Thursday, December 15, 2011

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
 


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