Ten Miles, Different Route

Today's Different Tracking

We've gotten a couple inches of snow the last day-and-a-half, but it's been so warm it's melted almost as soon as it hits the ground. 
I knew our goat-path road would be muddy and sloppy, so I decided to rack the bike and take it down to the pavement and ride from there.
I hadn't counted on just HOW sloppy and nasty our road was, and I was unpleasantly surprised to find gobs of mud plastered on the recumbent's rear wheel when I stopped at the Post Office.  I decided to ride from there and take a different route up North-14, but first I had to take a wet-wipe and wipe the muck off the rear wheel so it wouldn't jam up the brake caliper.
I thought I'd just take a ride north past the Hi-Price Paa-Ko subdivision and when I got to 5 miles on the GPS odometer, I'd turn around and thus make a basic 10-mile ride.
I've ridden this route many times before, but it's been a while.  The highway between Cedar Crest and Paa-Ko is nice and wide, but the shoulder comes and goes.  Plus this road is a high-speed thoroughfare and I'm not sure how many cyclists ride it, since most autos passing seemed impatient and surprised.
What is even more aggravating about New Mexico roadways is the way the road narrows when bridges and overpasses are encountered.  Not only does the roadway usually shrink in width, but the overpasses and bridges have guard rails that force cyclists to ride farther into  the traffic lanes than I like.
This route is not terribly hilly.  The hills are long but slight until you get farther north toward Golden and Madrid, and I didn't ride that far.
Even though I was getting irritated at how close most cars were passing me, I was pleasantly surprised when I stopped for a snack break on the way back:
A well dressed, smartly groomed fellow who looked like a lawyer or politician, driving a Saab, slowed down and stopped to ask if everything was OK and did I need anything.  I told him I had no problems and thanked him profusely and he turned into the exclusive Paa-Ko community and drove on.
Even though the route was easy, the traffic wasn't.  I recalled as I rode along what happened almost a year ago when I previously rode here:  A truck coming up behind me pulled into the oncoming lane to give me clearance, which was nice.  Unfortunately, a car was coming at him head-on and laid on his horn, and they almost collided.  Of course the correct thing to do in such a situation is to SLOW DOWN, stay BEHIND the offending cyclist, and pass when the oncoming lane is clear.  Of course 99.97% of motorists never think of such a thing or are much too important to allow some clown on a slow moving cycle to impede their progress, even for a few seconds.
Another mis-step was leaving so late for the ride.  It was almost totally dark when I got back to the gas-burner vehicle, and while I have good lights front and back, it's dangerous enough riding in the daylight....
I've gotten a bit spoiled with the wide shoulders and wide, marked bike lanes available elsewhere in these East Mountains.  Even if it gets repetitive and boring, I'm not eager to try this route again.

Ride Started: 3:41 PM    Ride Ended:  5:13 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp  31 F      Highest Temp:  39 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10.31
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
 6.7 MPH                                 9.0 MPH                     27.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
 1 hour 32 mins                     1 hour 8 mins             23 minutes