Family Home Evening on the Bosque

Today's Old Town and Rio Grande Tracking

We actually spent much of today, Labor Day, in Albuquerque.  We drove in just after noon to watch a new WWII movie Saints and Soldiers: The Void which we really liked.  We wanted to do another flat-land trike ride today which leaves one option in this area:  The Albuquerque Bosque Trail.  We enjoyed our sundown ride last week so much we decided to wait until late afternoon and do it again today.
We hitched up the bike trailer and returned to ABQ a little after 5 PM for our ride.
We always enjoy taking the "Bike Boulevard" (Mountain Road) detour from the Bosque Trail around the Bio Park and the couple of miles to Old Town for a shade, rest, and snack break.  Mountain Road was re-striped, widened slightly, and a new name of "Bike Boulevard" added to the street signs.  The new speed limit is supposed to catch the attention of motorists and slow vehicular traffic sufficiently to make it safe for cyclists.

It must be working, as we have enjoyed stress free encounters with mostly slow moving cars and have not yet heard of any auto vs. cyclist accidents in the several years since this was implemented.
This time we ate a full dinner at La Hacienda in Old Town.  The staff welcomed  our doggies and us out on the outside dining tables and provided excellent food and service.
By then it was almost dark and we contemplated making it just a few-mile ride and getting home at a more decent hour but Jacque talked me into going ahead and doing a few miles northward up the trail and back.  It got quite dark, necessitating turning on all the available lights (headlight on my helmet; blinky tail lights on the rear of my helmet and the rear trike flag/antenna).  But it was again quite enjoyable in spite of meeting the amazing number of pedestrians and cyclists with no lights or reflective devices or clothing.  Talk about near death experiences.... actually just near misses.
Made it as far north as Montano and then turned around.  Not a bad ride even as late as it was.
Ride Started:  5:58 PM    Ride Ended:  8:32 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.5       Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp  67 F      Highest Temp:  84 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  12.51
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  8.2 MPH                               8.6 MPH                    15.8 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 34 mins                     1 hour 27 mins           1 hour 7 minutes