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
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