAL SILENCE.  The yelping and yipping and screeching stopped and all was peaceful again, except for the ringing of my ears and the soreness in my shoulder.  Mercy, that monster does kick.  I want the predators to stay away but every few weeks they test our resolve again, and unless they stop, I will eventually have one of their smelly hides hanging on the fence to warn their fellows.
There is an abundance of rabbits, rats, mice, squirrels, and all sorts of other bothersome vermin for them to feast upon without preying on our house pets. 
Pre-Ride BG: 138                          BG when arrived at Work:   121
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4       Ending Voltage: 12.3   (Gel Cell battery pack, no charge last night)
Beginning Temperature:  41 F        Ending Temperature:  52 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.37
Overall average speed         Moving Avg           Max Speed
9.6. Mph                            10.8 mph               23.5 mph
Total Trip time                    Moving Time          Stopped Time
45 mins 59 secs                  41 mins 00 secs     04 mins 59 secs
Nothing much to report from the ride back tonight.  No frost, no weirdos, no missing TEE shirt...
 BG before ride home:  193   BG after getting home, before dinner:  129
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.8       Ending Voltage: 12.0   
Beginning Temperature:  66 F        Ending Temperature:  69.8 F
 Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.44
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
09.5  Mph                             11.0 mph            22.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  46:59 mins                       40.37 mins          06:22 mins

Wet and Wimped Out.

Well, the inaccuracy of the weather-guessers works both ways.  Today the forecast was "It's Stopped Raining here in Albuquerque, the storm has moved on to the east side of the state...."
So I drove in, thought snow and slush was caked all over the car and bike, assuming the warmer air down through Tijeras Canyon and Albuquerque would melt off and dry the bike.  That all happened as planned, but as I drove past Juan Tabo and Eubank I was a bit alarmed at how dark and drizzly the western skies looked.  I thought to myself that it would surely dry up by the time I got to my car/bike changeover point.  It was misting steadily  on my windshield as I turned into my secret hideaway parking lot and I bravely thought I'd saddle up and wouldn't mind a bit of mist because surely it would stop soon and I wouldn't get soaked.  As I stopped the car and started to get ready to pile out and unrack the bike, the mist got just a bit heavier.  My resolve and bravery faded....  Yeah, the weatherman said it was clearing up.  But it didn't LOOK like it was clearing up.  So I backed out of the parking lot and drove all the way to work.  BAH

Okay. So I got Soaked..... Again

Another Winding Track to Work and Back

I had it all planned in advance, Very Unusual for me....Since I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and the doc's office is maybe 1/4 mile off my normal beaten bike-route, I'd park the carrito as normal, ride the recumbent down my normal bike route to Singer, then take Singer eastbound to the Dr's... After which I'd ride the last 3-something miles to work.  The skies, however, were not promising.  It was gloomy and dark, and what light DID shine through the couds had a distinct red hue.  As I drove into Albuquerque out of Tijeras Canyon I talked myself in and out of riding the bike several times.  In spite of the wise old saying "Red Sky at Morning, Biker  Take Warning", or something to that effect, I decided to ride the bike.  In spite of the gloom of the dark clouds overhead, it was actually quite balmy and I rode without benefit of skull cap or warm mittens with a nice degree of comfort.  I'm always a big hit when I arrive at the doctor office on the bike in full regalia.... Rolled up pants, bike helmet, flashing blinkies on the bike, big pack on the front and pannier on the rear, water bottles front and rear, baby-puke day-glo yellow-green outerwear.... Walking in amongst all my fellow diabetics with their oxygen tanks, wheelchairs, and such, whom I will no doubt look just alike in a few short years.... I'm surrounded by people looking at me like I just landed in a space-ship instead of  a bicycle.
Can't imagine what's wrong with all these people.  At least I'm not wearing spandex and lycra looking like Barbarella with every pimple on my butt showing through my skin-tight tighties.  On the other hand, if I dressed like that, perhaps folks wouldn't look at me so strange.  If I was less ugly it would probably help too...
I actually received a glowing report from my lovely doctor this morning in spite of my A1C being 7.4 as is almost always the case.  The ideal is for it to be BELOW 7.0, instead of halfway to 8.0 - but for me that has only happened once in the last several years at 6.8.  I am truly addicted to my carbs... which is one of the many reasons I love riding the bike so I can burn more of that stuff off.
Then, as I went outside to saddle up for the rest of the ride to work, it began to sprinkle.   As I rode further it began to RAIN.  I finally stopped and put on my wind-breaker which has the nice ability to make raindrops bead up and roll off instead of just soaking through.  That helped a lot, and actually helped the rain to STOP right before I arrived at work.  My legs got a little damp and my thorax got a bit soggy from sweating (perspiring, for my lovely cultured cousins in AZ and UT) but all in all I was just fine and dandy.
As I type this epistle late in the day it is again a bit threatening outside:  Nay, it is POURING outside.  I'm hoping for it to stop long enough for me to get back to the car again unscathed......
Pre-Ride BG: 178    Fasting BG when arrived at Doc's Office:  190  Post-Ride BG:  93
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.8       Ending Voltage: 12.7   (Gel Cell battery pack, fresh charge last night)
Beginning Temperature:  51 F        Ending Temperature:  66 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    8.80
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
8.5. Mph                            10.4 mph            21.9 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
61 mins 00 secs               50 mins  33 secs     11 mins 23 secs

Thankfully the rain stopped just before I left work and the ride back to the car was almost totally dry and non-frigid.  It was so uneventful that I detoured off the bike path at Montgomery to stop in at REI, where the Pedouins.org family, the Harrisons, were holding forth and selling their self published books as fund raisers.
It was good to see them again.  The girls seemed much more mature and well behaved this time around.  Of course, it's been almost 2 years since I saw them last when they came through NM during the coldest winter we'd had in years.  The book detailing their lifestyle of close to 2 years riding across America on a 5-seat quint bicycle is quite interesting, I recommend it for some unusual reading.  Visit  http://www.pedouins.org/ and order a copy.
BG before ride home:  89   BG after getting home, before dinner:  91
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7       Ending Voltage: 12.6   
Beginning Temperature:  66 F        Ending Temperature:  73 F
 Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  6.65
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
11.4  Mph                             11.6 mph            23.6 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  34:58 mins                       34:20 mins          38:00 mins

Nice Side-Trip for Shopping Today

today's divergent APRS/GPS track

I did the normal park-the-car and ride-the-7-miles-to-work thing today, but as the noon hour approached I considered riding up to Bikes Plus (to buy another spare shifter cable) on Holly parallel to Paseo Del Norte - about 3 miles slightly uphill and a fairly easy slightly-downhill ride back.  The biggest problems are getting through the busy intersection at Alameda and the I-25 Frontage Road, and crossing Wyoming and Wilshire.  It's quite the aerobic exercise going east on almost any street in Albuquerque east of the Rio Grande, since the city sits in a gentle valley that slopes from both directions E-W toward the River.
No problems encountered.  The traffic light at Alameda and Frontage Road actually help me since it slows the traffic down, and I rarely get any grief from motorists when I come out of the CarMax auto dealership lot onto Alameda and ride between cars to the light and wait my turn.  Years ago I would ride the sidewalk there and wait for the "Walk" light but that is EXTREMELY dangerous since cars are never looking for a bike to come out into the intersection from the sidewalk.  When I ride in the ROAD, with the cars, they very definitely SEE me and thankfully, rarely get huffy about it.  Today, as is usual, when the light turned red I was able to match the autos' speed as we approached the intersection, so I wasn't slowing anyone down.
The weather was forecast to be nasty today, and of course it turned out to be a beautiful balmy day.
The early morning forecasters disappointedly stated that "It will get COLD and likely WET this afternoon" - I plotted to ride anyway and take my chances.  There are only a few days a year where the weather actually gets ugly enough to worry about, and I've had to call Jacque to come rescue me only a few times a year out of hundreds of days riding year in and year out.  As I type currently the weather is still just cool enough to be enjoyable and the online weather maps don't show anything threatening in  the vicinity.  I'll let ya know if I get soaked but it's not very likely.
Noon Ride Stats from GPS:  Total Distance Miles:  6.55
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Gel Cell battery pack, no charge for 3 days now)
Beginning Temperature:  80.6 F        Ending Temperature:  80 F
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.6  Mph                             10.9 mph            22.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  41:00 mins                       36:13 mins          04:47 mins

Later:  I got soaked.  Actually, only mildly.  It was sprinkling by the time I left work.  I started north to go my normal route but the rain was harder and the sky darker that direction, so I turned tail and rode south on Jefferson to Paseo to shorten the ride back.  The rain at first started to slack off but then started in earnest.  About 3 miles south the rain stopped, and though the path was wet, the rest of the ride was dry and uneventful, but I really regretted forgetting my toy video-cam:  Just before I got back to the car I passed the CUTEST little redheaded girlie-girl riding on her Momma's shoulders, strolling along.  "Hiya", says I, and the wee cutie says "Look, Mom!  A BICYCLE!!!"
BG before ride home:  224   BG after getting home, before dinner:  115
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  6.51
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.4  Mph                             11.1 mph            22.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  47:00 mins                       43:23 mins          03:37 mins

Popped Another One

Monday APRS Tracking Route
There I was... cruising along minding my own business, about halfway to work from my secret parking place where I park the car and saddle up the bike for the last 7.4323434555 miles.  I forget why I pulled over and stopped, but I did, downshifting automatically as I braked.  I think it was my cell phone ringing and I don't remember who it was, but when I started to roll again, I couldn't get it into low gear.  I seemed to remember I'd already downshifted but it didn't hit me full in the face until I tried to downshift to cross an Albuquerque bone-shaker wooden rattle-bridge.... there WAS no downshifting.  I was stuck in high gear.  When I twisted the handlebar-grip shifter ring, it spun too easily and whizzed through the stops but no control of the rear derailleur occurred.  I realized my long shifter cable had broken.... for the third time since I bought the recumbent.
Thankfully I had a new cable safely tucked in the rear pannier.... but needing for now to get to work, I just chugged huffily along using only the front chain-rings for up and down shifting.  But, since the rear gear was stuck on the tallest gear, the chain  had trouble staying true at such an odd pull angle so it continually jumped a tooth, making it highly impossible to keep up a tempo or pull the slightest of grades without having to hop off and walk the bike..... definitely not a fun ride.  I spent my noon hour replacing the cable instead of the usual enjoyable 2-mile walk through Wildflower Park.  The gears worked fine for the ride back to the carrito tonight except for not being adjusted exactly as they used to be.  Now I must make a pass by the local bike shop to pick up another cable to keep with me for the next breakage.
BG before ride home:  167   BG after getting home, before dinner:  138
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.5  Mph                             10.3 mph            21.4 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  47:00 mins                       43:23 mins          03:37 mins

Destroying a Piano

Today's very late noon ride to work
I really did destroy a piano today.  My employer encouraged us to volunteer our services at a local low-income pre-school.  It's located in downtown Albuquerque and they had an upstairs floor full of stored junk.  The center hoped to clean the upstairs enough to be able to hold staff meetings up there.  One of the listed projects was "disassembling a piano" that was too large and heavy to safely be taken down the very narrow stairs to the ground floor.  That sounded like a job that could be actually completed within a few hours, so a couple co-workers and I signed up for that portion of the project.
What a mess.
Not only was the work dirty and difficult, it was downright DANGEROUS.  Anyone who may have dealt with the innards of a piano will recognize what I'm talking about.  Not only was it built heavy, it was very solidly assembled.... and difficult to take apart.  We finally got the front portions of the piano removed, exposing the strings and sound-board.  A few dozen VERY heavy duty screws later, we thought the cast metal stringboard should come loose.  Not even a wiggle.  We found and dislodged a few more screws but still no sign of anything loosening.  We finally realized the hundreds of piano wires strung very tightly were actually holding the sounding board very firmly in place.  We started cutting piano wires.... very dangerous.  I almost ruined my Gerber multi-tool cutting several dozen of the smaller wires.  I went back to my car looking for stronger wire cutters but no dice.  So we began BREAKING the wires rather than cutting them, by gripping with heavy pliers and vise-grips and twist/yanking.  POW!  CLANG!  Horrible dying-piano noises as we crashed and ripped piano wires large and small.  Many of them sparked as we popped them apart.  We joked, only half-heartedly, that someone should have been taking video of the grisly process.  We got pinged by the sharp wires:  I have at least 3 healing punctures in hands and fingers from the procedures.  Only one set of safety glasses was available between the 3 of us piano-destructers, and it's a wonder none of us suffered any eye damage.  In retrospect we realize we should have just gotten several of us strong backs and weak minds to manhandle it down the stairs and out to the dumpster receptacle.  Even though we finally got all the strings removed and the sound board separated and the legs in separate piles, the monster back-board was still heavy and awkward to manage down the stairs.
Now, I LIKE pianos and piano music.  I can play at least 3 songs from memory and enjoy it, and really enjoy listening to or singing along with someone who really CAN play the instrument.  But this repeated-every-few-years thing of MOVING them, and now actually DESTROYING one......  I think I'll stay home next time.
Still got to ride the bicycle to work, though...... even if it WAS noon by the time I saddled up and got rolling.
Pre-Ride BG: 178 (after a sticky-bun reward at the child center)    Post-Ride BG:  125
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.3   (Gel Cell battery pack, no charge for 2 days now)
Beginning Temperature:  69 F        Ending Temperature:  77 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.40
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
12.7. Mph                          13.1 mph            28.7 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
35 mins 00 secs               33 mins 50 secs     1 mins 10 secs

For some reason I was a little low on energy for this  morning's 2-wheel 7-mile commute.  My blood glucose was on the high side of normal when I woke up;  I made my usual 1/2 sandwich for breakfast and pumped the normal amount of insulin to deal with it, and blahhhh.... I was poking along with no zip.  When I got to work the Blood Glucose (BG) was 55, not a good level for cycling exertions. 
Pre-Ride BG: 126            Post-Ride BG:  55
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Gel Cell battery pack, no charge since yesterday's ride)
Beginning Temperature:  55 F        Ending Temperature:  59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.42
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
09.5. Mph                          10.7 mph            20.7 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
46 mins 59 secs               41 mins 44 secs     5 mins 15 secs

It's Wednesday and Cold Weather is Coming Back

Typical 7.4-mile L-pattern breadcrumb trail
I'm not one to let cold weather slow me down:  For the last 2 winters I've missed only a couple of weeks total riding year round.  But I'm not CRAZY about cold weather.  For one thing, I have to wear heavy mittens instead of nice flex-finger bike gloves.  Which makes it nigh impossible to push any buttons on the ham radio on the handlebars, though I can still activate the transmit switch velcro'ed next to the right handlebar grip.  Nor can I access any GPS functions with the furry-fat fingers.
The other irritant is that no matter how cold, I always start out frosty and cold and somewhere within a mile or 2 of my destination, I get overheated and sweaty.... which of course makes me VERY uncomfortable because part of me (usually the upper arms and armpits) are overheated and sloshing in perspiration (Sweat to those of us West of the Mississippi) while other parts are getting nasty-cold because the moisture has soaked through the layers and is now drastically conducting heat AWAY from my core, thus making me too hot and too cold all at the same time.  If I was riding leisurely instead of always hustling along trying to get to work, I COULD stop and peel off layers BEFORE they get stinky-water-logged and maintain better temperature/comfort control.  But this is the REAL world.  That would require some thoughtful ANTICIPATION on my part, and I'm very much a last-minute Johnny.
Pre-Ride BG: 157            Post-Ride BG:  82
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Clunker Heavy Gel Cell battery pack, fresh charge)
Beginning Temperature:  41 F        Ending Temperature:  55 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:    7.34
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
09.8. Mph                          11.5 mph            20.1 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
44 mins 59 secs               38 mins 25 secs     6 mins 34 secs

Terrifically Cold Tuesday, 39 miles?

39-mile track link
The auto shop finally thinks they have Jacque's Exploder  roadworthy again.Since she has to come to town this evening anyway, our strategy was laid out:
-She drives my Taurus to her work this morning.
-I ride my bike all the way to ABQ to work this morning.
-Jacque comes to town this evening in the Taurus, since it has the quasi permanent bike rack on the back
-She picks me up at quitting time to rescue me from the all-night effort of riding back home on the bike (which I have NOT done yet, even for bragging rights)
-We drop her off at the auto shop so she can drive her beloved Exploder home and have HER ride back.
It was COLD this morning.  I got overheated so when I got almost to the Albuquerque city limits I removed my wooly skull cap and my mittens... and about FROZE the rest of the way to work.It felt sunny and balmy when sitting still ripping off the winter stuff but MERCY, the wind got real cold again real quick as soon as I got rolling again.
I'm not understanding some weirdnesses I've experienced lately:  My last 2 full rides into Albuquerque from home, including today's, have logged on the GPS with an unexpected extra hour.  Last week I thought I'd just been extra slow, but an HOUR?  Then today it showed me taking 3 hours and 24 minutes for a trip that normally takes me TWO hours and 20-30 minutes.  I looked at the leaving and arrival times from home to work and it was 2 hours and change..... the stoopid GPS is confusing itself somehow.  Which is not all that unusual, though this is the first time I've noticed it getting elapsed times wrong.  I think it must be related to daylight savings time plus the fact that I start riding before the sun comes up and halfway through the ride the sun comes out and the GPS changes the display screen from dark to daylight, and must be doing some cat-hair calculation that results in an extra hour being claimed as trip time.  I went through all the settings and turned off the automatic Daylight Savings Time setting, since Congress has changed that so much the last several years none of the automated devices can keep up with it.  Hopefully next time it will report correctly.
Also, the GPS mileage  is always noticeably different, even though I ride the same old path every time... this long ride usually reports in as 31.8 miles and today it was over 39... whassup with that?  It must vary because of the number of satellite positions the GPS calculates.  Weird.  Don't stake your life or bet your savings on GPS accuracy... and we won't even TALK about the GPS map inaccuracies everyone deals with.
Stupid knows no limits.  The other day I rode off with only my lemon-lime drink  bottle on the bike; no water.
I was glad to have the slightly sweet lemon-lime drink for moisture.... TODAY I rode off with NOTHING to drink.  Made it OK, but of course would have much more enjoyed some water to drink along the way.
Pre-Ride BG: 143            Post-Ride BG:  102
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Clunker Heavy Gel Cell battery pack, AA-Pak won't last 3 hours at my loads)
Beginning Temperature:  44 F        Ending Temperature:  62 F
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   39.29
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
11.5. Mph                          12.2 mph            35.6 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
2 hours 24 mins               2 Hours 12 mins    11 mins 38 secs
(corrected from 3 hours 24 mins)

Monday. Warm Welcome To Work

Aprs/GPS bread crumb track link
Boy, was it balmy this morning.  I stopped by the local medical lab to get some blood drained so my doctor can come up with a laundry list of things I'm doing wrong in the next few days.  I shouldn't be so negative:  My doctor rarely is.
So I called in to warn I would be late for work.  Jacque's Exploder is still in repair, now seemingly needing a horribly expensive fuel pump.... Wait, I'm being needlessly redundant here.  "Fuel Pump" and "Expensive" are almost synonyms.  I shouldn't mention I'm old enough to remember when a fuel pump cost maybe 20 bucks and a couple hours' work to replace it..... Now, of course, they're all submerged in the fuel tank, which costs lots of labor to access, and the pumps themselves rarely cost less than a couple hundred dollars.  MINE, of course, will be in range of 400 to 700 bucks.  Parts, mind you.  Not including Labor.
Awakening BG: 216            Post-Ride BG:  113
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.0   (NiCad AA battery pack, left the heavy Gel Cell behind)
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   07.90
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
7.8. Mph                            10.5 mph            24.7 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
1 hours 01 mins               45 mins 59 secs       16 mins 31 secs

Another Friday, Another 32 Mile Ride to Work

Friday trip all the way from home to work
This time I WALKED the bike most of the way down our nasty rutted washed-out rocky road to the pavement of Frost Road.  No falls and no breakages this time.
Awakening BG: 96            Post-Ride BG:  102
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.3   (battery still weird but held up for this 3-hour ride)
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   38.94
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
11.0. Mph                          12.2 mph            35.7 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
3 hours 32 mins             3 hours 11 mins        21 mins 28 secs

Thank Goodness the Bicycle Still Runs Smooth

APRS/GPS breadcrumb track
As far as I can tell, nothing broke or fell off the bike today.  Which is a wunnerful thing.
Had a couple of interesting conversations with hams while bicycle-commuting this morning:  One with KB3DOR who was also running APRS from his 18-wheeler ( KB3DOR-14) and another who was visiting from out of state and just got interested in talking to someone nutty enough to be riding a bike and yakking on the radio.
There's a big trial currently on the docket locally for a crazy-girl driver who skidded off the main road, crossed several yards of dirt and concrete, and banged and killed a cyclist who was ON THE BIKE PATH, thinking he was safe from cars.  What is unusual is that this woman is even being prosecuted for killing a cyclist.  Usually the worst that ever happens to a car driver who hurts or kills a cyclist is a minor traffic citation.  Hitting a cyclist is considered not much more serious than hitting a rabbit  or skunk in the road.  It's the same all over the USA  BAH
It would be wonderful if this woman or SOMEONE guilty of similar offenses  could actually be convicted and spend some jail time for it.  It might help other motorists realize there just might be  consequences associated with killing pedestrians and cyclists.  Motorcycle drivers have similar problems and complaints.  "I didn't SEE him" is considered a valid defense for the accidental (or otherwise) killing of someone on 2 wheels.
Jacque talked to the auto shop holding her Exploder hostage today.  They think they may have it ready by tomorrow.  That would be wunnerful too.  Filling a 30 gallon RV tank with gasoline over 3 bucks a gallon is not for the faint of heart..... or pocketbook.  Plus I'm just beating the poor monster to pieces bouncing up and down our terrible last mile and driveway every day.  This is another time I really regret not living closer to work... loss of one gas guzzler would not be a big thing if I could just ride the bike to work and back BOTH WAYS every day.
Awakening BG: 96            Post-Ride BG:  92 
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: 12.6   (fresh charge again last night, battery getting weird)
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   7.31
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
09.8. Mph                          12.0 mph            21.2 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
44 mins  59  secs             36 mins 26 secs       8 mins 33 secs

32-Mile Ride: ABORTED

very short nooner ride only today
Since Jacque had an in-town meeting tonight, we decided I'd ride the bike all the way to work and she'd pick me up after work.  This was especially attractive since I've been lumbering to town and back the last 2 days with the gas-hawg RV since Jacque's Exploder is still at the auto shop.
I left the house in the early morning dark, just after 6 AM.  The ride out of the property and down our nasty rocky rutted road almost a mile to the pavement of Frost Road is always an agony, especially on the bike with low light so it's nigh impossible to avoid rocks and bumps. I had gotten only a hundred yards or so up the road when I hit an unseen rock, and in my frantic attempts to remain upright and struggle (in Grandma Gear) to the top of the hill, I pulled too hard on my left handlebar grip and separated it from the gearshift rotator collar.  I stopped and fiddled with it for maybe 15 minutes, trying to get it to snap back in place.  I could not ignore it and just ride since the spring in the large front ring gear selectorwould not lock in any gear at all, it just pulled the chain to the lowest gear and off center from even that.  I finally decided I wasn't going to be able to fix it without more light and better tools than my Leatherman, so I trudged it back to the house.  By then the sun was starting to peek over the horizon so I could see a little better.  I finally saw the little spring ratchet clip that was not in the right place and used a surgical hemastat to grip it and put it in the little hole where it belonged, and PRESTO... it went back together the way it was supposed to.  By then it was much too late to ride to work so I loaded the bike up on the RV bike rack and DROVE all the way to work.  Yuck.
I was, however, able to get in a several-mile noon ride to make sure the gears were working again.  YAY
Noon Ride Datum:
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5       Ending Voltage: Wobbling from 12.2 to 12.5 (gel cell getting very soft)  
Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   5.02
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
10.4. Mph                           12.2 mph            23.6 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
29 mins 0  secs              24 mins 47 secs       4 mins 13 secs

Honey, Did I Leave the Lights On Again.....?

Jim-Toad's Wild Ride Tracker
Jacque's Exploder was still not repaired as of last night so we got to do the odd-car-commute thing again today:
Jacque drove the Taurus and I drove the RV, which I left plugged into the AC charging plug last night to ensure the battery would have enough oomph to start the engine again today.  On my way out the door I spotted Jacque's celll phone lying innocently on her nightstand.... she had forgotten it, and relies on it heavily - not for the least of reasons being waiting for a call from the auto shop telling her the Exploder is finally ready.  So I took a mild 25 mile detour in the wrong direction to deliver it to her and get a kiss and an indecent squeeze for my heroic effort.  Then I lumbered on into town, parked the RV and took off on the bike again, arriving "only" 15 minutes late for work.  Stayed an extra half hour late to make up for it, though.
Jacque recently bought me a 2-wheel bike trailer from a garage sale.  The tires are dry rotted, so I ordered tubes and tires from Amazon.com and the tubes came in today.  I was mildly chagrined to find they were light duty standard thickness tubes.... I have learned to ONLY use thick walled "thorn resistant" tubes or else I'm patching flats every 3 or 4 days at minimum.  Instead of ordering more from the internet, I decided to support a local bike shop and go pay whatever they wanted for their version of thorn proof tubes - And wouldn't ya know it, they cost the same or less than online prices AND I didn't have to pay any shipping.   Maybe the local stores are starting to be more competitive due to the sagging economy.  Anyway, since I was on the bike and knew the bike store would be long closed by the time I got off work, I decided to ride up there (Less than 4 miles but through some unpleasantly heavy traffic and tiringly  uphill all the way).  When I got back I was again surprised at how pumped up I felt after I cooled down from the ride.  The "bragging rights" are OK, but the physical benefits of lots of bike riding are really great, mentally and physically.
Awakening BG: 202            Post-Ride BG:  48 (a bit dizzy I was)
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.8       Ending Voltage: 12.7   (fresh charge from last night)
Morning Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   7.42
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
10.4. Mph                          11.9 mph            21.5 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
42 mins  59  secs             37 mins 31 secs       5 mins 28 secs

Noon Ride for Bike Trailer Tire Tubes (To Bicycles Plus on Paseo in the Trader Jack's center):
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.8       Ending Voltage: 12.7  
Stats from the GPS:        Total Miles:   6.58
Overall average speed         Moving Avg       Max Speed
08.2. Mph                           9.8 mph            25.9 mph
Total Trip time                 Moving Time          Stopped Time
47 mins 59  secs             40 mins 14 secs       7 mins 45 secs