Had a monthly lunch date with Paul N5DBB today, which provided a perfect excuse for a somewhat longer ride than usual: we met at the East Mountain Grille just north of Edgewood.
The wind was a bit brisk; normal for March, one might suppose. The sunsine was also a bit scarce but the temperatures worked out just about right. I didn't have to layer up with a jacket or windbreaker and only had to rip open my da-glow velcro-zipped Tee shirt after a couple miles and upon climbing the first small hill along the way.
Jacque got on one of her sewing surges this morning and made me a standout pennant to hang on one of my bike's tall flagpole / ham antennas.
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| Parked in Front of Thunder Mountain Volunteer Fire Dept |
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| Always Closed but a Great Place to Park out of the Roadway and Rest/Snack |
As I was riding toward Edgewood at about the halfway mark, I turned south on Mountain Valley Road and started climbing that mild hill. As I was chugging along, I suddenly heard out of nowhere "HI! How Are You??" I realized another cyclist had snuck up on me from behind and when I looked to my immediate left I was pleasantly surprised to see a VERY low-slung black recumbent 2-wheeler. He must have been coming west on Frost Road and saw me make the turn and took a short detour to just come say HI and exchange greetings. This is quite unusual in my cycling experience: Most cyclists are much too focused to bother with anything like detouring and saying HI. This guy admired my new striped yellow-and-red antenna/flag, asked about the bike, expressed surprise it was homebuilt, etc. His was a very slick recumbent and looked very fast.
After about a quarter of a mile he announced he was actually on his way to "Do Heartbreak Hill", a 15% grade hill up near Golden that I've ridden only twice: Once uphill (walked the bike up most of it) and once downhill, coming the other way north out of Edgewood. I wished him well as he turned around and left. Very nice of him to detour and visit with me.
Paul and I had a great lunch of enchiladas and beans. While "saddling up" the bike for the ride back, another cafe patron came out and commented good-naturedly: "Bet you get really good mileage out of that rig." I rarely can come up with instant comebacks and today was no exception.
Just after leaving the restaurant I decided I'd had enough shifting problems and it was time to actually do something about it. I hadn't been able to get into my biggest front chainring most of the way out, which didn't grieve me too much because a lot of the ride is mild climbing. Now, though, I needed that high gear, so I found a wide spot in the road, stood the bike on its dual kickstand, and dug out the tool stash in the pannier. I worried the cable might be fraying and ready to break but it seemed sound and re-routing the shift cable and minor adjustment of the shifter bracket at the chainrings cured the problem.
On the way back, the wind got even stiffer but still was not discouraging. While passing a dog barking his brains out, the digesting beans produced a small burst of methane. "This One's For You!" I told the dog.
Took me a while to cool off and get my breath evened out after getting home. Feeling the rush like a million bucks now.....
Ride Started: 9:58 AM Ride Ended: 2:55 PM
Starting Battery Voltage: 13.3 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 45 F Highest Temp: 62 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 23.92
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
7.0 MPH 8.9 MPH 27.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 25 minutes 2 hours 41 mins 44 mins 51 secs
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