Jacque took her Catrike to Albuquerque today since she had some cooking to do for the Masons and I was reluctant to bring in the tandem Recumbent Trike for a warmish ride starting after lunch in the Big City.
Me? I had a couple of parcels to ship via the Post Office - so I had a ready excuse to ride my own 2-wheeler recumbent for at least a short ride. I got going only slightly earlier than Jacque did, but it was nice and cool and slightly cloudy. Since Jacque now has me hooked on ICS (Ice Cream Sandwiches) I rode on up to the Corner Shell to fulfill that addiction, and I decided to put in at least a few more miles to burn off the calories and try to build up a bit more endurance for our on-and-off goal of daily weekday riding. As I got to the Vallecitos turnoff my chain locked up during a gear-shift and I had to pull over to try to release it. The chain had de-railed itself off the smallest cassette gear and wedged itself into the small space between cassette and axle hanger strut. Even with my trusty Gerber plier-multitool I was unable to release it so I had to dig into the pannier and retrieve the tool set and loosen the nut holding the axle sufficiently to get the chain released. As I struggled to get everything back together again, I noticed the derailleur was very loosey-goosey, AND the chain itself appears to be at least a few links too long:
1-Replace the worn derailleur
2-Remove at least one or two links from the chain
3-Reprogram my GPS/APRS position beacon so it doesn't transmit so irritatingly often.
I finally got it serviceable sufficient to get home with (Hopefully) and rode on another couple miles. The clouds above were getting darker and more threatening so I finally wimped out and turned around and honked for home. Unfortunately, I got home before it started raining. I say 'unfortunately' since - as of a couple hours now - It STILL hasn't rained. I'd rather have gotten soaked than miss a rain shower during our spotty but welcome "Monsoon". In other parts of the world "Monsoon" means rainy season. In Vietnam during monsoon season it rained day and night nonstop for a month or more. Here in the Great American Southwest "Monsoon" means it rains a few drops now and then for a couple weeks, sometimes a downpour, often just enough specks of rain to allow the dirt in the air to stick to your car like it's been shot with a shotgun full of dirt.
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 13.0
(I LOVE this new Lithium-Ion Battery ) , still uncharged for several days)
Lowest Temp 73 F Highest Temp: 86 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.9
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.7 MPH 8.6 MPH 26.1 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 6 mins 1 hour 22 mins 43 minutes
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