Terrific 23-Mile Tuesday

Today I got a great roundabout APRS-Track
Jacque (my normal rescue / SAG driver) was in town all morning and I'd halfway planned to ride the bike from home into ABQ to meet here and catch a ride back home.  I didn't get rolling soon enough to make it into town before she was already halfway home so I decided to just ride up to the Post Office and then  down to the  local Mountain Video store to return our latest rental:  Tuskegee Airmen, In Their Own Words.
Jacque and I had decided via cell phone to meet at the video store where I would lash the bike on the rack on her rear bumper and catch a ride home, back up the hill.  After arriving before she did I decided I was up for a longer ride and decided to do a roundabout on down to Tijeras and Old Route 66 east to Sedillo Hill and then circle back home via Vallecitos Road and Frost Road.
I'm always amazed at my lack of intimacy with various local routes like 66 that I've ridden in other areas.  66 is popular with local cyclists since it allows them to travel through the East Mountains without having to deal with the incessant high speed traffic up on Interstate 40.  As noted before, it does have its drawbacks.  One major gripe I noticed even more today was the inescapable layers, often rough and corregated in surface structure, of cinders and salt and sandy gravel used to "salt" the roads during snow and ice storms.  I'm unsure if street sweepers are ever deployed out here, but the heavy vehicular traffic tends to scatter the grunge off  to the sides of the pavement:  Right where chicken-cyclists like myself prefer to ride, on the shoulder, so vehicles coming up from behind can pass safely unmolested by my unwelcome presence.  Stuff like this, along with various tire-deadly bits of steel, wire, metal, rocks, and the inevitable broken glass booze bottles, seems to just stay there seemingly forever.
Almost every day some loser refuses to wait to pass or cross into the other lane to give me any clearance, and today included another incident.  As I was southbound on North-14, I was riding in the right lane of the 4-lane road where no shoulder existed.  I saw the large crew-cab F-150 style hi-rise pickup coming up behind, and instead of moving to the left lane to pass me, like 999 out of 1000 normal drivers, she began "Beep-beeping" her horn, as if to warn me to get off the road.  I persisted in my path forward, instead of stopping or slowing enough to jump the curb and courteously vacating the road for the benefit of Miss Road Hawg, so she went ahead and passed me...  missing me by a few inches.  I again refuse to record my un-Christian words that popped out as she brushed by me.
I was plagued today by a reluctant front ring gear shifter. 
It eventually refused to shift into the highest speed ring gear at all, rendering level and downhill pedalling quite unpleasant.
I stopped today for snacks and refreshment at Subway in Tijeras and the Sedillo Hill Route 66 gas/convenience station.  I arrived home about 5:43 PM, about 4+ hours after leaving.  Lengthy breaks at Subway and Sedillo explain some of the length of today's excursion.
Pre-Ride BG:    125                   Post-Ride BG:  92   
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.2
Start-Ride Temperature:  44 degrees F     Arrival Temperature: 55 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 23.57
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
05.2 Mph                                         7.7 mph                             33.6 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
4 hours 30 mins                             3 hours 4 mins                   1 hour 6 mins