Typical Trike Tracking Today Thankfully
Jacque is the one who initiated today's ride, even though as usual we are "Too Busy to Stay Healthy". Her trick knee starts getting even trickier when we don't ride for several days. She had a batch of sourdough bread started so I was surprised when she insisted that we take off, NOW, for a trike ride.
It was only about 45 degrees outside and cloudy, so we knew we should not be overheated. Thus, going west and uphill, I rode without a windbreaker, and only 2 layers of shirting. I actually got warm enough almost to the Post Office that I had to unsnap my shirt sleeve cuffs. When we stopped, however, it got COLD, right away. My blood glucose checked at 127 while there, which in my case means I'm dropping quickly and should eat something to keep moving. I normally do best when starting a ride for my BG to be at the 200 plus or minus mark, plus I have to back off my pump's basal level to less than 50% of normal to avoid having to stop every twenty minutes for a snack. I had forgotten the basal change earlier so I adjusted that while I ate my peanut butter cookies. While waiting for me to snarf my snack, we were treated to a few passers-by who as usual squeal with delight when they spot our cute but grumpy little dogs. Today they embarrased us in front of almost everyone we met who would say "How Cute!!" and then be immediately treated to a display of snarling, snapping, impolite doggies.
When we got to the TOP of the hill at the Shell Snack Station, it REALLY got cold, especially since I ordered a nice ice filled small Diet Coke. I should have done with a Hot Chocolate, but I wasn't in the mood.... at first.
We also met a couple of hard-core cyclists we met at the same place LAST Monday. We joked when we parted that maybe we would meet again NEXT Monday.
As I neared the bottom of my Coke, I got so chilled that I walked over to the parked trike and retrieved my rarely-worn windbreaker jacket. Since going toward home is more downhill than up, I knew it would be rather cold streaking that-a-way.
I thought, as we approached the slight hills going back, that climbing them would warm me up enough to force me to stop and peel off the jacket, but I didn't get one bit overheated - and was highly happy with the jacket being in place.
My Lithium-Ion Battery that I worried might have destroyed itself using a non-standard charger seemed to work fine today. I had previously taken it out of the pannier in the workshop, and it was showing ZERO volts output, a non-inspiring condition. I used the voltmeter to test the output right at the blade terminals of the battery and it was now showing 13+ volts available, so I removed the short power cable and tested it thoroughly, and could find no opens or problems with it. When I reconnected the wiring harness firmly the entire system was now displaying 13+ volts. I plugged my favorite battery "tester" (An old Tensor lamp wired directly for 12 Volt operation) into the pack and it lit with full brilliance for almost a minute without fading so I disconnected it, reinserted it into the pannier, and hoped it would work for the next ride..... and it did. Thank God. I really love the lightness and power output of this battery and would have willingly blown the necessary $100+ bucks to replace it had it actually been permanently dead.
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.1
Lowest Temp 51 F Highest Temp: 55 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4.32
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.5 MPH 6.0 MPH 28.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 43 minutes 43 mins 19 secs 59 mins 41 secs
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