Monday Misfits

Today's Short Track Tracking

Jacque hasn't ridden trike or bike since we returned from our recent RV trip.  Her wobbly knee has been giving trouble for a few days, so we decided to do a trike ride today.  The circular, steady exercise she gets from pedaling seems to really help her inflammation and pain recede.
We need to ride the trike a lot more often, obviously.  I ride my 2-wheel recumbent more often, but it is lighter and easier to huff up hill and down dale than the trike.
We rode up the long killer hill to our Post Office in Sandia Park again today, which is frustrating but of course great exercise.  We had to stop for 3 or 4 rest breaks even though the trip is only slightly over 2 miles...... but, of course, mostly uphill.  Not a steep hill but a persistently long climb that just sucks the energy out of us.
Fortunately, the return trip is mostly downhill, and requires no rest breaks at all.
When we finally chugged up to the Post Office, all breathless and shot, we debated whether to do our usual last-quarter-mile from the Post Office to the Shell Station where we usually counteract our exercise by consuming carbs abundantly. 
Just as we were saddling up to leave our parking spot, a small station-wagon sized SUV pulled up in front of us and the passengers commented on the undeniable cuteness of our doggies.  We actually had to postpone leaving for several more minutes as the ladies pulled into an adjacent parking spot and the frail Granny from the passenger seat climbed slowly out and walked up to peer at the dogs more closely.   She seemed genuinely thrilled to see such an unusual thing:  Two very cute dogs taking their owners for a trike ride.  We had to finally pedal away, but felt guilty at not having time to "hang around" longer to entertain our elderly admirer.
I turned the trike left, coming out of the post office, on up the hill toward the Shell Station, and Jacque did not object, even though it meant some more noticeably tiring exertion.  Once there, as usual, the dogs caused the typical mild sensation amongst the patrons coming and going from the convenience store/station.  The proprietors even allow us to bring the dogs inside the snack area, which was nice today because the mild breezes turned into some stiff gusts that blew dust and interfered with Jacque's newspaper reading.  This resulted in even more puppy-admirers and lots of ooh's and aah's and "Oh How CUTE!" comments.  Which of course is hard to take for our two publicity-hounds.
On our mostly-downhill smoking return trip to our vehicular parking space along Frost Road, there were only 1 or 2 cars overtaking us in  the same direction, so we were able to stay in the actual vehicle lane (instead of the rock-strewn shoulder) for over a mile.  Which can result in some speeds unobtainable under normal circumstances.

Ride Started: 12:27 PM    Ride Ended:  2:32 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.2       Ending Voltage: 12.9
Lowest Temp  34 F      Highest Temp:  78 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  4.31
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  2.2 MPH                               5.7 MPH                    31.5 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 56 mins                       45 mins                     1 hour 10 minutes