Monday Mojo

On the way back to the carrito tonight, I stopped at Carlisle (in the median, the southbound lanes were clear for once) to wait for a break in traffic.... and again, a nice guy in the lane nearest me stopped to wait for me to cross in front of him.  This is dangerous, since there are 3 (THREE) lanes on each side of the street, and invariably if a car stops in one lane for you, the guys in the other lane (or the cars behind the one stopped) will accelerate around the stopped car.  This time, there was only one pickup behind the sedan who stopped for me.  I hesitated, the guy in the pickup seemed to be waiting too, and no cars visible in the farthest lane.  So I crossed.  Just as I got past the "nice guy" who first stopped for me, out of nowhere came another vehicle in the far lane, just barely stopping in time.  I wasn't sure, but it might well have been the pickup I thought was being patient...... deciding not to be patient.  I'm making a commitment, henceforth, to just wave such "nice guys" on, urging them to keep going, and I'll just wait for a full lull in traffic, thank you very much.
BG before ride home:  191   BG after getting home, before dinner:  107
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.43 Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
8.9  Mph                             10.5 mph            20.6 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  49:57 mins                       42:33 mins          07:24 mins 

I usually go for a 2-mile noon walk, up San Mateo to Wildflower Park next to Honeywell and then back down to Wilshire and Jefferson.  I had to detour on Friday because the city had decided to flood the pathway during the noon hour, the time the park is most used on any given day:

Then, today, I failed to take a picture of the deep ruts and washouts in the formerly smooth graveled path.
These city workers simply turn on the sprinklers, let them fill up the path and streets, and go somewhere else for hours, never having anyone actually hang around to watch or control the water as it's wasted.  BAH.

Not much to report from this morning's commute to work.  It cooled off a bit more over the weekend (it snowed yesterday, Sunday, but nothing accumulated- but it was WINDY and COLD) and this morning's ride was the "I'm glad to be looking weird wearing my ski mask" variety.  I passed 3 walkers this morning walking on the wrong (left) side of the path.  BAH
Alex, who is one of my co workers and a fanatick cyclist riding his "fixie" (I.E., fixed speed, no shifting) bike, caught up to me and deigned to slow down (he's a relatively young fart) and rode with me the last 3 miles to work.  That was actually pretty cool, never done that before.  There are other co worker cyclists who have ridden with me a short ways after catching me but invariably they decide it's not that fun slowing down for an old geezer so off they go.
Awakening BG:  150  Post-Ride BG:  149
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
09.9  Mph                          11.8 mph             21.9 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
44:57 mins                          37:38 mins            07:19 mins

Friday, Finally

As usual, the weather guessers were quite a bit off in their dire forecasts for wind Friday.  The wind DID blow, but not all that bad.  There was just enough breeze  on the way back from work to keep me cooled down.  Funny how being a regular bike rider makes you realize how cooler weather is not a bad thing.... you realize in a few weeks the weather will be warmer and you'll have to deal with down-to-the-belly-button sweating... you can always add another layer to keep warm (then fight to rip it off when it starts sweating inside) but there are only so many layers you can take OFF when it's hot....
For some reason my BG was quite low late Friday afternoon, and eating my peanut butter 'N honey sandwich didn't do much for it...  Almost an hour later when I was ready to mount up, the BG was 76 and I wasn't feeling up to strength, so I snarfed a 29-carb oatmeal choc chip snack bar as I was headed out the door.  I still did not have normal strength on the ride back so I was slower than normal.  Yes, I had a slightly gusty cross breeze facing me for about 4 miles, but it was not as much of a factor slowing me down as the low BG was.
When I got back to the parking lot, a young guy maybe 12 years old watched me closely as I rode up and unsaddled all my junk and racked the bike onto the car.  I said "Hi" to him, half expecting the usual comments or questions about the funny bike, but he never said a word.
BG before ride home:  76   BG after getting to car, no snack yet:  107 (ate the power bar without bolusing)
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.1  Mph                             9.8 mph            21.4 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  47:20 mins                       43:10 mins          02:21 mins

Great weather now for bike riding.  I always turn on the early morning TV weather and then wind up ignoring most of what's forecast since they are so seldom right, and even when right, they usually over exaggerate the severity of whatever's supposed to happen.  Several times in the past I've decided not to ride the bike because it was forecast to rain, blow, etc., only to see a lovely sunny day transpire without me being on the bike.  BAH.
So now I normally watch the weather, (after all, I'm highly interested in it, even if it's inaccurate), but try to use my noggin for my daily ride/don't ride decision.  If the trees are leaning over dangerously from wind when I get close to my normal bike/car transfer parking place, I might decide to just drive on in.  If it's raining HARD I'll skip the bike ride.  A mild drizzle is no problem, nor is light snow.  But if the streets show signs of ice I've learned I probably should drive all the way to work.  Bike trails get no snow plowing and too little traffic to "burn off the ice".  This morning, as with the last 3 mornings, EXTREMELY high winds were forecast.  The last 2 days have seen only mild breezes, not enough for a realistic weather babe to even comment on.  I rode the bike.
Great ride. No funny or dangerous incidents.  Shucks.
Awakening BG:  122  Post-Ride BG:  107
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
10.6  Mph                          11.6 mph             22.5 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
42:03 mins                          38:35 mins            03:28 mins

TGIT (Thank God It's Thursday)

On my way through the north end of Baloon Fiesta Park this evening, I was startled to hear out of the blue:  "On your LEFT!"  He was already PASSING me by then, and I almost veered into him as he whooshed by.  It's a toss-up with hotshot speed kings.  You hear of cyclists getting offended by others calling out or the hard-to-hear but irritating bicycle bells, But I much prefer the risk of giving or getting offense to the risk of collisions.  In this case it would have been preferable for him to call out a few feet at least BEFORE he was directly next to me pouring on the coal.  Maybe he did and I just didn't hear him, who knows.
I like the on-the trail pictures and videos but am tiring of trying to do it one-handed with a cell phone trying to fall out of my grip.  So I'm cogitating about mounting one of our digital cameras on a home made helmet or handlebar bracket.  I doubt mounting one on the handlebars (or anywhere else on the bike) will provide anything but fuzzy vibrating pictures.  Plus, with the contraption mounted on my helmet, the camera can point where I turn my head, just like my helmet-mounted headlamp.
BG before ride home:  180   BG after getting home, no snack yet:  127
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.4  Mph                            10.4 mph            20.6 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  47:20 mins                       43:10 mins          04:10 mins

Thursday Morning, Video at 11

Actually, with any luck videos will be available right here.

I took a string of videos of several wooden plank bridges I have to cross every day.
Keep in mind NONE of these were needed when the bike trail was on the West side of the diversion channel.
-Going west on the Hahn Arroyo diversion channel trail, the first bridge encountered is at the intersection of this e-W trail with the N-S North Diversion Channel trail, which is a nice smooth concrete surfaced bridge.  No problems wheeling across this at all, nor at the next bridge which crosses back over the N. Diversion Channel just north of the Montgomery underpass, which is also concrete and smooth.  THEN comes this series of multiple one-after-the-other bridges that literally rattle your teeth when crossing them and (when riding my stiffer upright DF bikes) often resulted in parts falling OFF the bike, such as bike bell, tail lights, fender brackets, etc.
Here's the first wooden bridge I cross:

Then, the second bridge, maybe 150 feet farther north:

 

Bridge #3 a hundred or so yards further:

 

Bridge #4;  getting the drift here??

 

Bridge #5:

 

Here's a typical passage through the bike trail detour crossing at Osuna and Chappel.

Note how the bike trail forces you up on the sidewalk for 50 yards or so, thence straight into the intersection.

Probably 75% of cyclists I meet here will run the red light if the traffic opens  up.  It's dangerous enough to cross with the light in my favor, there's no protective median in the middle for you to pause if the traffic is threatening on the far side, so the only time I run this light is when there are no cars in either side of the intersection to activate the light sensor:

  

Waiting for the Light at Osuna, lots of high speed traffic:

 

  ... Meeting other Cyclists on the Trail:

Awakening BG:  168  Post-Ride BG:  58
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  09.3  Mph                          11.2 mph             20.6 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
47:47 mins                          39:50 mins            07:57 mins

City Bicycle Support

Last year the City of Albuquerque distributed who knows how many "free" bicycle vaults to various businesses around town and my company was one of them.  During the warmer  months of the year we used to have 6 or 7 cyclists riding almost daily, and it was a kick to see all those bikes chained to the rack, even though I often had to chain mine elsewhere, like along the outdoor employee patio railing.  Small inconvenience for the benefits of having so many riding bikes and all that.
At first, I thought the pie-shaped protective vaults were a good idea.  They appear to be molded fiberglass and the wedge - pie shape allows most "normal" bikes to be backed into the slot before locking the door:

These provide protection for your bike from sun, wind, rain, dust, theft (since you can't tell if a bike is inside), IF your bike will fit inside..... which of course, mine won't.  The recumbent is too long by half and even my normal mountain and road bikes won't fit because of the radio antennas I have mounted on them.
No worries, I'm not complaining.... one of the things that may make these things counterproductive is precisely one of their strengths:  You can't SEE any bikes inside.  No longer can you see how many rode to work on a given day;  most will be locked inside these lockers and at best one or two will be in the outside visible-to-the-public bike rack.  So I'm worrying that the lack of visual reinforcement may actually work to DIScourage bike ridership since it no longer provides the motivation of "Wow!  If all those people can ride to work, maybe I should too!"
With these hidey-hole lockers there is normally only a bike or two visible, and we can be dismissed as just a couple of bike fanatic loonies.

wednesday wild ride

Actually, it wasn't wild at all.  Just cold enough to keep me bundled up but a beautiful clear sunny day to go for a bike ride in the city/county.  Maybe one of these days I'll take a vacation day and just ride around all day, riding trails I haven't been on yet, stopping when I get tired/hungry, etc.
For years when I rode the North Diversion Channel Trail, I would encounter at least 2 separate Road Runner birds along the path.  For the last few months I haven't seen any, but the last 3 or 4 days have seen one popping out of the weeds along the trail just south of the Montgomery underpass.  I tried to get the cell / fuzzy camera out to take his picture but he couldn't be bothered to wait long enough for me.  I also tried again to get video of me crossing wooden plank-surfaced bridges so we'll see if that actually worked this time.
I find the video, not bad, on the fuzzy phone cam, but it sez TOO BIG to send via email.  Looking for a cable.. GRRR
I found a GREAT photo in my phone that I took on the bike:

Isn't that a great picture of my finger??  NO?  If you had X-Ray Vision you might be able to see Mr. Roadrunner right behind the finger... just call me While.  As in While E. Coyote....
There was a cyclist clobbered by a car this morning at Juan Tabo and Mountain Road.  The cyclist is in the hospital in critical condition.  Sure hope he recovers.  Very sad....
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  07.5  Mph                          10.5 mph             21.1 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
59:49 mins                          42:35 mins            17:13 mins

Weather is getting warmer

 It was warm enough to wear normal riding gloves and only the windbreaker, and I even got overheated with that before the commute was half done.
I tried to take a video of crossing a couple of our nasty bike bridges on the way back to the car tonight but it was already too dark.  I'll try it again during daylight sometime.

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.44
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.7  Mph                            11.0 mph            21.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  46:10 mins                       40:26 mins          05:44 mins

Tuesday Morning Rumbles

It was a bit colder this morning:  24 degrees at the house, maybe 6 degrees warmer here in Albuquerque.
At the "sweet spot" on the bike path (betweeen the Hahn Arroyo and N. Diversion Channel trail intersection and the underpass at Montgomery, about 300 yards) I stopped the bike and switched the radio over to 444.150 MHz and dialed up the remote base back at home, over the mountain, to the NM Breakfast Club on 3939 KHz.
It was at the end of the net and not as many "rag-chewers" were on dominating the frequency with long winded descriptions of their hemorrhoids so I was able to quickly check in, give my bicycle mobile weather report, and shut down the remote, return it to 146.58 simplex, and pedal on the rest of the way to  work.
I don't know if the cold makes it worse, but I was AGAIN particularly annoyed by the wooden planked bridge surfaces we face when riding the Albuquerque bike trails.  They actually LOOK nice and picturesque and probably are not bad to WALK over, but riding a BIKE over them is sheer torture.
I often complain to BikeABQ, one of the local bike clubs that interacts with the city, that we should force the designers of bicycle / pedestrian bridges to actually RIDE THEIR BIKES across these bumpy rattle-y things.
I'm convinced if they did, or if they actually used them for regular commuting like many of us, they would be designed withOUT the bumpy wooden planks.  A few of our bike bridges have relatively smooth concrete surfaces instead of planks and they are much easier to deal with.  When you approach a wooden bridge, you must brace yourself because for some reason most of them have a sharp ridge on each end that sends a tremendous shock through your handlebars and frame as you hit them, and then it's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride as you cross the bridge, at any speed, with everything on the bike going WAGAWAGAWAGA (Translation: ThumpetyThumpetyThumpety).  Occasionally you will hear the sad sound of something falling off the bike and going either down the ditch bank or ringey-dingey-doo down the path into the weeds, usually never to be seen again.  I have lost radios, batteries, flashlights, and stuff I never could figure out, to these rumble strip monstrosities.  The North Diversion Trail used to run alongside Chappel, on the West side of the diversion channel, with NO feeder ditches to cross.  Then the City in its infinite wisdom decided to build a new bike trail on the EAST side, where there are multiple feeder ditches to cross.  Thus the east side had multiple wood plank bike-eater bridges and the west side had none.... you may well guess I didn't have to try the vibrator bridges more than once to convince me to stay on the older path on the west side.  Of course, then the aforementioned Wisdom City bulldozed up the old, smooth riding path and hauled away the asphalt.  So I then just rode in the street for a year or more until I got the recumbent and realized it didn't oscillate quite so badly on the wooden bridges.  I hate mixing it up with cars and gravel and cement trucks on Chappel but I also hate being rattled silly so many times every time I ride that section of the trail.  This morning was especially aggravating.  It may be the bike is cold and stiffer as well as the warped, frozen wood boards.  You'd think if they just absolutely HAVE to have wooden plank surfaces they would sand or surface them a couple times a year at least to smooth the warped edges and ease passage across them.  NAH - bicyclists are too few in number to worry about.  They spent a fortune building those pathways and consider us ingrates when we complain.... .
The bridge at the end of the North Diversion Trail at Balloon Fiesta Park is a funny one:  Though concrete-surfaced and smooth to cross, it has a loud "CLANK" that occurs AFTER you ride over it.  Never figured that one out, and it doesn't make any difference which way you approach it...  "CLANK!" immediately AFTER you cross it, often making you jump and think someone must be right behind you.
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  08.5  Mph                          10.6 mph            19.6 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

53:10 mins                          42:26 mins            10:59 mins

Monday Movin' On Home

 I talked too much on my ham radio on the ride back to the car tonight, and I had to stop and engage my wheel generator to help keep  the radio and GPS running.  It whined while spinning on the rear wheel and slowed me down but it kept the electronics running. I probably need more batteries....
I heard motor scooters revving their engines in the blocks behind me again tonight.  I watched for their headlights to appear in my rear view mirror in hopes of getting the camera/phone out soon enough to get their pictures as they went by, but they never appeared.  Maybe they were actually staying on the street tonight....

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.44
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
7.2  Mph                            10.2 mph            19.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  48:34 mins                       43:52 mins          04.42 mins

Late Start Today

I had a doctor's appointment, routine blood glucose, A1C, foot exam, general stuff, this morning.
I was supposed to fast so I skipped my morning 1/2 Spam sandwich and associated insulin bolus, parked at the normal spot 7 miles from work, and rode to the intersection of Singer and Chappel and turned east on Singer.  From there it's only about 4 blocks to the intersection of Singer and Jefferson, where the doc's office resides.  Now, Singer gets kinda BUSY during working hours, especially close to the Jefferson intersection.  So I rarely ride the street up there.... I stay on the street from Chappel up to Office St., then turn in to the office parking lots lining the south side of the street all the way to Jefferson.  I rarely have to interact with anything other than PARKED cars through here:  Just have to watch for the death dealing speed bumps and ride in the drainage groove in the middle where there's no BUMP.  I was shocked this morning to see the entire first parking lot in there EMPTY and deserted.   I was just going to lament about another business going belly up, but it occurs to me they might be one of the few businesses observing President's Day today?
Riding the bike, People always look at me like I'm nuts, seemingly never more so than when arriving at the endocrinologist where most visitors are hobbling along, sometimes with help from their grandkids, sometimes with canes and walkers as they alight from their shiny automobiles.  This morning as I was unbuckling my steal-able stuff (backpack on the front luggage rack, pannier on the back of the seat rack, all full of electronics and STUFF I love to carry around slowing me down) I heard a cheery voice "Boy!  I really like your bike!!!"  I turned around and it was Karla Giese, my nurse practioner who does my exams and prescriptions and such.  She still grumped me out about my A1C levels this time:  7.4, same as 3 months ago, and a bit higher than the recommended upper limit of 7.  She didn't seem to think my "fasting" blood glucose level of 209 was anything to worry about, but it aggravated ME.  Nothing to eat since last night, ride my bike 4 miles, and instead of being low, it's HIGH.  I try to keep mine as close to 100 as possible, but this is a common experience for me:  Skip a meal, exercise, and the BG (Blood Glucose) goes way up.  Bah.  Humbug.
My blood glucose reading history chart was a mess, too, with lots of evening highs above 200... gotta cut back on those portions at night of the wife's too-good cooking.
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  8.4
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  08.1  Mph                          10.6 mph            20.2 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
2 hrs, 2 mins                          47:27 mins         1 hrs, 14 mins

Friday Night Cuties

I endured a fairly stiff headwind last night.  The wind was briskly blowing  north but of course I was heading SOUTH.  It wasn't too cold so all I had to do was chug along in lower gears to get to the Hahn Arroyo intersection where I turn east to get back to the car.  This is where you appreciate houses and trees that block the wind.  Pedaling along out in the wide open spaces is great, with no wind or a tailwind, but when the wind is howling I always rejoice when I get closer to wooded areas or housing areas that block  it.
Of course in the housing areas is always where you meet more "other people".  Teenagers with their baggy pants slouching along, the shy lone walker who never looks up or responds when I say "HI" as I pass, etc.  Last night I saw saw a cyclist wobbling along toward me, on the wrong side of the trail, so I pulled over to stop and wait for him to pass, to FORCE him to move over to the right side of the path with reduced danger of colliding with him.  Well, he turned out to be the "Dad" leader of a small pack including his wife and 2 kids, all on bikes.  The kids were a 5-year old or so boy, very wobbly on his bike, obviously new to the biking world.  Behind him, there was the Mom and a VERY tiny little girl on a very tiny bike with training wheels, with the girl blocking my passage - stopped in the path - and her Mom encouraging her to "Get out of the Way, so this guy can Pass Us!!"  For a nickel I would have kidnapped this little cutie, training wheels and all, but the Dad/Mom combo might have put up too much of a fight.  So I settled for stopping, way over to my right, allowing maximum room for our wobbly little girl to pass, with me complimenting the her on how good a rider she was, what a nice bike she was riding, etc.  It was obvious she had been trained well since she never looked at me or responded to my comments, eyes straight ahead, almost radiating "...I'm not Supposed to Talk to Strangers..."
I wish I had taken pictures of this little tribe of Native Americans, but I didn't even think of dragging out my cell phone fuzzy-picture-generator until I was well past them.  I'm going to train myself to be quicker on the draw with the camera mode.  Sometimes, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.85
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
8.6  Mph                            09.5 mph            18.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  51:59 mins                       47:10 mins          04.49 mins

Friday's Fine Ride

This is an admittedly fuzzy cell photo of my upgraded Garmin 350 display.  If you scrinch your eyes carefully you can make out the ham radio callsign of KH6JTM-1 who is transmitting his position via ham radio as well.
So I now can see other beaconing ham radio geeks in the area.  Very cool geek stuff.
This morning it was 29 degrees at home when I left, several degrees cooler than the last 2 days but all feels comfy compared to the close-to-ZERO temperatures a couple weeks ago.
When I go to the Carlisle bike crossing I was pleasantly surprised to find no traffic in the northbound lanes so I was able to cross to the median safety pocket without stopping.  As I stopped in the median, I saw the southbound car nearest me stopped to let me pass, but a speeding pickup behind him was swerving around him to pass, without even slowing down, so I didn't take advantage of the ONE motorist's kindness.  When he saw the pickup fly by on his right and that I wasn't yet moving, he decided he had waited long enough and accelerated back up to speed as though to say "You had your Chance!"  It actually complicates crossing such streets when the occasional motorist decides to stop for bikes waiting in the crossing.  The cyclist hates to make him wait, but seldom do the other 2 lanes stop, so it just makes crossings awkward.  I find it much easier for motorists just to stay at speed, allowing us to cross when the wide-enough-to-cross gaps in traffic occur.
On certain days and times that can drag out to several minutes, but it's peferable to motorists getting confused and more irritated by some stopping and some zooming at bike crossings.
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  09.3  Mph                          10.4 mph            19.5 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

47:50 mins                          43:02 mins           04:48 mins

Thursday and the Looney Bin Refugee

Tonight was a bit colder than I expected but enjoyed a mostly pleasant ride from work back to the car.
I checked the Garmin website this morning and found there was a software upgrade available for the 350.  I downloaded it into my GPS, which took almost 2 full hours (!), but was pleasantly surprised to see it now displays more map info, INCLUDING other hams running APRS vehicle trackers like mine.  More Geeky Stuff.  Coool.
At the concrete surfaced bridge where the North Diversion Trail and the Hahn Arroyo Trail intersect, I first saw a bicycle leaning against the telephone pole, then spotted its  scruffy rider a few feet away, just off the path, relaxing and smoking a cigarette.    As I always do when passing a stopped cyclist, I asked him "Is Everything OK?"   - About half the cyclists I encounter do the same when passing me when I'm stopped at the side of the trail for some reason.  This guy?  He immediately started screaming at me:
-"Am I all right??  Are YOU all right?"
-"Look at all those lights!!! What a bike!!  What are you AFRAID of??"
I kept going, turning east on the bridge and realizing he wasn't being friendly at all, pedaled away.  As I got farther and farther away, he screamed louder, and LOUDER, "What a bike!!! What are you AFRAAAIIID of?"  I was close to a quarter mile  away and I could still faintly hear him screaming at the top of his lungs.
I suspect he is a homeless guy who obviously goes off the deep end, easily, and has anger issues???  He reminded me of a homeless guy I encountered at a bus stop several years ago who, after a benign "Good Morning!" greeting, began ranting about how he was a lover of peace and world contentment, but couldn't seem to stop talking, repeating he was a peace loving guy, but slowly working  himself into a screaming rage, shouting "I'll show them!!  I'll KILL THEM ALL!"- repeatedly.
This was not long after one of the infamous mass murders in the news, and as I got on the bus I took out the cell phone and called the cops on him.  Never heard anything more about the guy, so perhaps he was just a harmless screamer.
Most of the comments I get from passers-by are friendly and enjoyable.  I have helped stranded cyclists with tire patches, CO2 inflation cartridges, etc, and others have helped me.  First time I ever got such a nasty response to a neighborly question.  "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.85
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
7.6  Mph                            10.3 mph            20.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  58:57 mins                       43:15 mins          15.42 mins

Thursday Morning, Fine Ride

The Steve Stucker Morning Weather Report warned of high winds today, but I'm glad (so far) I rode the bike anyway.  The temperature was 42 (FORTY-TWO!) degrees F this morning when I got my lazy self out of bed, and Albuquerque air felt very gentle indeed compared to recent weeks.  No pain in the face while riding, unlike the last 2 days.  Maybe this afternoon's wind will be a tailwind.  Hey, I can always hope, right?
Mounted the "newer" Garmin GPS/ham radio plate on the handlebars this morning.  It doesn't have a  clock display but it has all this other interesting data I can use for comparisons.

Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  09.4  Mph                          11.2 mph            21.5 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

47:16 mins                          39.54 mins           07.22 mins

Wednesday PM and Motorcycles on the Bicycle Trail

It must have been over 60 degrees when I left work this evening.  I had on the windbreaker and I quickly unzipped the sleeves when I realized how warm it was, before I even began riding.  Warmer weather really brings out the other bikers and joggers. 
An interesting thing happened tonight:  When I got to the Carlisle bike crossing, first one car stopped to wait for me to cross in front of him.  Trouble is, there are 3 such lanes to cross, and every previous time this has happened, the other 2 lanes keep roaring through since they can't see what the car in front is stopped for.  Forget the flashing bike crossing activity lights, OK?  I'm convinced most drivers don't notice or pay attention to them, and no wonder.  Most of the time these lights are flashing, there is no cyclist anywhere to be found.
BUT, THIS time, the first car stopped, then the middle lane's next car stopped, and then the THIRD lane's next car stopped, allowing me to cross ALL THREE lanes.  Three nice drivers all in the same area at the same time.  There's hope for humanity after all I suppose..... except for dingbats on motorbikes.
As I rode away east on the Hahn Arroyo trail, I began hearing engines coming up behind me.  There is a small segment of the stupid population  here that thinks it's fun to ride their motorized bikes, large and small, on the bike trails.  You never hear of anyone being arrested or warned for this, in spite of signs stating "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES ALLOWED" at every trail entrance and crossing..  We have a crew of bicycle cops in ABQ but the only place I've ever seen any is on the Bosque Trail, and  very seldom at that.  Tonight the motorized losers roared up to within a couple hundred feet behind me and then ripped down INTO the drainage ditch and roared past me, then one roared back up onto the bike trail while the other continued to ride at the bottom of the concrete ditch.  It doesn't happen often enough for me to be prepared with phone camera in hand so I can take photos of them as they go by.
Several months ago when a couple of these jokers approached me just south of Paseo on the trail, I jumped off my bike and held out my cell phone as though I was filming them as they roared past (It takes too long to get the camera activated, so they were in no danger), but I wanted them to worry.  The result was them really opening up their throttles and trying to get as far past me as possible.  As they got further away it sounded like they were slowing down and it occurred to me they might come back and 'whup my butt' so I slammed the phone back into the pocket and high-tailed it the other direction on MY bike, with adrenaline stoking my efforts mightily. They obviously didn't turn around after me, because adrenaline is no match for petroleum based fuel....
We need more cyclists on these trails to lessen the temptation for such things to go on.  As it is, it's entirely without consequence to roar down bicycle trails at full throttle with your motorized scooter, with no speed limits nor constabulary to worry about.

Evening Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.34 (With this old Magellan Gold GPS, all data is lost from the preceding trip when the unit is turned off.  Tomorrow I'm going back to the Garmin....)

Wednesday: Cold Ride again

Radio/GPS tracker on Jim's Bike
Yesterday was a noticeably colder ride than Monday, and today was colder yet.  This in spite of weather forecasts claiming record high temperatures.
I was getting aggravated because my Garmin 350 GPS does not have an easy to find clock display.
On the older Magellan, just a few (3 or 4 depending on where you are in the menu) keystrokes pops up a dashboard-looking screen that displays current time, directional heading, speed, distance, etc.
Not as much info as the Garmin but it DOES have a CLOCK display.  Call it a weakness.
The diversion channel was running several inches deep in water this morning.  Probably a main water leak somewhere, since we've had no snow or moisture since last week.

Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.37
(Rats, with this old Magellan Gold GPS, all data is lost from the preceding trip when the unit is turned off.
Somehow the total mileage is saved until cleared.)

Tuesday's Tin Badge

It was colder tonight than I expected.   One warm evening (Yesterday, Monday) and I'm all taking off my clothes for the warm weather.  Fairly pleasant ride anyway.
I turned east on Osuna to drop in on Jacque at her Eastern Star meeting just before they started.  That increased my total trip time a fair amount.... it was after 8 PM when I finally got home, and I didn't stop anywhere else.
I was unsaddling the bike and getting ready to start the car when a lady cop came walking around the parking lot asking me all kinds of question:
-"Did you just finish your ride?" (answer - Yes)
-"Were you sitting on the grass for a while?" (Answer - No)
-"Did you see anyone sitting in the grass?" (Answer - No)
Evidently she had just gotten a radio call from a complaining neighbor about a drunk or someone out in the grass.  She let me go without arresting me so it was all good.

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.85
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
6.5  Mph                            9.6 mph            20.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
60:12 mins                       48:51 mins          23:50 mins

The Morning After.... Valentine's Day

This morning was a typical day for a diabetic like me.  My Blood Glucose (BG) was 224 when I awoke this morning.  I wear an insulin pump, so I entered that BG value and let it decide how much to pump.  I thought it looked like a little too much, but I generally guess wrong when second-guessing the pump's computer so I hit the "GO" button and within an hour I was crashing and burning.  For you non-diabetics, that means I was getting wobbly and dizzy from LOW BG.  I checked it again when I realized I was getting loopy and it was now down to 55.  Not dangerously low, but low enough to cause confusion and "mushy" motor control of my normally-agile arms, fingers, and legs.   Forget the brain....
So, I consumed both my breakfast sandwich and some additional carbs, and within 20 minutes felt like I could tackle the world again.
During this morning's bike ride, I was head-achey and seemed to be lacking normal leg pumping strength so I assumed my BG was still low.  Not So.  As with many diabetics, the symptoms of HIGH BG and LOW BG are disturbingly similar:  I cannot "Tell for SURE" whether my symptoms indicate high OR low BG, I must prick the fingers and take a quick blood test to find out.  When I cannot take the time or opportunity to test a pin-prick blood sample, I follow the basic diabetic rule:  When in doubt, eat something sweet.  If the BG is too low it may prevent blackouts or seizures (neither of which I've ever experienced, YET, in almost 30 years of injecting insulin), and if the BG is in fact too high, raising it a bit more is less dangerous than letting it get too low.
Anyway, this morning it was 35 degrees at the house when I left, so I didn't break open any chemical hand warmers, and I didn't wear my ski face mask for the ride.  I should have.  The wind chill must have been sharper than expected, because it was uncomfortably COLD this morning.
I'd noticed a day or so ago that one of my rear fender struts was broken, allowing the fender to almost rub against the tire.  I have no way of welding aluminum so I zip-tied it with black zip-ties, which seem to last several months to a year or more out in the air and sunlight.

Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  10.0  Mph                          11.2 mph            20.6 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

44:47 mins                          39.48 mins           04.59 mins

A Warm Spring Afternoon Ride Home

What a BEAUTIFUL day.  My noon walk was warm and balmy and this evening's ride back to the car was made with only the windbreaker with the sleeves zipped off.  Noticed several more cyclists and joggers along the way.

Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.1  Mph                           10.4 mph          21.4 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
48:49 mins                   n   43.01 mins          5.48 mins

Hurray! It's a Warm Monday (relatively)

It was 35 degrees when I woke up this morning at my normal hour of 4:30.  No frost to mess with;  nice.
Didn't even wear my ski mask when I saddled up the bike this morning, and only used 1 chemical warmer in each mitten.... could have done even without that this morning.
Stopped to get a Valentine Card for my sweetie, I hoped at the hour of 7:00 AM they wouldn't have run out yet (I bought Jacque some tulips Friday night after work - They were already OUT of roses)
There were still a lot of valentine cards to choose from, but we tend to enjoy the musical ones.  The only ones they had this morning were so irritating and stupid that even I didn't want any.  Silent valentine card this year....

Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
  9.9  Mph                           11.7 mph            21.9 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

45:01 mins                          38.16 mins         06:45 mins

A few years ago I found a very old photograph of my Grandfather Clarence Melval Devenport's parents and family.  He wasn't in the photo, he was already punching cows for somebody, maybe already in New Mexico by then.  The picture surprised me because it is a fairly typical photo of a late 1890's flatland Texas ranch
setting, but the photo shows 2 or 3 bicycles leaning against the fence.  Evidently they rode bikes in addition to horses.... I will scan it and post it here soon.  Cool stuff.

Saturday Morning Note

I severely doubt I'll get time to ride a bike anywhere today.  14 degrees this morning, so cutting firewood is still "the" primary Saturday activity.
My lovely niece Dael just sent me a cool (pardon the pun)  link:
other loonies biking in winter

Friday's Evening Ride Home

The days are getting slowly longer and that, as they say, is a wonderful thing.
Another repeating mild irritation occurred:  As I doodled along through the Hahn Neighborhood, I came up behind 3 people, dressed in dark clothing, walking abreast and blocking the trail.  I called out from about 50 feet behind, "Passing on Your Left!"  Whereupon they stopped, turned around to look, then shuffled to the LEFT, so I called again, this time saying "Okay, Passing on your RIGHT".  I guess they were listening to some degree because they laughed at this statement and I passed them, on the right, without incident.What frustrates me is that all the ABQ trails have frequent signs detailing a few easily understood "Rules of the Trail":
-Keep to the Right
-Pass on the Left
All of which are routinely ignored by walkers in particular and even the occasional cyclist.  Ya wonder if people can't read, don't read, or just think they don't need to be bothered by silly signs OR rules.
I really enjoy  my radio, GPS, etc, up on the handlebars where I can view them.
A couple of issues I'm cogitation about:
-The new color Garmin 350 GPS is great, but the display is a bit too bright at night and partially night-blinds me, even though it dims itself automatically at sundown.  The whole electronics display reflects enough of my headlamp light to irritate me at night and  I'm trying to figure out how to hinge the mounting plate so I could fold them horizontal, more out of view, facing either forward or back, to minimize glare.  Maybe a better solution is to mount a headlight in FRONT of the electronics, so the headlight glare does not shine on it at all but only the view in front of the bike. I haven't had great luck with handlebar mounted lights, with the light wobbling and shining only where the handlebars happen to be aimed.
With the lamp on my helmet the light turns with my head and I have light where I'm looking , which comes in handy.  If you notice a faint smell of smoke, it's probably only my brain grinding away on such deep subjects...

Evening stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.4  Mph                           11.0 mph          21.9 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
47.255 mins                     40.39 mins          6.46 mins

TGIF Commute, Ran out of Bicycle Gas

It was noticeably warmer this morning though still very cold.  Getting more used to (and attached to) my orange tinted ski goggles.  They even do a fair job of blocking blinding sun, and they do a GREAT job of preventing my eye sockets and cheekbones from aching with pain from the cold.
I always enjoy a ham radio conversation or two during my commutes, and this morning was no different.
Checked into the SCAT (Senior Citizens And Travelers) radio net on 145.33 this morning and also talked to WB5QYT and KH6JTM on 146.58 simplex for a while.  QYT stopped talking since he had arrived at work, so Gary KH6JTM kept me company for a few more miles.  As I approached the Alameda bike underpass, I realized I was getting spacey, a sure sign of low blood sugar.  I'd been noticing it a little the last mile or so but had hoped to straggle on and make it to work before eating.  I'm very glad I stopped.  I guess Gary might have called Jacque if I'd just dropped out of the radio conversation without notice but who knows.   By the time I got stopped I was quite dizzy and confused and struggled getting the wrapper off my chocolate chip oatmeal bar.  It was near frozen and hard to chew, but I got it down.  I resumed riding immediately, and struggled for another mile before I stopped wobbling  around and started feeling human again.  Thank goodness most of my commute is on relatively empty bike trails and not city streets dodging cars....
Morning Stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed

  8.2  Mph                           9.8 mph            19.1 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

54:50 mins                          45.43 mins         09.07 mins

Warming Up, nice evening ride

I stopped along the trail  to play with the GPS (I wish it would display current time while riding) and a roller-blader passed me.  I got going and came up behind him but found he kept matching my speed and I had trouble  passing him.  I rode alongside him for about half a mile and we talked... he claimed he had made 38 MPH on his rollers during sprints.  That's almost 10 MPH faster than I'VE ever gone on my BIKE, even downhill.  He said he was running slow tonight because he had no headlight (he had blinkies on his ankles).  After I passed him, he drafted me for a couple miles, keeping up with me easily by just following my blinky tail light.
Amazing.  He works at Presbyterian and evidently keeps in good shape rollerblading...

Evening stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
8.7  Mph                         10.9 mph          22.3 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
51:05 mins                     41.02 mins         10.03 mins

Thursday, Still Cold

I had trouble with my motivation getting out of the warm car and saddling up the bike.  Loading the stuff on it, putting on all the extra cold weather gear, etc, is the least fun part of the bike commute thing.
BUT, I have found that I do not feel as energized or alive on days that I don't ride or get some kind of decent exercise.  So I rode anyway.  I dug out an extra wool face sock, which I didn't use this morning, and instead of my normal "safety glasses" I use for biking, I used my new $20 Sams Club Orange Tinted Ski Goggles, which have a foam gasket that helps keep the wind off my eyeballs, upper nose, and cheeks.  That helped a lot.

Yesterday was so cold the wind gave me a freeze headache, and my eye sockets and surrounding cheeks and skin just absolutely ached so much I had to pedal slow to keep the wind speed into my face a little slower.... which helped the face but made the rest of me colder since I wasn't generating as much body heat.
Morning Stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed

 8.5 Mph                                 10.4 mph            20.2 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

52.26 mins                             42.56 mins         09.30 mins

Wednesday Night Commute Ride

ham radio aprs bike tracker

The ride back to the car tonight was very frigid indeed.  I wore all my cold weather gear including sweat jacket, windbreaker, polar fleece skull/ear cap, ski mask, and ski mittens.  I was not wearing my turtleneck base layer shirt nor hand warmers in the mittens.  It was very cold the first 3 miles and then quickly got too hot in the chest and arms so I had to unzip both sweatshirt and windbreaker.  That made me uncomfortably cool the rest of the ride, but it was better than getting even hotter and more sweaty and then colder with more freezing sweat.
Just after I turned East off the North Diversion Channel Trail onto the Hahn Arroyo trail, I was startled to hear someone saying "Hey!"  I looked around, seeing nothing, and 3 more "HEY"s occurred before I noticed a blur to my left in the dark and it turned out to be another cyclist coming toward me, without lights, with dark clothing, and without even any reflectors.  I barely missed him as I passed since he wasn't visible until I was on top of him.  He was still spouting "Hey!" as I went past him, and I asked him sarcastically "Where's your light, Bub?"
I swear at least 3 our of 4 cyclists I meet in the dark are like this:  Totally devoid of any lights, bright clothing, or reflectors.  It must be a manly biker thing to charge through the night, relying on starlight, moonlight, passing headlights, and the occasional street light to see the path or obstacles in front of you.  Walkers are even more rarely equipped with night gear, and it's a wonder we don't have more collisions and injuries for the media to go nuts about.
I REALLY appreciate the cyclists and walkers who use lights and reflective clothing of any kind.  I've even met dog walkers with blinkies on their dogs, which is a wonderful thing at night.
Cold ride, but no ice encountered tonight..... a wonderful thing.
Evening stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
8.2  Mph                         10.6 mph          22.7 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
54:37 mins                     41.59 mins         12.38 mins

Wednesday: Cold Ride and Close Call

It was -3 degrees when I left the house this morning but I determined to ride the bike anyway.  I had to get blood drawn at the clinic at 8:00 AM, and the staff were running extremely slow this morning, so it was after 9:00 by the time I got on the bike, and it was STILL cold, very cold, in spite of having 2 hand warmers in each mitten.
Thankfully, the ice patch that downed me 2 nights ago was all dried up this morning so I didn't encounter any slippery spots.  As I approached the Osuna intersection, where bikes are forced up on the street to go through the intersection at Chappel and Osuna, I saw the light turn green as I approached.  By the time I entered the intersection (via the very narrow and sharp S-turn to get off the sidewalk and into the street), the light turned yellow.  I poured on the steam, thinking I could make the crossing before the yellow light turned to red (and the cars all do their race-car instant leaps forward) but it turned RED as I was about halfway through the last lane.  2 cars jumped forward, and I thought for sure I was going to have to stop in the middle of the street avoiding them and causing even more confusion and danger to other oncoming traffic, but they braked for me and let me through, with a couple irritated horn blasts to help me along.  Thanks, guys.... and I now know it ain't possible to make it through an intersection on a yellow light.  When the pedestrian button is not pushed, the light is so short it's difficult enough to make it through on a GREEN light.
I had thought my woolen-stockinged feet were doing remarkably well this morning but I noticed they were numb when I got to work, and they are just starting to feel fully thawed out 1.5 hours after getting inside the building.  I just noticed the "Max Speed" column on the GPS and that is normally achieved on the downhill slopes of the bike underpasses underneath Montgomery, I-25, Paseo, and Alameda.
Morning Stats from the GPS:
Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed

10.1 Mph                                 10.5 mph            20.4 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

44:09 mins                             42.31 mins         01.38 mins

Noon Walk

I didn't ride the bike today but I went for my usual noon walk down to Wildflower Park next to Honeywell, as seen courtesy of the handheld GPS/ham radio/APRS widget.  I tried to upload a fixed map of this noon trek but couldn't get it to work.

Wimp Day

It was warmer this morning and I looked forward to a good bike ride the last 7 miles to work, and opened up a 2-pack of chemical hand warmers and popped them into my ski mittens so they'd be nice and warm by the time I saddled up the bike.  As I drove through Tijeras Canyon and came into Albuquerque at the Tramway exit, I noticed how red the sky was, and the old proverb "Red Sky at Morning, Sailor Take Warning" came to mind.  That, plus the ham radio reports on the NM Breakfast Club (3.939 MHz, 6:30 - 7:30 daily) included reports of heavy snow in Window Rock, Taos, Farmington, etc, and the lowering sky looked very gloomy to the  north.
So I knew I could get in a good ride TO work this morning, but worried about how long it might take to start snowing here in Albuq.  So I wimped out and drove all the way to work.  The fall on the ice last night didn't help my attitude any, and I know full well I will miss the additional energy today that I always feel when riding the bike even that short distance.
I also noticed my rechargeable battery pack got low last night..... the ham radio on the handlebars started blinking when I tried to transmit which indicates a weak battery, and the GPS popped a low batt warning window too.  So I unplugged the external battery PowerPole (tm) connector and let the radio and GPS run on their internal batteries, and they lasted until I got the last mile to the car.  I had not charged the pack over the weekend but normally it holds up better than this.... the new color Garmin GPS just may be quite a battery hog.  Will try to test it sometime today to see just how much current it draws so I can guesstimate more accurately how long it will last.  If I was on my dream long distance bike tour this would have spelled trouble.
I have a "bottle headlight generator"  on the rear wheel modified to charge the battery while I ride but it doesn't put out enough power to do much good, so I normally don't engage it since it produces a slight but noticeable drag on the pedaling effort and a mildly irritating whine as the tire spins the generator.  I engaged it last night and charged the battery pack the last mile or so, not realizing to myself that it was doing the electronics no good, I was already running on internal batteries and disconnected from the rear battery pack / charging system.  I'm seriously looking at hub generators, but have found little information or literature on how much power they put out and whether they're worth the very high price they command ($100 or so plus you get to disassemble your existing wheel or build a brand new one using the hub....)

Took a Fall on the Ice tonight

Had a good ride from work back to the car tonight, that is, until I hit that patch of ice just west of Washington where the bike path dips just east of the North Diversion Channel junction.  I slowed down and was carefully navingating across the ice but just 2 feet shy of dry pavement my wheels slipped out from under me and I went down.  Since I wasn't going at any speed it wasn't a hard fall, just embarrassing.  Will have to walk the bike across or around such obstacles in the future.
Tonight's statistics:

Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed

7.5 Mph                                9.7 mph                     22 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

59.45 mins                             46.02 mins         13.43 mins

Monday 7 Feb Morning Commute

A bit frosty this morning.  Put 2 chemical hand warmers in each ski mitten when I got up so they would be good and warm when I mounted the bike later on the way to work.
Morning Stats from the GPS:

Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed

9.6 Mph                                 10.6 mph            21.8 mph

Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time

47:07 mins                             42.37 mins         2:51 mins

I was not delighted to find ice patches on the bike trail:  At the west facing dip just west of Washington on the Hahn Arroyo Trail, on the bike underpasses beneath Paseo and Alameda, and a few other spots I can't recall.

I didn't slip but I slowed way down and coasted across the ice where I couldn't find a narrow dry path around it.  There were several other cyclists commuting this morning, the usual lot.  I recognize them by their getups but I don't know any of their names. 
Here's my usual favorite gps-track link for my bike radio:
http://aprs.fi/w5aox-6

My Wife's Recumbent

Jacque on her bent.  This one was also built and sold to us by Sean Malone....

My current ride

Fat BackPack on the front rack, Pannier on back rack.  This bike was built by Sean Malone here in Albuquerque.  When he got interested in building another bike he sold this one to me.
I like the 26" wheels front and back so I only have to carry one spare tube.
I added the dual-prong kickstand which works very well on this tall bike.  I had to add about 3-4" extensions so it would actually reach the ground when I engage it.

Last Week's Cold Rides

I recently installed a new GPS / radio setup on the recumbent.  This GPS is an already-dated Garmin 350, but it works just like the newer Garmins we have in our cars... a color display of the area I'm riding in AND, through an adapter cable, it reports my positions every minute to the internet through the Ham Radio APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) network.

Here's a very fuzzy cell photo of the rider's view of this system.
One of the things I noticed was the available data at the end of the ride.
Here's this week's Ride Data:
Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed
8.7 Mph                                 10.8 mph            20.2 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
51:21 mins                             41:30 mins         9:51 mins
Going Back to Car log same day
Overall average speed    Moving Avg         Max Speed
9.3 Mph                                 9.9 mph            18.3 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
48:07 mins                             45.16 mins         2:51 mins
Tuesday 1 Feb 2011 0 degrees and snow, drove all the way to work
Wednesday 2 Feb 2011 Below Zero, ice, drove all the way to work
Thursday  3 feb 2011 still zero-ish weather, no bike ride
Friday 4 Feb 2011 Rode with Jacque, too cold to get motivated to load rack & bike on her Explorer

Introductory Baloney

Well, everybody but me seems to have a blog.  I constantly watch for bicycling blogs in the Albuquerque area, but so far have not found any with recent, regular, entries.
My main purposes for this blog:
-Maintain a journal-type blog where my friends and loved ones can get clues as to my weirdness
-I'm getting up in years and want to provide documentation of the times I live in so my kids and grandkids can "Look Me Up".
-Hopefully provide a running commentary on the state of commuter and recreational cycling in the Albuquerque NM area
In years past I have done a better job of keeping written journals.  I must have at least 12 volumes of handwritten journals, 40 or so pages of entries printed out from my Commodore 64 days, and a spiral notebook containing the handwrtten story of my life up to about the 1980's.
For several years I worked to transfer my written journals to my web page but recent concerns about identity theft convinced me to stop that.  We'll see fi I can avoid giving out sufficient information on this medium for anyone to do more than hassle me personally, without undue financial consequence, shall we say.
I've been interested in bicycles about as long as I've been interested in radio and electronics, which means about as far back as I can remember.  My first memory of a bicycle is when I lived in Lovington NM as a child.  My father worked as a carpenter, building everything from matchboxes to houses.  His motto was "If it's Wood, I Can Make It."  One day brought home a used bicycle, with both tires flat.  He tried to get me to get up on it and try riding it, but I couldn't see how I could do it.  Not only did I not yet know how to ride a bbike, but the wheels would barely turn while flat, and I gave up easily.  I don't recall what happened to that bike, but he didn't try to air up the tires or help me figure out how to ride.  Other Dads took their boys hunting, taught them things like how to tie a tie, ride a bike, shoot a gun etc.
My Dad was great about many such things as teaching me how to work (mostly by taking me to work with him much too often for my tastes), how to use some tools, and how to drive.  When I was a tyke, he would let me sit on his lap and steer the truck (He always drove a pickup truck, all Fords).  As I grew and my feet got long enough to touch the pedals he would let me drive often, even on the Mother Road, old Route 66, as he drove between home in Bluewater and his shop in Milan, NM, just west of Grants.
He likely figured he had tried the one time to get me on a bike and he was now too busy.  I learned to ride a bike, without training wheels, at my Uncle TD Devenport's ranch hear Hereford, Texas.  We spent a week there visiting when I was about 6 years old and my cousins Darel and Ron had good bikes, kid sized, with AIR in the tires, and they freely allowed me and my brother George to practice riding all we wanted.
After several days of wobbling around their yard and falling down, etc, I well remember that thrill as I first realized how to balance myself and stay upright on the bike.
I bought a cheap 10-speed when I got home from Viet Nam in 1970 and used it exclusively for commuting to classes while my wife kept the only car at home for her transportation needs.  I always loved the feel of speed under my own power and the wind in my face as I rode.
Years later, when we moved to Los Alamos for several years, I blew $400-something of my per diem money to buy a brand new Diamond Back mountain bike andx rode most days, summer and winter, to work.
When we lived in White Rock and I worked at TA-46 it was 6 or so miles uphill going to work and a screaming downhill ride going home.  Needless to say, the uphill ride was uncomfortably warm in the summer and the downhill ride was painfully cold in the winter.
When we moved from Los Alamos to Moriarty in 1994, I commuted 101 miles each way to work and thus was unable to ride the bike.  I endured a divorce and remarried and my new wife always questioned why I didn't "Throw that old bike in the trash.  You've never ridden it...."  Little did she know how nutty I get about bike riding.  I started riding part-way to work, again, about 4 years ago, starting by new tires and flushing out the rust on my 30-year old Diamond Back.  Now my wife tends to occasionally complain because I leave home so early and get home so late (so as to allow time to ride the bike the last 7 miles in town).
More later... laptop battery is getting low and I need to make some firewood runs to replenish the woodpile outside in this unusually cold winter.