Only 16 Miles Today. Still Pooped

South Bosque Ham Radio APRS/GPS Tracking
Jacque and I are gluttons for punishment, or enjoyment, whichever way it occurs, I suppose.  The Recumbent Riders of Albuquerque had scheduled a ride on the southern leg of the Bosque Trail to look for Sandhill Cranes, which tend to flock on harvested hay and other fields in that area and of course are interesting to watch as they feed and fly around in groups large and small.
We (that is, "I") neglected to RSVP the leader of the pack to let them know we would be appearing for the ride, but we arrived early and saw all the  other recumbents in the parking lot a couple hundred feet away getting ready and thought we had plenty of time to join up with them before they departed on the group ride.  They were rolling out at speed as we approached and only a single hanger-back was there in the departure area as we approached.  He asked if we were going to ride with the group; we told him yes, and he rode off to inform the group we were bringing up the rear.  We caught up with them just south of Tingley Beach and followed them around 8th street to detour around the currently blocked bike intersection at Bridge Street so we could all continue further south on the trail to the big fields where the birds congregate.  Jacque and I  currently only manage to average about 7 MPH, and we fell behind a  bit from the group and almost immediately lost all contact with them.  We rode south several more miles, thinking they normally stop for breaks and allow slowpokes like us to catch up, but we never saw them again.  Usually one of the group is designated to ride in the rear to make sure no one gets too separated from the group, but no such thing occurred today.  We finally stopped for a rest break and decided since they didn't seem that interested in keeping us with the group, we'd turn around and ride over to Old Town for some lunch and a shopping break.  We were feeling a bit neglected but decided to call the leader on the cell phone to eliminate the possibility of them deciding to mount some sort of search for us since we had lost hope of mixing with the group ride.  The leader said they had turned onto Second Street and ridden south.  I did not realize until later today - after looking on the map - that if they took Second Street south they had turned off the main trail and lost us almost immediately, and the reason we never saw each other again was because we were on completely separate roadways, separated by a mile or so.  Had they had a rear-guard person let us know they'd made that early turn we might well have stayed with the group at least part of the time.
Oh Well.  No Biggie.  We ARE a bit slow and clunky with all our gear and out-of-shape leg muscles, and we like to stop frequently for potty breaks, snack breaks, and Tinkerbell doggie breaks.  So it's likely better for us to not try to ride with the speedier group in the future and continue having fun on our own.  We stopped at Tingley Beach on the way back toward Old Town for a potty break and laughed at a seemingly new sign that now appears above the bathroom entrances:

Then, after many Ooohhs and AAaahhs at Tinkerbell and the Recumbent Trike, we left Tingley for the last couple miles to Old Town for lunch.  By now I was getting a bit bushed, but looking forward to some good Old Town-style Mexican Food for our late lunch.
I mentioned previously about the lack of service and attitude at The La Hacienda Restaurant on the Old Town Plaza, so again, please take a hint and don't patronize them until they sell out to someone wanting to operate a restaurant with real service there.  We again went to The Quesadilla Grille and had a great meal, with me chowing down a Frijoles Refritos con Queso Quesadilla and Jacque with a Spicy Ranch Salad.  Both meals were great, with great service, and since we ate on the outdoor tables, no complaints were received about the sweet little lapdog Tinkerbell sitting in one of our chairs.  A guitarist was playing rockin' Christmas songs for tips in this same placita so we chipped in for his tip-stocking too.  All in all a great respite and meal.

After all this the day was well spent, and very enjoyably so.  We rode back to where the Ford Exploder was stashed and loaded up the trike on the roof, went shopping for gas, groceries, and supplies, spent too much money, and came home exhausted.  Hard to imagine a more enjoyable December Day.

Beginning Battery Voltage:  12.6        Ending Voltage: 8.4 (This old gel cell battery is getting TERRIBLY weak, gotta spend some bucks and replace it!)
Lowest Temp  51 F      Highest Temp:  73 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:  16.82
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  4.0 MPH                                 6.2 MPH                    14.7 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
  4 hours 10 mins                    2 hours 42 mins        1 hour 28 minutes