Today's Roundabout APRS Route
I guess I'm getting too distracted. I'm shocked I've gone several days without a bike ride.
I again rode into Albuquerque with Jacque in her Ford Exploder and, while she performed water aerobics at the Alvarado Park pool, I took off on the bike.
I was chagrined to find I'd forgotten to bring my main bike-mobile GPS and ham walkie-talkie assembly with us, so I instead plugged in the little backup GPS puck (Garmin 18) and took off for the Wendy's junk food drive-in just a few hundred yards away on Eubank. I was hungry and hadn't had a carb-pumper meal or snack yet so I ordered a chicken sandwich. When the waitress asked if I cared for green chili and cheese I of course answered in the affirmative. I always tip well when I "eat out" like this while biking but I always suspect many of the onlookers think I'm homeless, seeing all the "Stuff" I carry on the bike. While gobbling my sandwich, it occurred to me I had a backup walkie talkie still in Jacque's exploder inside my other backpack, so after chowing down I rode back over and picked it up. It's a Kenwood TH-F6A, which uses the same microphone and power connections as the TH-D7A that I'd left behind, so I plugged in my helmet earpiece and microphone and rode merrily on, now able to use precious oxygen talking to my ham radio buddies while pedaling along. They responded in kind: I talked to Gary KH6JTM, Tom NM5TW, Scotty NM5SW, and Tim Tim KD5YMT. Great fun.
I decided to ride the closest bike trail up towards Tramway. I'd hoped to ride to a big box hardware store to stock up on brad nails for my air-powered nail gun but no bike paths I could find led close to any, and they were all on heavily trafficked streets such as Eubank and Juan Tabo. So I just decided to ride up the trail to Tramway and then ride Tramway a while and come back. Simple ride plan, but unfortunately it's noticeably UPHILL going east from anywhere in the city to Tramway, and my average speed failed to accomplish the anticipated distance. I got ALMOST to Tramway when Jacque called, 1.5 hours into my ride, and announced she was done and ready to go. So I turned my fanny around and rode back, freezing much of the way since the return trip was almost entirely DOWN-hill. I had to stop and re-zip up my jacket to keep some of the frigid air out. But it's always great to take a jaunt on the bike whether the air is cold, hot, or even the all-too-rare in between.
Starting BG: 209 Ending BG: 275 (didn't pump enough insulin for the sandwich)
Starting Battery Voltage: 12.8 Volts Ending Voltage: 12.7 Volts
Starting Temperature: 41 Degrees F Ending Temperature: 66 Degrees F
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