Missed a Lot of Positions, but a trail nonetheless
I took another new route for a bike ride today. Our mud road is almost dried, so I was able to ride/push the bike down the mile mudway to the pavement and rode east on Frost Road. I thought I'd ride to the intersection of Frost Road and Road 344 (which goes south to Edgewood) and decide then whether to ride farther east on 472 to Stanley, 344 south to Edgewood, or turn around and return home.
I decided I needed to ride to the Edgewood Wal-Mart and see if they had any bike gloves in my size.
When I got there I cruised the area looking for a bike rack, but of course, found none.
So, I locked the bike up to a metal snack-break table just outside the entry. I decided to leave my "stuff" outside on the bike and trust that no oone would even see or notice it. Just as I walked away from the bike, a homeless-looking dude came out of the store and went right over to the bike, looked it over, and sat down next to it. I watched him for several minutes from around the corner to see if he had any larcenous tendencies, but he seemed safe after a few minutes so I went on inside.
As for my luck finding new gloves, which I desperately need: Every Wal-Mart or other bike accessory vendor seems to have at most 1 or 2 pair of bike gloves, the largest being large or XL, neither of which are large enough to fit my hands. This one was the same story in spite of having a much larger bike accessory selection than most stores. So it was a wasted shopping trip but a great aerobic exercise endeavor.
They had a McDonalds booth-store inside so I decided to carb up with a chicken sandwich, which only reinforced my low opinion of Mickey D's service and sandwiches.
When I readied to leave, I asked the GPS about the shortest route home and it claimed going on into Edgewood and taking "Historic Route 66" was the shorter route. So I went that way. When I got home I found over half my route was NOT reported on the internet APRS track. Oh Well. At least I was still moving, albeit slowly, when I got home. Total time was right at 5 hours, this route includes several long slow climbs, and the altitude is higher than ABQ by at least more than a thousand feet most of the way.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Pre-Ride BG: 115 Post-Ride BG: 169
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7 Ending Voltage: 12.3
Start-Ride Temperature: 55 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 26.29
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
06.0 Mph 8.2 mph 32.4 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
4 hours 21 mins 3 hours 12 mins 1 hour 8 mins
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wimpy Monday: 13 Miles
Today's nice but farily short ride
Hitched another ride into Albuquerque this morning with Jacque. I rode down the familiar bike path but turned south just past Carlisle and wound around through a few neighborhoods and parking lots trying to find a non-high-speed automotive route to get to our credit union. Finally had to go back to Carlisle, which has no bike lane, and rode the sidewalk (dangerous enough in itself) up to Candelaria where the bank was located.
Then I rode west on Candelaria to the Northbound entry to the North Diversion Channel trail and rode back to the Hahn Arroyo trail and east back towards Jacque. She called about the time I got to Pennsylvania and said she was going to a nearby church office and I told her I would ride east on Indian School, which has a bike lane, to meet her there. She got out earlier than I could arrive there and was taking a oatmeal-bar break when she called and said she was ready. So I talked her into just coming on down Indian School to intercept me where I was and could then load the bike on the rear rack and ride from there with her.
I had a soft rear tire a few days ago and got tired of pumping it up every day. I took the tire off and looked foor the leak and found one big one and 2 or 3 micro-leaks caused by small steel wires that evidently are thrown into the roadway from passing truck tires. The biggest leak was right through the middle of a big patch I put on last year.... I have no trust nor faith in a patch on top of another patch so I discarded the tube, though not very old, and installed the new spare tube I've been carrying around for a year or two.
While re-mounting the tube inside the tire, I noticed the rear wheel bearing was tight, "growly", and would barely turn by hand. So I had to disassemble the cassette and the bearings and clean and pack them... again,.
Oh, yeah...... As I worked on the tire and tube I noted with alarm that my about-a-year-old tire was cracking. So I need new tires now as well as another thornproof tube, which is not easy to find in the 26 X 1.90 size. I've had more than one salesman at various bike shops try to sell me a too-large tube since they didn't stock the correct size. Any 10-year old with any bike experience can tell you truly: You can't get away with putting a size-larger tube inside a bike tire. The tube will develop kinks and folds when aired up that will develop fatal leaks in a very short time.
After all that I had to re adjust the rear shifting mechanism and today was the first time I'd ridden it with the new tube. It doesn't want to shift into the highest gear so I need to do some more adjusting on that rear derailleur lever.
Pre-Ride BG: 99 Post-Ride BG: 94
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4 Ending Voltage: 12.3
Start-Ride Temperature: 37 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 13.09
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
07.0 Mph 9.3 mph 18.0 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hours 52 mins 1 hours 24 mins 27 mins 11 secs
Hitched another ride into Albuquerque this morning with Jacque. I rode down the familiar bike path but turned south just past Carlisle and wound around through a few neighborhoods and parking lots trying to find a non-high-speed automotive route to get to our credit union. Finally had to go back to Carlisle, which has no bike lane, and rode the sidewalk (dangerous enough in itself) up to Candelaria where the bank was located.
Then I rode west on Candelaria to the Northbound entry to the North Diversion Channel trail and rode back to the Hahn Arroyo trail and east back towards Jacque. She called about the time I got to Pennsylvania and said she was going to a nearby church office and I told her I would ride east on Indian School, which has a bike lane, to meet her there. She got out earlier than I could arrive there and was taking a oatmeal-bar break when she called and said she was ready. So I talked her into just coming on down Indian School to intercept me where I was and could then load the bike on the rear rack and ride from there with her.
I had a soft rear tire a few days ago and got tired of pumping it up every day. I took the tire off and looked foor the leak and found one big one and 2 or 3 micro-leaks caused by small steel wires that evidently are thrown into the roadway from passing truck tires. The biggest leak was right through the middle of a big patch I put on last year.... I have no trust nor faith in a patch on top of another patch so I discarded the tube, though not very old, and installed the new spare tube I've been carrying around for a year or two.
While re-mounting the tube inside the tire, I noticed the rear wheel bearing was tight, "growly", and would barely turn by hand. So I had to disassemble the cassette and the bearings and clean and pack them... again,.
Oh, yeah...... As I worked on the tire and tube I noted with alarm that my about-a-year-old tire was cracking. So I need new tires now as well as another thornproof tube, which is not easy to find in the 26 X 1.90 size. I've had more than one salesman at various bike shops try to sell me a too-large tube since they didn't stock the correct size. Any 10-year old with any bike experience can tell you truly: You can't get away with putting a size-larger tube inside a bike tire. The tube will develop kinks and folds when aired up that will develop fatal leaks in a very short time.
After all that I had to re adjust the rear shifting mechanism and today was the first time I'd ridden it with the new tube. It doesn't want to shift into the highest gear so I need to do some more adjusting on that rear derailleur lever.
Pre-Ride BG: 99 Post-Ride BG: 94
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4 Ending Voltage: 12.3
Start-Ride Temperature: 37 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 13.09
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
07.0 Mph 9.3 mph 18.0 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hours 52 mins 1 hours 24 mins 27 mins 11 secs
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday Winding Through Tijeras Canyon
Wednesday APRS tracking - Partial for some reason
I had quasi-planned to hitch a ride with Jacque into Albuquerque today and ride around on the bike while she attended to her knee doctor appointment. Howsomever, her appointment was at 8:30 and I messed around until it was too late: If she'd have waited for me, as she was willing to do, she would have been unforgivably late. So I told her to go without me, after which I saddled up and rode the bike all the way to ABQ. I had just loaded up and remembered my squishy tire from yesterday.... it was even softer today. I figured it would hold up with just a good solid 60 pounds of pressure inside, so I aired it up and took off. It did last fine, but I DO need to get that rear (of course, the easy-to-remove front tire rarely has a flat on any bike for some reason) tire removed and patched. It was almost 8:30 when I left, but we had a good hard freeze last night and I hoped the mud and greasy ruts on our mile of miserable dirt road would be frozen hard enough to get through without everything being coated with several inches of mud. We also had a little dusting of snow last night so it was a good thing I got off on still-frozen roadway or it would have been even MORE messy than the last few days.
Things were complicated a bit by the fact Jacque left her cell phone at home. She called in on her ham radio and told me this, and I asked her to check in with me at each of her errand-stops around town so I could figure out where she was when I finally arrived on the 2-wheeler. I popped her cell phone in my other pocket, confident we would be able to find each other and she would get her phone back and I would get a leisurely ride back to the house, which is a pretty daunting climb in that direction. I've never made this return trip completely. The one time I tried was a couple years ago on a Saturday and was the first time I rode all the way into town. That time I stopped right at the ABQ city limits and turned around and rode back towards home, but only made it a couple miles up the second hill north of Tijeras.
I stayed off the still-snowy and icey bike path paralleling Frost Road and just rode up on the main road on the shoulder, riding in the main roadway when there were no cars in my rear view and taking the shoulder as soon as a car appeared in the distance behind me. No problems. Going south on N-14 towards Tijeras is always dicey, in my mind, because the first 2 or 3 miles is so steep I barely crawl along much of the way and feel too helpless at such slow speeds to try riding in the right hand road lane, although I have done just that, a couple times. So I used the decrepit bike lane to the top of what we call "Marco Polo Hill" (so called because there used to be a little pizza parlor dive almost at the top of this hill.) Of course, it was full of gravel and cinders from all the snow plowing activity we've had all winter, and of course up in the shady tree line it still had lumpy snow and ice covering the path, so instead of huffing all the way to the top I had to get off and push the bike the last quarter mile or so. I don't like falling down, is the reason.... bah.
Then, o'course, at the top of the hill it's downhill for about 3 solid miles and trying to ride that nasty surface at speed is asking for a wreck. So I always cross the 4-lane road and ride the main road all the way to Tijeras, pedaling only about half the time when my speeds get below about 22 MPH, and just coasting my speeds have been 37+ MPH a few times. I believe I hit 29 today.... wheeee.
I was approaching Carnuel on Old Route 66 when a strange number rang my cell phone... it was Jacque on a friend's cell whom she'd met at one of her store-stops. They had decided we were going to lunch at Village Inn. When I arrived I(almost an hour before the ladies showed up) I remembered it was my son Jake's birthday so I called him from the restaurant and found he wasn't already committed so I offered to buy him lunch if he's show up, so he did. Great visit. My 10% senior discount came in handy at check-out time, too, since 3 of the 4 of us were "over 60" and I only had to pay full fare for the one youngster, Jake, who turned 39 today. May he be able to maintain that age as long as Jack Benny did.
I had quasi-planned to hitch a ride with Jacque into Albuquerque today and ride around on the bike while she attended to her knee doctor appointment. Howsomever, her appointment was at 8:30 and I messed around until it was too late: If she'd have waited for me, as she was willing to do, she would have been unforgivably late. So I told her to go without me, after which I saddled up and rode the bike all the way to ABQ. I had just loaded up and remembered my squishy tire from yesterday.... it was even softer today. I figured it would hold up with just a good solid 60 pounds of pressure inside, so I aired it up and took off. It did last fine, but I DO need to get that rear (of course, the easy-to-remove front tire rarely has a flat on any bike for some reason) tire removed and patched. It was almost 8:30 when I left, but we had a good hard freeze last night and I hoped the mud and greasy ruts on our mile of miserable dirt road would be frozen hard enough to get through without everything being coated with several inches of mud. We also had a little dusting of snow last night so it was a good thing I got off on still-frozen roadway or it would have been even MORE messy than the last few days.
Things were complicated a bit by the fact Jacque left her cell phone at home. She called in on her ham radio and told me this, and I asked her to check in with me at each of her errand-stops around town so I could figure out where she was when I finally arrived on the 2-wheeler. I popped her cell phone in my other pocket, confident we would be able to find each other and she would get her phone back and I would get a leisurely ride back to the house, which is a pretty daunting climb in that direction. I've never made this return trip completely. The one time I tried was a couple years ago on a Saturday and was the first time I rode all the way into town. That time I stopped right at the ABQ city limits and turned around and rode back towards home, but only made it a couple miles up the second hill north of Tijeras.
I stayed off the still-snowy and icey bike path paralleling Frost Road and just rode up on the main road on the shoulder, riding in the main roadway when there were no cars in my rear view and taking the shoulder as soon as a car appeared in the distance behind me. No problems. Going south on N-14 towards Tijeras is always dicey, in my mind, because the first 2 or 3 miles is so steep I barely crawl along much of the way and feel too helpless at such slow speeds to try riding in the right hand road lane, although I have done just that, a couple times. So I used the decrepit bike lane to the top of what we call "Marco Polo Hill" (so called because there used to be a little pizza parlor dive almost at the top of this hill.) Of course, it was full of gravel and cinders from all the snow plowing activity we've had all winter, and of course up in the shady tree line it still had lumpy snow and ice covering the path, so instead of huffing all the way to the top I had to get off and push the bike the last quarter mile or so. I don't like falling down, is the reason.... bah.
Then, o'course, at the top of the hill it's downhill for about 3 solid miles and trying to ride that nasty surface at speed is asking for a wreck. So I always cross the 4-lane road and ride the main road all the way to Tijeras, pedaling only about half the time when my speeds get below about 22 MPH, and just coasting my speeds have been 37+ MPH a few times. I believe I hit 29 today.... wheeee.
I was approaching Carnuel on Old Route 66 when a strange number rang my cell phone... it was Jacque on a friend's cell whom she'd met at one of her store-stops. They had decided we were going to lunch at Village Inn. When I arrived I(almost an hour before the ladies showed up) I remembered it was my son Jake's birthday so I called him from the restaurant and found he wasn't already committed so I offered to buy him lunch if he's show up, so he did. Great visit. My 10% senior discount came in handy at check-out time, too, since 3 of the 4 of us were "over 60" and I only had to pay full fare for the one youngster, Jake, who turned 39 today. May he be able to maintain that age as long as Jack Benny did.
Monday, January 23, 2012
32-Mile Monday Madness
Bosque Trail Tracking, not badI finally got in a good long ride today along one of my favorite bicycle touring routes: The Rio Grande Bosque Trail;. This trail runs with very little grade from Alameda on the north end to the South Valley on the other, with a big loop around the South Valley junk yards and the old Albuquerque Raceway 1/2 mile track.
Tinkerbell the WonderDog rode with me, and was a great traveling companera as usual. I at first bungeed a basket on my front cargo rack, put a foam wooly pad in the bottom for her to sit on, and off we went. We hadn't made our first hundred yards before I realized my rear tire was STILL low in air pressure and it would be ruined if I continued to ride with it. I mentally kicked myself for not stopping by our shed containing the monster air compressor and inflating both tires before leaving the house. Then I remembered I had CO2 cartridges and a CO2 pocket inflator in the tool puch on the pannier. So ff we went again, but then poor Tink started teetering to the left, finally getting dumped from the now-sideways basket and dangling from her restraining harness. I dug tools out of my pannier and zip-tied the basket back in place and this time it stayed put. No more bike troubles after that, thankfully.
I first rode south from the central parking at the ABQ Bio Park since I wanted to try riding the complete southern loop of this trail, even though it's graffiti country and the scenery can be a bit lowbrow at times. Warning to fellow trail riders: This trail is ROUGH just south of Tingley Beach and I had to slow down and gear down to avoid feared damage to the bike from the multitudinous pavement buckles and pot-holes along this route. It actually smooths out the farther south you go, perhaps because most of the fissures and crumples in the pavement seem to occur in the tree-lined sections of the path right next to the irrigation canals, and when you get out of the heavy tree area the pavement seems to smooth out.
It turned off just cold enough to be slightly uncomfortable most of the ride. I could have stopped and added a layer but I feared I would immediately get overheated and sweaty so I rode on. I did stop and exchange my fingered light duty bike gloves for mittens out of the pannier. This improved the comfort level of the pinkies dramatically. It was a bit cloudy and overcast, and the sun peeked out for only about a fourth of the bike ride, which lasted almost 5 hours. We made the southern loop and returned back north on the trail, with most passersby commenting on the cute dog in the "crow's nest" up front. She LOVES this kind of riding around, with her being up front and being able to see everything we encounter, watch all the other people and doggies go by, and snarl occasionally at a select few. I didn't actually hear her snarl at anything or anyone this trip. All good. She only looks back at me when she hears me talking to her or others. Today she turned to look at me and whined a couple times so we stopped and "took a walk in the bushes", which resulted in a tinkle.
Tink then seemed happy for only a couple more miles before she started looking at me and whining again. I tried to talk her into holding on for just a couple more miles but her pleading got to me so we stopped again.
This time she did both #1 and #2, and complained no more afterwards. Those owning doggies know how much they relish taking long naps every hour or so - I was amazed Tink held up in such good humor all through the hours-long bike ride. Of course, as soon as we got back to the vehicle she immediately crawled into her elevated car seat and clonked out, big time.
I went through a few carbs this trip. I stuffed some chocolate donuts before leaving. When we got to the southern end of the route, we stopped for a water break and I checked my blood glucose. It was about 100 so I ate my only Nutrageous candy bar and rode on. When we got back to Bridge Street we side-tracked over to the nearby Sonic and shared a chicken sandwich with each other. Yum. Blood glucose was at 116 by then. When we got home with no further snacks my BG was 100, again.
We rode the new Rio Grande Multi-Use Path Bridge over to Coors, which must be close to half a mile up a slight grade going west. WARNING: Coming back east it is downhill and tempting to cruise, but slow down - the surface is ridged which results in bad vibrations at any speed over a few MPH. Too bad. Maybe it was purposely designed to slow down cyclists so we don't hit the wall on the east side when we suddenly encounter 2 sharp hairpin turns on the east end of the bridge. Who comes up with such obstacle-course bike trail designs anyway? Bouncy rattley wooden-plank-surfaced bridges, car barriers that block anything but short bikes (and force ALL bikes to stop and crow-hop around), hairpin turns.... sigh. BAH
Verdict: Great ride, a bit too cold for comfort, but who cares.
Pre-Ride BG: 158 Post-Ride BG: 100
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.1
Start-Ride Temperature: 41 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 32.15
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
07.0 Mph 9.7 mph 21.7 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
4 hours 34 mins 3 hours 18 mins 1 hour 16 mins
Tinkerbell the WonderDog rode with me, and was a great traveling companera as usual. I at first bungeed a basket on my front cargo rack, put a foam wooly pad in the bottom for her to sit on, and off we went. We hadn't made our first hundred yards before I realized my rear tire was STILL low in air pressure and it would be ruined if I continued to ride with it. I mentally kicked myself for not stopping by our shed containing the monster air compressor and inflating both tires before leaving the house. Then I remembered I had CO2 cartridges and a CO2 pocket inflator in the tool puch on the pannier. So ff we went again, but then poor Tink started teetering to the left, finally getting dumped from the now-sideways basket and dangling from her restraining harness. I dug tools out of my pannier and zip-tied the basket back in place and this time it stayed put. No more bike troubles after that, thankfully.
I first rode south from the central parking at the ABQ Bio Park since I wanted to try riding the complete southern loop of this trail, even though it's graffiti country and the scenery can be a bit lowbrow at times. Warning to fellow trail riders: This trail is ROUGH just south of Tingley Beach and I had to slow down and gear down to avoid feared damage to the bike from the multitudinous pavement buckles and pot-holes along this route. It actually smooths out the farther south you go, perhaps because most of the fissures and crumples in the pavement seem to occur in the tree-lined sections of the path right next to the irrigation canals, and when you get out of the heavy tree area the pavement seems to smooth out.
It turned off just cold enough to be slightly uncomfortable most of the ride. I could have stopped and added a layer but I feared I would immediately get overheated and sweaty so I rode on. I did stop and exchange my fingered light duty bike gloves for mittens out of the pannier. This improved the comfort level of the pinkies dramatically. It was a bit cloudy and overcast, and the sun peeked out for only about a fourth of the bike ride, which lasted almost 5 hours. We made the southern loop and returned back north on the trail, with most passersby commenting on the cute dog in the "crow's nest" up front. She LOVES this kind of riding around, with her being up front and being able to see everything we encounter, watch all the other people and doggies go by, and snarl occasionally at a select few. I didn't actually hear her snarl at anything or anyone this trip. All good. She only looks back at me when she hears me talking to her or others. Today she turned to look at me and whined a couple times so we stopped and "took a walk in the bushes", which resulted in a tinkle.
Tink then seemed happy for only a couple more miles before she started looking at me and whining again. I tried to talk her into holding on for just a couple more miles but her pleading got to me so we stopped again.
This time she did both #1 and #2, and complained no more afterwards. Those owning doggies know how much they relish taking long naps every hour or so - I was amazed Tink held up in such good humor all through the hours-long bike ride. Of course, as soon as we got back to the vehicle she immediately crawled into her elevated car seat and clonked out, big time.
I went through a few carbs this trip. I stuffed some chocolate donuts before leaving. When we got to the southern end of the route, we stopped for a water break and I checked my blood glucose. It was about 100 so I ate my only Nutrageous candy bar and rode on. When we got back to Bridge Street we side-tracked over to the nearby Sonic and shared a chicken sandwich with each other. Yum. Blood glucose was at 116 by then. When we got home with no further snacks my BG was 100, again.
We rode the new Rio Grande Multi-Use Path Bridge over to Coors, which must be close to half a mile up a slight grade going west. WARNING: Coming back east it is downhill and tempting to cruise, but slow down - the surface is ridged which results in bad vibrations at any speed over a few MPH. Too bad. Maybe it was purposely designed to slow down cyclists so we don't hit the wall on the east side when we suddenly encounter 2 sharp hairpin turns on the east end of the bridge. Who comes up with such obstacle-course bike trail designs anyway? Bouncy rattley wooden-plank-surfaced bridges, car barriers that block anything but short bikes (and force ALL bikes to stop and crow-hop around), hairpin turns.... sigh. BAH
Verdict: Great ride, a bit too cold for comfort, but who cares.
Pre-Ride BG: 158 Post-Ride BG: 100
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.1
Start-Ride Temperature: 41 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 32.15
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
07.0 Mph 9.7 mph 21.7 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
4 hours 34 mins 3 hours 18 mins 1 hour 16 mins
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday Fourteen Miler
Friday Cross Town Track
I hitched another ride to town with Jacque this morning and cruised around on the bike while Jacque did her water aerobics. Since I hadn't any breakfast yet, I first rode east to the Sonic on Eubank and purchased myself a chili cheese dog for breakfast, with extra onions. Yummy. Didn't pump any additional bolus insulin for it either. Which must have been a pretty good guess since the blood glucose was 57 when I finished the ride. I just rode Constitution west to Stanford, north to Indian School, until my clock informed me I only had a half hour left before Jacque completed her jumping-around-in-the-water exercise routines. Then I turned on my voice-guidance GPS to get me back to Eubank in the fastest route.
Trouble is, the GPS didn't seem know about the adjacent bicycle path even though it was in "bicycle mode". I was following its directions when I noticed an entry to a bike path I'd not known about before. Turns out there is a large narrow park adjacent to the I-40 retaining wall that goes from San Pedro almost to Louisiana.... maybe all the way there. I was on my way across the I-40 bike bridge when Jacque called and said I could meet her at the Wal-Mart parking lot. When I arrived I just barely got the bike unloaded and mounted on the Exploder's bike rack when she came sauntering out of Wally World. Very good timing and I got in 14 miles today. Cool.
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 149 Post-Ride BG: 57
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Start-Ride Temperature: 44 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 14.27
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
06.9 Mph 9.1 mph 21.0 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 4 mins 1 hour 33 mins 30 mins 24 secs
I hitched another ride to town with Jacque this morning and cruised around on the bike while Jacque did her water aerobics. Since I hadn't any breakfast yet, I first rode east to the Sonic on Eubank and purchased myself a chili cheese dog for breakfast, with extra onions. Yummy. Didn't pump any additional bolus insulin for it either. Which must have been a pretty good guess since the blood glucose was 57 when I finished the ride. I just rode Constitution west to Stanford, north to Indian School, until my clock informed me I only had a half hour left before Jacque completed her jumping-around-in-the-water exercise routines. Then I turned on my voice-guidance GPS to get me back to Eubank in the fastest route.
Trouble is, the GPS didn't seem know about the adjacent bicycle path even though it was in "bicycle mode". I was following its directions when I noticed an entry to a bike path I'd not known about before. Turns out there is a large narrow park adjacent to the I-40 retaining wall that goes from San Pedro almost to Louisiana.... maybe all the way there. I was on my way across the I-40 bike bridge when Jacque called and said I could meet her at the Wal-Mart parking lot. When I arrived I just barely got the bike unloaded and mounted on the Exploder's bike rack when she came sauntering out of Wally World. Very good timing and I got in 14 miles today. Cool.
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 149 Post-Ride BG: 57
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Start-Ride Temperature: 44 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 14.27
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
06.9 Mph 9.1 mph 21.0 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 4 mins 1 hour 33 mins 30 mins 24 secs
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Twelve-Mile Thursday
Tijeras Canyon Tracking - Hard to report positions in here
Enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day and a very pleasant ride through Tijeras Canyon via Old Route 66 this morning.
Jacque was going into town for errands and I wanted some new cycling gloves and a new saw chain for my noisy gas-burning handheld firewood-cutting machine (Stihl). We decided I'd hitch a ride down the hill with her to Tijeras, and I'd ride from there into Albuquerque while she drove and did errands. Thenceforth we'd meet somewhere and drive back home together.
We decided the bike AND the Exploder were much too loaded with mud, dried and otherwise, so we jogged just east of Tijeras for the quarter-gobbling car wash there. After only investing $1.75 worth of quarters for 4 precious minutes of high pressure water, I got the clumps off the bike and much of the wheel-well globs cleared off the Exploder. I unloaded the bike there; Jacque took off for Albuquerque at a much more rapid pace than I did.
Old 66 is quite a pleasant ride. No wonder so many Albuquerque-ites ride their bikes out here in spite of the occasional roughness of the road, lack of shoulder in spots, etc. The grades are just enough to keep you from getting lazy. There was a bit of an unwelcome eastbound wind in my face much of the trip, but not enough to deter enjoyment of the open road on an open bike under your own steam.
We decided to meet at the Eubank dog park, which was a bit too early in the shopping cycle for me: I could have ridden around metro NE Albuquerque probably for an extra hour on the pedals had I planned it out better, Still a great ride, and we got home in time to get some actual work done (eternal firewood cutting for me, it's still January and no telling when another big dump of snow and ice might hit us and bury the woodpile.)
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 165 Post-Ride BG: 85
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.3 Ending Voltage: 12.2
Start-Ride Temperature: 48 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.84
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
08.8 Mph 11.8 mph 22.7 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 21 mins 1 hour 00 mins 20 mins 46 secs
Enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day and a very pleasant ride through Tijeras Canyon via Old Route 66 this morning.
Jacque was going into town for errands and I wanted some new cycling gloves and a new saw chain for my noisy gas-burning handheld firewood-cutting machine (Stihl). We decided I'd hitch a ride down the hill with her to Tijeras, and I'd ride from there into Albuquerque while she drove and did errands. Thenceforth we'd meet somewhere and drive back home together.
We decided the bike AND the Exploder were much too loaded with mud, dried and otherwise, so we jogged just east of Tijeras for the quarter-gobbling car wash there. After only investing $1.75 worth of quarters for 4 precious minutes of high pressure water, I got the clumps off the bike and much of the wheel-well globs cleared off the Exploder. I unloaded the bike there; Jacque took off for Albuquerque at a much more rapid pace than I did.
Old 66 is quite a pleasant ride. No wonder so many Albuquerque-ites ride their bikes out here in spite of the occasional roughness of the road, lack of shoulder in spots, etc. The grades are just enough to keep you from getting lazy. There was a bit of an unwelcome eastbound wind in my face much of the trip, but not enough to deter enjoyment of the open road on an open bike under your own steam.
We decided to meet at the Eubank dog park, which was a bit too early in the shopping cycle for me: I could have ridden around metro NE Albuquerque probably for an extra hour on the pedals had I planned it out better, Still a great ride, and we got home in time to get some actual work done (eternal firewood cutting for me, it's still January and no telling when another big dump of snow and ice might hit us and bury the woodpile.)
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 165 Post-Ride BG: 85
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.3 Ending Voltage: 12.2
Start-Ride Temperature: 48 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.84
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
08.8 Mph 11.8 mph 22.7 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 21 mins 1 hour 00 mins 20 mins 46 secs
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Good Exercise but a Short Ride in the Mud and Snow
this tracking system was blacked out in protest of SOPA this day
Ever since I lost my job I've been trying to reorganize my biking habits so I can keep up with my favorite form of exercise: Biking. I have not done well.
The day I was terminated I almost went on an around-Albuquerque loop since my immediate thought was "Well, I always think about it and today I have the time", but instead went home to break the nasty news to Jacque who for some reason experienced a typical feminine reaction: WHAT?????? EEEK----"
I've quasi-planned and almost ridden every day since then (not quite a week yet) but today was the first time I've actually gotten on the recumbent and ridden it/ I decided, although it is a very short ride and thus less enjoyable, that I'd ride the 3 miles to the Post Office and back to pick up the mail. Unfortunately, the first mile going out from the house and the last mile coming back is slippery slimey icky mud. The dirt road is starting to solidify and dry out in various spots but has lengthy bogs yet that made a MESS of my wheels, brakes, and fenders.
I slogged through this slop and decided, by the time I got to the pavement of Frost Road, that I was NOT going to slog back through it. I planned to hide the bike in the trees and walk back up to the house and bring back either my car or Jacque's Ford Exploder - both having bike racks in place - to bring the bike back to the house with less mess stress.
I wish I'd taken the cheapie micro-video camera along. I'm never crazy about riding on road shoulders, and the distance from our ramp onto Frost Road and the fairly new bike path is about a quarter mile. Everything was so muddy I had trouble finding the entrance to the bike path but finally got on it, dodging rocks, dirt, and gravel -- it obviously has seen little use since the winter snows began. Almost immediately I encountered solid banks of frozen snow and ice blocking the path for 2-30 feet or more, forcing me to dismount and frog-walk the bike to the next patch of path pavement wide enough to permit actual riding. After about a mile and a half of this foolishness - thinking each time I frogged across a patch of crusty snow that surely the rest of the way would be thawed and open - I almost kicked myself for not thinking to just cross over to the roadway of Frost Road and ride the shoulder-path the rest of the way to the Post Office. When I did so the trip turned into a nice ride with clear road and dry pavement, with the occasional pot hole to deal with, of course. When you see cyclists riding on the main road right next to a well known bike path and wonder why, I can assure you: Riding in the roadway and dodging cars is usually safer than dealing with the typical problems on a bike path, including but not limited to walkers and joggers with blaring ear-buds, cracks and pot-holes that threaten to break a tire, throw you off the road, etc. Even the "bike lane" striped shoulders are often clogged with rocks, car parts, tiny steel wires from radial tires that imbed your bike tires and sometimes ruin them, etc.
So that's why so many of us ride up on the roadway dodging the petroleum powered behemoths.
By the time I got to the Post Office I was overheated and then some. I was only wearing a sleeveless vest and my reflective green-yellow vest on top of that but I peeled off the vest and put only the reflective vest back on for the return ride. I immediately ran into a quite cold headwind that made me regret removing my layers, but I kept going anyway, knowing on the uphill pulls I'd warm up again.
When I got to my drop-off for our dirt/mud masterpiece road, I rolled down about a hundred feet from the pavement and leaned the bike into a tree clump and walked up to the house through the mud, drove Jacque's Exploder back through the mud, and rescued the bike.
Lesson Learned: Forget about the bike path(s) in the East Mountains in the wintertime for weeks after snowfall. Ride the main road like all the other cyclists do.
Ever since I lost my job I've been trying to reorganize my biking habits so I can keep up with my favorite form of exercise: Biking. I have not done well.
The day I was terminated I almost went on an around-Albuquerque loop since my immediate thought was "Well, I always think about it and today I have the time", but instead went home to break the nasty news to Jacque who for some reason experienced a typical feminine reaction: WHAT?????? EEEK----"
I've quasi-planned and almost ridden every day since then (not quite a week yet) but today was the first time I've actually gotten on the recumbent and ridden it/ I decided, although it is a very short ride and thus less enjoyable, that I'd ride the 3 miles to the Post Office and back to pick up the mail. Unfortunately, the first mile going out from the house and the last mile coming back is slippery slimey icky mud. The dirt road is starting to solidify and dry out in various spots but has lengthy bogs yet that made a MESS of my wheels, brakes, and fenders.
I slogged through this slop and decided, by the time I got to the pavement of Frost Road, that I was NOT going to slog back through it. I planned to hide the bike in the trees and walk back up to the house and bring back either my car or Jacque's Ford Exploder - both having bike racks in place - to bring the bike back to the house with less mess stress.
I wish I'd taken the cheapie micro-video camera along. I'm never crazy about riding on road shoulders, and the distance from our ramp onto Frost Road and the fairly new bike path is about a quarter mile. Everything was so muddy I had trouble finding the entrance to the bike path but finally got on it, dodging rocks, dirt, and gravel -- it obviously has seen little use since the winter snows began. Almost immediately I encountered solid banks of frozen snow and ice blocking the path for 2-30 feet or more, forcing me to dismount and frog-walk the bike to the next patch of path pavement wide enough to permit actual riding. After about a mile and a half of this foolishness - thinking each time I frogged across a patch of crusty snow that surely the rest of the way would be thawed and open - I almost kicked myself for not thinking to just cross over to the roadway of Frost Road and ride the shoulder-path the rest of the way to the Post Office. When I did so the trip turned into a nice ride with clear road and dry pavement, with the occasional pot hole to deal with, of course. When you see cyclists riding on the main road right next to a well known bike path and wonder why, I can assure you: Riding in the roadway and dodging cars is usually safer than dealing with the typical problems on a bike path, including but not limited to walkers and joggers with blaring ear-buds, cracks and pot-holes that threaten to break a tire, throw you off the road, etc. Even the "bike lane" striped shoulders are often clogged with rocks, car parts, tiny steel wires from radial tires that imbed your bike tires and sometimes ruin them, etc.
So that's why so many of us ride up on the roadway dodging the petroleum powered behemoths.
By the time I got to the Post Office I was overheated and then some. I was only wearing a sleeveless vest and my reflective green-yellow vest on top of that but I peeled off the vest and put only the reflective vest back on for the return ride. I immediately ran into a quite cold headwind that made me regret removing my layers, but I kept going anyway, knowing on the uphill pulls I'd warm up again.
When I got to my drop-off for our dirt/mud masterpiece road, I rolled down about a hundred feet from the pavement and leaned the bike into a tree clump and walked up to the house through the mud, drove Jacque's Exploder back through the mud, and rescued the bike.
Lesson Learned: Forget about the bike path(s) in the East Mountains in the wintertime for weeks after snowfall. Ride the main road like all the other cyclists do.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Another Life's Little Hiccup
Possibly the Absolute Last APRS Track of this Route
Well, I was happy to arrive at work half an hour earlier than normal this morning. As I entered the door and looked at the clock I thought to myself "Good, I get to leave earlier today. How much earlier I was yet to discover. I was met by a manager and ushered into an office and terminated. Let go, not killed, or I of course wouldn't be writing about it. More details.... much later.
I had ridden the bike to work and had to mount up and ride right back to the car to come back and pick up my junk cleaned out from my desk. More details.... much later.
I should be able to take much lengthier bike rides now. More later....
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 186 Post-Ride BG: 92
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Start-Ride Temperature: 26 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 14.88
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
09.0 Mph 10.3 mph 21.4 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 38 mins 1 hour 26 mins 12 mins 42 secs
Well, I was happy to arrive at work half an hour earlier than normal this morning. As I entered the door and looked at the clock I thought to myself "Good, I get to leave earlier today. How much earlier I was yet to discover. I was met by a manager and ushered into an office and terminated. Let go, not killed, or I of course wouldn't be writing about it. More details.... much later.
I had ridden the bike to work and had to mount up and ride right back to the car to come back and pick up my junk cleaned out from my desk. More details.... much later.
I should be able to take much lengthier bike rides now. More later....
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 186 Post-Ride BG: 92
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Start-Ride Temperature: 26 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 14.88
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
09.0 Mph 10.3 mph 21.4 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 38 mins 1 hour 26 mins 12 mins 42 secs
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
23 and Counting
Today's Below-Freezing Tide Path
I wore 2 pair of socks today, inside pair wool, outside pair cotton, for the ride today. The feets still got a bit cold but they didn't get numb and painful as they have all last week and yesterday (Monday).
It's frustrating to ride the bike with heavy ski mittens on, since I like to play with the GPS and radio settings while cruising. With the big-big mittens, all I can do is change channels on the ham radio. Even that is fraught with danger since I cannot feel the detents while turning the knob and I often wind up on a channel with nobody to talk to, not my intent at all. But trying to ride with lighter gloves, or my gun-mittens that allow the mitten shell to be folded back so the fingers can work small devices like radio knobs, results in great pain and suffering in the pinkies. At night everything's at least 10 degrees warmer, even after dark, so I'm usually able to wear good snug bike-gloves or even the gun-trigger-mittens on the way back to the car.
I didn't at first realize how much colder it was until I looked at my APRS-track after I arrived at work. The temperature sensor is in the back-of-the-seat bag which protects it somewhat from temperature extremes since my body at least partially blocks the wind, usually reporting several degrees warmer than what I think it must have been. I did a double-take when noticing the starting temperature of 23 degrees today. The sun was already up in the sky when I started out, though it was still shady when I started out on the bike.
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 145 Post-Ride BG: 72
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4 Ending Voltage: 12.3
Start-Ride Temperature: 23 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 37 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
09.3 Mph 10.6 mph 20.8 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
47 mins 59 secs 42 mins 12 secs 5 mins 47 secs
I wore 2 pair of socks today, inside pair wool, outside pair cotton, for the ride today. The feets still got a bit cold but they didn't get numb and painful as they have all last week and yesterday (Monday).
It's frustrating to ride the bike with heavy ski mittens on, since I like to play with the GPS and radio settings while cruising. With the big-big mittens, all I can do is change channels on the ham radio. Even that is fraught with danger since I cannot feel the detents while turning the knob and I often wind up on a channel with nobody to talk to, not my intent at all. But trying to ride with lighter gloves, or my gun-mittens that allow the mitten shell to be folded back so the fingers can work small devices like radio knobs, results in great pain and suffering in the pinkies. At night everything's at least 10 degrees warmer, even after dark, so I'm usually able to wear good snug bike-gloves or even the gun-trigger-mittens on the way back to the car.
I didn't at first realize how much colder it was until I looked at my APRS-track after I arrived at work. The temperature sensor is in the back-of-the-seat bag which protects it somewhat from temperature extremes since my body at least partially blocks the wind, usually reporting several degrees warmer than what I think it must have been. I did a double-take when noticing the starting temperature of 23 degrees today. The sun was already up in the sky when I started out, though it was still shady when I started out on the bike.
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 145 Post-Ride BG: 72
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.4 Ending Voltage: 12.3
Start-Ride Temperature: 23 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 37 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
09.3 Mph 10.6 mph 20.8 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
47 mins 59 secs 42 mins 12 secs 5 mins 47 secs
Monday, January 9, 2012
Beautiful Biking Weather
Today's 12-mile one-way track via APRS/GPS
My radio/gps tracker seemed to be sending a bit too many positions, so I took the unit out of the bike's seat to re-configure the beacon settings. As a result, it worked NOT AT ALL for the trip back to the car this evening: I had turned the radio off so it wouldn't damage itself transmitting without an antenna while reprogramming the computerized beacon, and forgot to turn it back on when I put it back on the bike. Sigh. BAH
The weather was fairly cold, again, but still beautiful for riding. There was a storm forecast for yesterday and this morning but it failed to materialize so no snow or ice was encountered. Friday and today I rode a bit farther than I have been recently: About 12 miles instead of 7-ish, and it turns out my feet get TOO NUMB riding that far in these temperatures. I will begin wearing 2 pairs of socks henceforth until the weather warms up maybe another 10 degrees. Last winter I was wearing 2 sets of socks and had forgotten. Nothing like painful numb cold feet to help your memory bank.....
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 138 Post-Ride BG: 56, ate oatmeal choc-bar
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.6 Ending Voltage: 12.6 (Why it's a tenth of a volt higher than this morning is a mystery)
Start-Ride Temperature: 33 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 41 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.79
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
11.0 Mph 12.0 mph 23.8 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
56 mins 59 secs 44 mins 19 secs 12 mins 40 secs
My radio/gps tracker seemed to be sending a bit too many positions, so I took the unit out of the bike's seat to re-configure the beacon settings. As a result, it worked NOT AT ALL for the trip back to the car this evening: I had turned the radio off so it wouldn't damage itself transmitting without an antenna while reprogramming the computerized beacon, and forgot to turn it back on when I put it back on the bike. Sigh. BAH
The weather was fairly cold, again, but still beautiful for riding. There was a storm forecast for yesterday and this morning but it failed to materialize so no snow or ice was encountered. Friday and today I rode a bit farther than I have been recently: About 12 miles instead of 7-ish, and it turns out my feet get TOO NUMB riding that far in these temperatures. I will begin wearing 2 pairs of socks henceforth until the weather warms up maybe another 10 degrees. Last winter I was wearing 2 sets of socks and had forgotten. Nothing like painful numb cold feet to help your memory bank.....
Morning Pre-Ride BG: 138 Post-Ride BG: 56, ate oatmeal choc-bar
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.6 Ending Voltage: 12.6 (Why it's a tenth of a volt higher than this morning is a mystery)
Start-Ride Temperature: 33 degrees F Arrival Temperature: 41 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.79
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
11.0 Mph 12.0 mph 23.8 mph
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
56 mins 59 secs 44 mins 19 secs 12 mins 40 secs
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Hey, I Actually Passed Somebody
Thursday Track via APRS / GPS
.... And it wasn't an old lady in a wheelchair, either, or even a passed-out drunk.
OK, yeah, it WAS a female, on a bike, and she was younger than I. O'Course, EVERYBODY is younger than I am. She was probably like me, a bit stiff and slow from just starting to ride again after the holidays.
My Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery is getting low and I forgot to charge it last night, so I started to connect to my smaller-capacity AA NiMH backup pack - I was shocked to find the battery cable and connector had disappeared. Probably snagged on something or vibrated itself to death banging around in my pannier on the back of the bike. Nothing lasts forever on a bike, including me, unfortunately. I carry such spare parts around with me, being an electronics geek and all, so I was able to construct another cable and PowerPole connector for it during my noon hour, before my 2-mile noon constitutional walk..
I haven't gotten any decent videos lately from my mini-cam, even on the days when I remember to stick it into my glove and turn it on. Very awkward dealing with anything like that with big ski mittens on: I can barely grip the handlebars and twist shifters. So when my co-worker Bert asked if he could borrow the silly mini-cam to try skydiving with it, I said sure, why not. Surely screaming towards the earth after jumping out of a perfectly good airplane will result in a more interesting video than just wobbling along on a paved bicycle path at 8 miles per hour. If Bert lives through his jumps and brings any video back I'll be sure to post some of it.
Pre-Ride BG: 106 -- BG when arrived at Work: 66
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.2 Ending Voltage: 12.2
Beginning Temperature: 30 F (in ABQ) Ending Temperature: 40 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.41
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
9.8 Mph 10.8 mph 19.9 mph
Total Time 45:00 mins Moving Time 40:59 mins Stopped Time: 4:01
.... And it wasn't an old lady in a wheelchair, either, or even a passed-out drunk.
OK, yeah, it WAS a female, on a bike, and she was younger than I. O'Course, EVERYBODY is younger than I am. She was probably like me, a bit stiff and slow from just starting to ride again after the holidays.
My Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery is getting low and I forgot to charge it last night, so I started to connect to my smaller-capacity AA NiMH backup pack - I was shocked to find the battery cable and connector had disappeared. Probably snagged on something or vibrated itself to death banging around in my pannier on the back of the bike. Nothing lasts forever on a bike, including me, unfortunately. I carry such spare parts around with me, being an electronics geek and all, so I was able to construct another cable and PowerPole connector for it during my noon hour, before my 2-mile noon constitutional walk..
I haven't gotten any decent videos lately from my mini-cam, even on the days when I remember to stick it into my glove and turn it on. Very awkward dealing with anything like that with big ski mittens on: I can barely grip the handlebars and twist shifters. So when my co-worker Bert asked if he could borrow the silly mini-cam to try skydiving with it, I said sure, why not. Surely screaming towards the earth after jumping out of a perfectly good airplane will result in a more interesting video than just wobbling along on a paved bicycle path at 8 miles per hour. If Bert lives through his jumps and brings any video back I'll be sure to post some of it.
Pre-Ride BG: 106 -- BG when arrived at Work: 66
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.2 Ending Voltage: 12.2
Beginning Temperature: 30 F (in ABQ) Ending Temperature: 40 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.41
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
9.8 Mph 10.8 mph 19.9 mph
Total Time 45:00 mins Moving Time 40:59 mins Stopped Time: 4:01
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Stretching Wimpy Legs
Wednesday APRS/GPS track
Today I was running later than normal. I don't enjoy getting to work 10-15 minutes late, so I need to get with the program in the mornings.... or start getting up a half hour earlier like I did when daylight savings time expired.
(Sigh) - I like my warm snuggly bed, especially so at the time the alarm goes off and unceremoniously forces me out of bed at 5:15 AM. I can rarely get to bed earlier than 10 or 10:40 PM, which makes for a short night's nap. Thus the reluctance to get up at, say, 4:30 or 4:40 AM in order to get off to work even earlier.
The morning temperatures have warmed up since the frigid Christmas holidays, but it still feels COLD out thar.
Once I get a mile or tow into my 7-mile commute I warm up a bit, but then the armpits start to get overheated, then moist, then cold as the wind creeps in. Part of me is overheated and part of me never gets truly warm.
I wear my ski mask to keep my face from freezing even uglier, and there I really get hot toward the last part of the ride and have to rip it off and carry it flapping in the breeze the last mile or two.
Pre-Ride BG: 166 -- BG when arrived at Work: 103
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.4
Beginning Temperature: 41 F (in ABQ) Ending Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.39
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
9.8 Mph 10.8 mph 19.9 mph
Total Time 45:00 mins Moving Time 40:59 mins Stopped Time: 4:01
Today I was running later than normal. I don't enjoy getting to work 10-15 minutes late, so I need to get with the program in the mornings.... or start getting up a half hour earlier like I did when daylight savings time expired.
(Sigh) - I like my warm snuggly bed, especially so at the time the alarm goes off and unceremoniously forces me out of bed at 5:15 AM. I can rarely get to bed earlier than 10 or 10:40 PM, which makes for a short night's nap. Thus the reluctance to get up at, say, 4:30 or 4:40 AM in order to get off to work even earlier.
The morning temperatures have warmed up since the frigid Christmas holidays, but it still feels COLD out thar.
Once I get a mile or tow into my 7-mile commute I warm up a bit, but then the armpits start to get overheated, then moist, then cold as the wind creeps in. Part of me is overheated and part of me never gets truly warm.
I wear my ski mask to keep my face from freezing even uglier, and there I really get hot toward the last part of the ride and have to rip it off and carry it flapping in the breeze the last mile or two.
Pre-Ride BG: 166 -- BG when arrived at Work: 103
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.4
Beginning Temperature: 41 F (in ABQ) Ending Temperature: 51 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.39
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
9.8 Mph 10.8 mph 19.9 mph
Total Time 45:00 mins Moving Time 40:59 mins Stopped Time: 4:01
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Out of Shape
Tonight's Low-Battery Partial Track
It was, again, cold and clear today. People often comment to me about being "so persistent" by riding year round, but I think they fail to realize just how many other all-weather cyclists are out there more faithfully than I am.
23 December, for instance, I drove all the way to work because of ugly weather warnings. The morning was decent enough to have ridden the bike, but by noon the snow had started falling and the WIND was gale-force howling nasty-bad,. and driving across Albuquerque after work trying to get home was a struggle, with the horrible winds literally blowing me sideways with huge gusts and freezing snow blowing blizzard-fashion. Yet I passed at least 3 or 4 cyclists coming up Tramway, uphill, in that horrible weather. I NEVER ride but what I pass several other cyclists, no matter how cold or dark it might be. I'm impressed by them and try to emulate them... at least in their passion for bike-riding.
I was dismayed this morning to find my super-bright flashing red tail light was gone:
Evidently fallen off somewhere. I ordered 2 more from Amazon - I really like the bright attention-getter light back there.
Then, tonight, as I started across the intersection of Alameda and Jefferson, something fell out of my leg pocket with a thunk and landed out in the MIDDLE of the intersection, with all kinds of heavy traffic in all directions. I disgustedly pulled to the side of the street once I got through the intersection. I thought it must have been a new pocketbook novel (I just bought and started reading) but when I walked back to the intersection and looked, it was only one of my cheap plastic water bottles. I had walked out of work with it in my side leg pocket, intending to insert it into the bottle bracket on the bike, and instead had ridden off and up to the intersection with it still in my leg pocket. I started to dodge into the intersection to retrieve the bottle of water, but suddenly thought how cheap it was; I haven't been using it for drinking while riding since the cold weather started, so could obviously make it back to the car without it. Plus, if a car hit it or ran over it, it would merely pop and spray water onto the car and pavement - worst case. So, I let it lie and went back to the bike and rode off bottle-less. Good riddance. I refill the bottles after Jacque buys them and empties them of their tasteless store bought water and "only" have 40 or so of them.... so I can find another one to stick on the bike rather easily.
I was also dismayed at how weak and slow I got over the last couple weeks , eating Christmas goodies without riding. The only exercise I've been getting is chopping and hauling firewood, with little leg exercise - and I certainly noticed it today along with the increased stiffness of sore muscles when I got to work.
It was, again, cold and clear today. People often comment to me about being "so persistent" by riding year round, but I think they fail to realize just how many other all-weather cyclists are out there more faithfully than I am.
23 December, for instance, I drove all the way to work because of ugly weather warnings. The morning was decent enough to have ridden the bike, but by noon the snow had started falling and the WIND was gale-force howling nasty-bad,. and driving across Albuquerque after work trying to get home was a struggle, with the horrible winds literally blowing me sideways with huge gusts and freezing snow blowing blizzard-fashion. Yet I passed at least 3 or 4 cyclists coming up Tramway, uphill, in that horrible weather. I NEVER ride but what I pass several other cyclists, no matter how cold or dark it might be. I'm impressed by them and try to emulate them... at least in their passion for bike-riding.
I was dismayed this morning to find my super-bright flashing red tail light was gone:
Evidently fallen off somewhere. I ordered 2 more from Amazon - I really like the bright attention-getter light back there.
Then, tonight, as I started across the intersection of Alameda and Jefferson, something fell out of my leg pocket with a thunk and landed out in the MIDDLE of the intersection, with all kinds of heavy traffic in all directions. I disgustedly pulled to the side of the street once I got through the intersection. I thought it must have been a new pocketbook novel (I just bought and started reading) but when I walked back to the intersection and looked, it was only one of my cheap plastic water bottles. I had walked out of work with it in my side leg pocket, intending to insert it into the bottle bracket on the bike, and instead had ridden off and up to the intersection with it still in my leg pocket. I started to dodge into the intersection to retrieve the bottle of water, but suddenly thought how cheap it was; I haven't been using it for drinking while riding since the cold weather started, so could obviously make it back to the car without it. Plus, if a car hit it or ran over it, it would merely pop and spray water onto the car and pavement - worst case. So, I let it lie and went back to the bike and rode off bottle-less. Good riddance. I refill the bottles after Jacque buys them and empties them of their tasteless store bought water and "only" have 40 or so of them.... so I can find another one to stick on the bike rather easily.
I was also dismayed at how weak and slow I got over the last couple weeks , eating Christmas goodies without riding. The only exercise I've been getting is chopping and hauling firewood, with little leg exercise - and I certainly noticed it today along with the increased stiffness of sore muscles when I got to work.
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Year 2012 Shakedown Ride
Our track along the Bosque Trail todayWe did not do a bike-trek on Saturday but instead did a ride today. The temperature was a bit colder than we anticipated but the weather was clear and sunny. We only rode a little over 6 miles (3-something out and back) but it was great to get out and ride.
Lots of other cyclists, walkers, and runners shared the trail with us today.
Weather is forecast to continue warm and dry for the next several days; hope to be able to do the commute-ride to work and back all week.
Lots of other cyclists, walkers, and runners shared the trail with us today.
Weather is forecast to continue warm and dry for the next several days; hope to be able to do the commute-ride to work and back all week.
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