Terrific Tired Tuesday

Today's Track of the ABQ Loop Ride

Jacque and Jazzie with Large Lemonade

Jacque had a feeding project with her Eastern Star chapter today so we decided to do an afternoon ride, in spite of the Albuquerque heat, after the O.E.S. operation ended - about 1 PM.
Since the North Diversion Trail lies only about 200 yards west of the lodge building we just left the Exploder parked there and planned to ride our "normal" 20+ mile loop down to UNM, west to Old Town and then further west to the Bosque Trail, thence north to Paseo Del Norte, back east to the North End of the North Diversion Trail, and then  south back to Osuna where the dinosaur-powered vehicle waited.
All was well at first.  Although sunny and warm, when pedaling we encountered at least a slight breeze in our faces which was very refreshing and cooling.
We had just ridden Martin Luther King road through downtown and into the older neighborhood just west of downtown, clinging to the right side of the street, and some important lady zoomed up behind us and, instead of just passing us by  on the otherwise empty street, HONKED at us irritably as though to say "Get Out of the WAY!" I couldn't help it, being a basically bad person.  I immediately swerved away from the extreme right side of the street and took the entire lane, causing Jacque (stoking behind me on the tandem) to laugh out loud.
The Important-Lady-In-A-Hurry promptly turned off on a side street, even though she still had an empty oncoming lane in which she could have passed us effortlessly.
Yes, Yes, I fully realize that though we had the legal right to occupy and ride in the street just as though we were operating a legal vehicle (which we were), "They Had the Right of Way" would not make much of a proper epitaph to engrave on our headstones at the mortuary.  But we had nowhere to go;  the adjacent curb would not allow us to leave the street, and if we'd stopped at the curb she would have had to pull into the oncoming lane to pass us at any rate.  So There.
We arrived safely at Old Town Plaza without further incident and partook of our chosen treats for the thus-accomplished mileage.

Jim and Beloved Ice Cream

After only a few miles it started to build up clouds overhead, from nearly a "blue clear sky" as George Strait might describe it seemingly only moments earlier.  This cooled things at least slightly more and was very pleasant although we feared we might get rained on....Still hoping it WOULD rain since we're enjoying our "New Mexico Monsoon Season" and not about to complain about rain even if it did come hard enough to soak us.
Well, it never did rain, although the clouds continued to gather and threaten.  At about the 11 mile mark, however, we began to realize we'd "bitten off more than we could chew" and decided to take the turn east at Montano instead of riding clear up to Paseo and head back to the vehicle from there.
A small word of advice to riders:  AVOID Montano at all costs.  At least eastward from the Bosque.  There is a trail alongside Montano, and even Montano itself has a striped bike lane, but the trail is so decrepit and broken up it is disgraceful, with all kinds of huge potholes, buckles with wide gaps in the trail surface, and currently a slew of downed tree limbs and debris from our recent storms.  The Bike Lane out on the roadway of Montano is not perfect, either, though in much better shape than the trail.  The traffic, however,  is nonstop and high speed.  Going right through downtown traffic at 4th and 2nd were hair raising experiences too.  Mercy.
Arrival finally back at the vehicle provided another unpleasant surprise:  My key refused to unlock the tailgate of the Ford Exploder.
Upon closer examination I realized someone had been "jimmying" the keyhole and the guts of the lock were broken.  So I walked around the SUV, fearing a broken window and missing valuables, but the rear door lock was the only thing damaged.  So now I gotta break out the Ford Shop Manual and see if there's a way to unlock the tailgate when the lock's broken....
Beginning Battery Voltage:  12.9        Ending Voltage: 11.7 (Guess I finally need to charge this LiFePO4 battery)
Lowest Temp  77 F      Highest Temp:  86 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:  19.86
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  4.6 MPH                                 7.2 MPH                    23.0 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
4 hours 21 minutes                2 hours 44 mins          1 hour 36 mins