Blowing Through a Speed Trap!

Today's Tracking via APRS, GPS, and Ham Radio

I had a big plan today.  I had a document needing fax'ing and a bill payment needing posting, so I would use that for an excuse for a fairly long ride for my standards... all the way up to the Post Office, all the way down to Tijeras, east on Rt. 66 to Gutierrez Canyon Road, and then mostly north back home, for maybe 20+ miles total.
 Methought I had plenty of time for this sojourn, and arrived safe and sound at the Post Office.  I then rode on up to the Shell Station and by now it was close to 3:30 PM and I thought I ought to call the One Stop Office store and make sure they didn't close before I got there, all hot and sweaty and all that.  They said sure enough, they didn't close until 5:30, but then I cogitated in my mind and realized - best case - it would be almost dark by the time I got home.  I don't dig riding the roadways close to dark.  Been there, done that before several times, but I prefer daylight riding unless it's along the Bosque Trail in ABQ where there's no cars to worry about.  So we (Jazzy and I) decided to turn around and ride back around my "normal" short 10-mile loop, which in addition to the miles already done would result in 15 or so miles.
I actually remembered to take the GoPro today, but nothing of note happened.  The only slightly unusual thing I saw  was a County Sheriff Deputy manning a speed trap:

This was with me going uphill, didn't seem to trigger his speed detector-

I suppose I shoulda stopped and asked him what his radar said I was doing, to see if it was close to what my GPS there on the handlebars was reporting.  He could have been just napping, but this is at the bottom of a hill close to an intersection, and vehicles coming from behind him normally would not see him until too late.

It was also suspiciously close to coming-home time, a little after 5 PM, with lots of traffic providing a target-rich environment.

So, Yeah, he was clocking people.

He didn't even seem to look up as I passed slowly as I went up the hill, so I came home without a ticket.
No license plate, no insurance, that sort of thing.  Thankfully neither New Mexico nor Bernalillo County have sunk so low as to require such things for bicycles yet.

Ride Started: 2:11 PM    Ride Ended:  5:12 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.4   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  12.7
Lowest Temp  71 F      Highest Temp:  84 F 
Stats from the GPS:      Total Miles:  16.3
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.4 MPH                               8.5 MPH                  32.1 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
3 hours                                  1 hour 54 mins           1 hour 6 minutes

Riding the Trike Through the Forest

Today's Short-Trip Tracking

Today was a very short trip mileage-wise, but notably longer in effort and time-wise.
Our LDS Church Children's Organization (aka the Primary) is sponsoring a morning Easter celebration in the next couple weeks at a forest service picinic area that is not very far away from us.  It's a route we have ridden before, and I had no illusions about the distressingly long demanding demoralizing climb, but Jacque and I decided we want to ride our Tandem Recumbent trike to this Easter festivity.  However, it's been years since we rode up that way. 
Thus the effort to do a preliminary "Dry Run" to make sure we could do it and see how long it would take. 
It's only about 5-something miles from our place, but first we have to climb the dreaded short but serious uphill to the Post Office, and then cross North-14, a very busy highway, and then resume even steeper climbing for the last 2+ miles to the picnic area.
my blood glucose was too high when we took off, which is almost as bad as low  blood sugar, and I had trouble getting any energy going to my legs, so it was even slower going than normal for the first mile or so.  We had to stop for repeated breaks for water and oxygen, but we slowly made our way up the mountain.
It took so long we had to stop and give the girlie dogs some "relief" as well.  At one point the GPS indicated we were averaging 2 - something miles per hour, meaning we could have walked faster...... of course we had additional water, food, radios, and short-stroke-legged doggies so walking would doubtlessly have NOT gotten us there any quicker.  Eventually I burned off enough of my high blood glucose that I felt better and was able to pedal stronger, but it was still a very long slow climb.  The BUGS are taking advantage of early spring warm weather and were TERRIBLE today.  Swatting them took up too much precious oxygen and energy that could have been better applied to the pedals.  Passing motorists doubtless thought I was having seizures, with my arms flailing left and right  trying to kill the little buggers.  Thankfully, this is a TRIKE, meaning I can actually turn loose of the hand-grips for short bursts of murderous bug-smacking without veering head over heels into the ditch.
Visually this is a lovely area to ride, but since I again left the GoPro safely at home, I am unable to share ay pictures or video today.  As Usual.
We finally arrived  at our designated picnic ground, 1.5 hours for less than a 3 mile ride.  You may well guess our tiredness and gladness to finally arrive, get into an unused Group Shelter with tables and lots of welcome shade.  Jacque had constructed a couple of egg salad sandwiches just for this trip and stowed a couple of diet Root Beers in a thermal pack, and everything was still wonderfully cold.  That is, except for us overheated humans.  A fine feast for the weary.
This was no speed run and we had nothing pressing upon our time at home so we ate our lunch and people-watched and walked the dogs around a bit before saddling up for the return ride.
Going steadily down hill for almost 3 miles can be quite thrilling....... IF:
-You're still young and bullet-proof
-You're NOT riding a long trike that gets unstable and twisty over 25 MPH
Since the above did not apply to us, we gently rode the brakes much of the way down.  As far as we know we didn't lose anything, and we did not encounter any asphalt turbulence during re-entry.
I'm sure this is the fastest we've ever coasted with this beast.  The uphill trip consumed 1.5 hours and the mostly-coasting return took about TEN MINUTES.
Of course since we had a good excuse we had trouble bypassing the Shell Station Snack Break, so we forced ourselves to eat a couple of ice cream treats.

Ride Started: 10:51 PM    Ride Ended:  1:37 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  12.8 (Need to check this battery again)
Lowest Temp  64 F      Highest Temp:  78 F 
Stats from the GPS:      Total Miles:  4.96
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  2.5 MPH                               4.2 MPH                  35.9 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 58 mins                       1 hour 10 mins              47 minutes

Riding the Trike to Lunch

Today's Oh-So-Very-Short Tracking

 Lots of Fellow Travelers Today

Nice Footage of Some of the Bosque Trail

We planned to take an earlier trip across Albuquerque to ride the famed Bosque Trail this morning but Jacque had some last minute Easter sewing projects that couldn't be put off.
We got to the Bosque right close to noon, which might have left us plenty of time for a lengthy ride up and down the river and ditch-banks trails.  Trouble is, Jacque had a date to meet one of her Church chums at her home to watch LDS Women's Conference tonight, so we were not able to ride until sunset or even close to it, since she had to get home and  cleaned up so she could get over to Sandye's house by 5:30-ish.
Since it was so close to Noon when we started and my stomach was acting like my throat had been cut, we decided to just do a lazy ride over to Old Town and do lunch there.
We have eaten at Tio Chava's Cantina before, and since they allow us to seat our doggies at the outdoor patio tables, we ate there again.  Mercy, their food is great. Highly recommended, even for teetotalers like us.
The weather was absolutely perfect today, not even a hint of wind.  Just warm enough  to be wonderful, and I fearlessly left my windbreaker and other layers in the car.  Foolishly, likely, too, since this IS New Mexico, Land of Unpredictable Weather.  Nope, it was great.
We spent more time at the restaurant than riding the trike, eating our gourmet hamburger with scalding-hot guacamole sauce for dressing (YUM!)
We also had to deal with the adoring public which always materializes around our cute pooches.  They dealt fairly well with the adoring masses, putting on good behavior, until another couple walked into the  patio with a  couple of fluffy Pomeranians, at which Jazzy took immense offense.  After nearly strangling her trying to get her to shut up and sit down, things calmed down and we could rest long enough for our red faces to fade.
After getting underway again, we looked at our clocks and decided we'd better boogie straight back to the trike-hauler Subaru and trailer combination so we could get Jacque back in time.  This leg involved meeting all kinds of walkers and cyclists, many pulling kid-carrier trailers, which we show just a few of in today's thrilling videos.

Here's a backwards view showing Jacque stoking 

And a couple shots of us passing both Tingley Fun-Trains

( http://www.cabq.gov/culturalservices/biopark/trains )

-All these Train Passengers Always Wave and holler HI-

Ride Started: 12:11 PM    Ride Ended:  2:58 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.5   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  12.8
Lowest Temp  75 F      Highest Temp:  82 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  6.51
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  6.0 MPH                                7.4 MPH                  15.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 59 mins                       59 minutes                 1 hour

Whispering Wind Wednesday

Today's GPS/APRS/Ham Radio Tracking

Yesterday was blown with me working on my old Ford Exploder.  The thermostat had stuck in the open position a couple weeks ago, resulting in the temperature guage not coming off zero no matter how long the vehicle was driven.  This upsets the monster's computer, too, resulting in lower gas mileage, etc, as the temperature is one of the parameters that help the computer regulate fuel flow and whatever.

I had purchased a new thermostat and gasket many days ago and had kept putting off taking the time to install it, even though it's not a terribly time-consuming job.  I also purchased a serpentine belt for it to replace while I was under the hood.  Jacque and I used it yesterday morning to deliver a family-heirloom dresser drawer cabinet and matching night-stand that my Dad built when I was a baby, which was in the late 1940's, since I was born in 1947.  Anyway, the vehicle was unduly warm from sitting in the bright sunlight and the air conditioner did NOT work, meaning it had been unused too long over the winter months.  So now I had another irritating thing to work on:  Recharging the A/C with R134 refrigerant.  Yesterday afternoon I decided to actually dig into it, after we returned home all hot and bothered with nothing but outside air to  cool us, which wasn't that helpful.  First I dug out my A/C recharging gear and that worked out OK, resulting in cold air coming out the vents after about 20 minutes.  Since I had the hood up I figgered I should go ahead and do the rest of the immediately needed repairs.  I got the thermostat installed without too much groaning and moaning on my part, but when I started on the serpentine belt, things got a bit more aggravating. 

When I popped off the old belt I checked all the related idler pullies that should - without a belt attached - spin freely and without noise.  Of course, the lowest (and hardest to remove) idler pulley had a bit of a rattle and grind to it when I spun it, so we made a high speed Albuquerque run to purchase a new one.  When we returned, I still had over a half hour of daylight left so I installed the new idler and began a fruitless effort to install the new belt.  After a few false starts I finally got the belt routed properly, following the diagram label on top of the radiator....

I grunted, busted knuckles, griped, stressed, and strained until it got dark, and still could not rotate the spring loaded idler far enough out of the way to get the belt on the last pulley.  Exhausted, low on blood sugar, and grumpy, I gave up for the night and left tools and everything as they were, scattered around the vehicle.  It looked fairly dry in the sky so I hoped it would not rain on anything.

This morning I finally got started again on it and still made no progress until I finally enlisted Jacque's help to come pull the belt into place from the top of the engine compartment while I laid underneath and pulled on the long arm wrench to release the spring-loaded idler tension, with everything I had.  It was still a struggle but Jacque finally succeeded in popping the dern belt into proper position and everything seemed to work fine after that.

Thus most of today, as well, had been shot working on the petrol-burner.  It doesn't get driven very much at all, but when you rely solely on used cars without payments, as we do, we need a spare vehicle "just in case".  

It was almost 5 PM and I was thinking there wasn't sufficient daylight left for a bike ride when we suddenly realized no one had yet gone anywhere at all, meaning the MAIL had not yet been retrieved.  A perfect excuse to do a short but strenous ride.... so off I go.

 Today's Thrilling Video (Snort)

Helmet-Cam showing clips from our Goat-Path to Pavement, Etc.

Since Jacque was home I left both doggies with her and rode alone, thought the girls were mightily disappointed when I rode off without them, according to Mama Jacque.

The wind was howling today, as the weather guessers had predicted, but not as badly as I have experienced with many rides in the past.  It was in my face all the way west to the Post Office and I assumed it would be a good strong tail wind on the way back.  As other cyclists well know, often the wind doesn't feel the same when approaching from another direction, and the wind was mostly sideways and partially in my face on the way home too.  Still, as usual, a great day for a last minute ride.

Ride Started: 4:51 PM    Ride Ended:  5:51 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.8   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  57 F      Highest Temp:  67 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  5.49
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.5 MPH                                7.2 MPH                  27.6 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
  59 minutes                            45 minutes                 14  minutes

Double-Dog Dare You...

Today's Boring Tracking

Today again started out a bit cool, windy, and cloudy, with only a faint sun shining through the overhead haze ceiling.  After looking out at it several times  I decided I could probably get in a short ride IF I got my butt in gear and got going before the usual afternoon rain/snow/sleet baloney.
By the time I got rolling it was right at noonish.  The clouds actually opened up a lot and allowed great sunshine to hit us, in addition to the wind which seemingly continued to increase.
Jacque was in Albuquerque doing some work which precluded her taking any of the doggies with her.
I had 3 theoretical options:
-Take both dogs with me on a ride
-Take only one dog, leaving a disappointed one behind
-Leave Both brokenhearted dogs at home
You may well guess, dear reader, which choice I took - as IF I even HAD a choice.
As soon as I started getting my day-glo shirts and windbreaker on, both dogs (as usual) went absolutely BERSERK with joy, jumping on my legs, circling and bouncing around me like madness.  Who, I ask you, could bear to leave either one behind?  'Twasn't me, that's for sure.
I mounted my GoPro camera on my helmet today instead of the back-and-forth PVC pipe-arm.  The camera is still slowly uploading to my video editing system so I'm not sure if anything interesting or visible got recorded or not.  If so, it will pop in  here as a short video clip.

We passed a young lady walking her large Doberman right along the edge of the pavement, of course on the same side as we were approaching, and the dog almost got away from her in his excitement of seeing Tink and Jazzy on board.  Thankfully she was able to keep him in tow and out from  under our wheels as we passed.  Not far past this near-incident, I noticed another rider coming up fast behind me.  Unlike most riders, he slowed, rode parallel to us, and visited for a while as we climbed the next low hill.  At the top of the hiil I ws getting a tad warmish and we pulled over so I could peel a layer or two.  Mark stopped with me and continued our visiting.  He seemed to be a sort of tree-hugger, unlike me, a tree-burner, but we agreed on many aspects of Earth  life, including:
-Bikes are FUN
-Bikes are HEALTHY
-Bikes are THERAPEUTIC
..... Amongst other things.  Turns out Mark is a bike blogger too and we exchanged links, while he presented me with his card.  He had ridden out all the way from  Albuquerque, unlike me less than 10 miles from home, and his obvious superior speed was such that by the time I got home and checked HIS blog he had already updated it and included his close encounter with me: Mark's BikeYogi Blog .
AND; Here our thrilling video is: 

This just depicts the relative safety I experience from passing cars.

Ride Started: 11:41 AM    Ride Ended:  1:45 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.9   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  12.6
Lowest Temp  42 F      Highest Temp:  60 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10:51
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.0 MPH                                8.0 MPH                  29.6 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
 2 hours 5 mins                     1 hour 18 minutes       47  minutes

Saturday Sundowner

Today's Spotty Tracking

I had a busy schedule today, for a Saturday, and I didn't expect to find time to get a ride in.
I got home from my running around about 3 PM and wasted time putzing around the house. Realizing later than I should have that it was still quite sunny out at 5-ish, and with our newfound so-called extra hour of sunshine in the evenings, I thought I'd better get in at least a ten-miler.  Jacque thought I was nuts but that's not too uncommon.....
I was glad to have taken a windbreaker layer.  It started cooling off almost as soon as I left, and by the time I was close to my half-way turnaround mark, some clouds began obscuring the sun, effectively darkening my bright sky and robbing me of som 20 minutes of remaining sunshine before the sun was actually supposed to disappear over the Sandias to our west.
It was also a bit breezy but again, not objectionably so.
I took the GoPro camera again today but the ride was entirely boring..... so no video today, lucky readers.

Ride Started: 5:40 PM    Ride Ended:  7:11 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.8   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  46 F      Highest Temp:  53 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10:48
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  7.1 MPH                                8.0 MPH                  28.3 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
  1 hour 28 mins                     1 hour 18 minutes      9.5  minutes

Abort due to Thunder and....

Today's Suspenseful Tracking of One Mile

I spent yesterday out of the biking saddle, er, lawn-chair reclining seat, that is.  First thing I reported to my local expensive dental office for a crown on a bum tooth that's been giving me trouble.  Came home with a numb jaw..... and brain.  The rest of the day I resigned myself to working on the blasted income tax returns.  What an infernal hassle.  I was mildly shocked to actually get it done and sent off by late evening - the same day I started.  Usually it takes several short-tempered frustrating days to get it all slapped together.

Look, I'm Pregnant... No, it's a Belly Doggie

Today, I found myself still in a state of mild disbelief that I actually am through with the blasted tax filing... for another year, anyway.

Today, IF I had started out a couple hours earlier, I could have gotten in a decent ride, though colder of course.

In today's short and thrilling video the thunderheads approaching quickly are clearly visible.

Jazzy and I had left the house just moments earlier, and I was already running out of steam before we even got off our "Goat-Path" to the paved road.  I stopped to check my blood sugar - it was a bit lower than desired - so I ate one of my stashes of 3 choc chip cookies.  The sky hadn't looked all that threatening when we'd left the house but as I munched on my snack I heard the unmistakable rumble of thunder overhead.  

Looking up, I noticed the gathering darkness of rain clouds, and looking both ways showed plain evidence that we were surrounded by quickly gathering clouds.  We were just shy of a mile away from the house, and I momentarily thought of trying to continue and get in at least a few miles, but the repetitious thunder -booms convinced me to turn around and high-tail it back home.

Even that short trip elevated my pulse rate and incurred some heavy breathing, so I got in a little aerobic exercise.....

And I was happy to arrive back at the house.  I left the bike parked out in the open just for a few minutes and Behold:  It started raining.  It took me several minutes to remember my bike, with electronics still exposed, was still out in the open rain.  So I put on a jacket and unsaddled everything and put the bike back in the storage shed.  Rained all blessed day afterwards.... sigh

Ride Started: 12:26 PM    Ride Ended:  1:44 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.6   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  13.1
Lowest Temp  46 F      Highest Temp:  67 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  1:15
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  .8 MPH                                3.4 MPH                  10.2 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
  30 minutes                           20 minutes                10  minutes

Ten Miles of Cloudy Bliss

Today's Tracking Courtesy of Ham Radio and the GPS

Today dawned cool and breezy, with weather guessers forecasting possible rain.  I waited a while and watched the front window closely and often.  Finally - about noon - I decided:
-Iit hadn't rained yet
-Tomorrow I have an early dental appointment and I may not FEEL like riding afterwards
-If I didn't ride today who knows how many MORE days before I get in a few more miles?

So I saddled up the recumbent two-wheeler and Jazzy and I took off for a ride.
It WAS a bit cool but just a bit cold for comfort;  not BITTERLY cold.
With Jazzy in the belly harness at my front the warmth from her body helps a bit, and by the time I topped the first long hill I scrunched the sleeves on my windbreaker back to my elbows and unzipped the front wide open, which helped a lot in cooling me down without freezing me.  The wind was not terrible; just in our faces and a bit bothersome, thassall.
By the time we got to the halfway and turnaround point  it appeared the wind was still the same direction.
I took off the windbreaker and tucked it away for the rest of the ride.  Since we were now going the other way the wind was mostly at our back so I did not get overheated OR terribly cold.  I was too lazy to stop at the top of impending downhill screamers so it did get a bit over-cool but those downhills are not that long....
Not nearly as long going down as going up.  What are the physics of that?
We got back about 2 PM, leaving me plenty of time to split a few firewood chunks and get started on my 2014 income tax forms.  BAH.  I'll be extra grumpy the next several days while I work on that..... what a bother.  Maybe if I take some 2-hour bike riding breaks in the middle of taxes it will improve my sour mood.
I wouldn't bet on it.

Ride Started: 11:58 AM    Ride Ended:  2:03 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.9   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  49 F      Highest Temp:  57 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10:51
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.1 MPH                               7.5 MPH                  30.0 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 3 mins                       1 hour 24 mins           39  minutes

Excuses, Excuses

Today's Very Short Tracking

Okay, Okay.  So it's been 5 days since I/we rode last.  The weather has been part of the problem, and of course procrastination is another problem category all in itself. We've had rainy weather in the afternoons, too-full days where the time demands leave nothing for (ahem) staying healthy, whine, whine, you can fill in the details yourself, Dear Reader.
I thought I might get in a ride earlier this morning to avoid possible afternoon showers but - as usual - Noon came and went and I still was nowhere near ready to roll.  The excuse for this was my decision to saw and split a bit of firewood, which sucked up most of the morning.  The weather is warming, but we still burn wood in the stove in the mornings and occasionally in the evenings, and our woodpile has dwindled dramatically these last few weeks. SO -- messing with the wood isn't just for personal enjoyment and making the bones complain.
The after-lunch sky turned bright and clear and warm so prospects looked great for a ride.  As I was getting ready for saddling up my recumbent 2-wheeler I casually asked Jacque if she was in the mood for a joint trike ride instead.  She was in the middle of a quilting project so I thought she wouldn't but by the time I actually got ready she was ready for a ride too.  So I loaded up the trike into the transport trailer and off we went.
I'm getting a bit leery of riding the trike out here close to home, but we didn't want to separate and we didn't have sufficient time to make the longer trip across the canyon and Albuquerque to ride the Bosque.  We decided to just make a mail run, which is very short mileage wise but a great workout, if frustrating, climbing the long hill approaching the Post Office.
It turned out better than I thought.  Last time we tried this route on the trike I thought I was going to keel over from exhaustion but today we made the trip with moderate effort and no real suffering on my part.
Talk about beautiful riding weather.   No wind to speak of, sunny and yet just cool enough to be pleasant.
We are truly going to miss this "Not-Yet-Spring" weather when spring actually gets here and the winds and weather are not as nice.

After the P.O. stop, a short ride up the rest of the hill to the Snack Station, er, Shell Station for a soda and rest break.  On the way home, of course, those same hills were easier going down than climbing up.

Ride Started: 3:33 PM    Ride Ended:  5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   14.0   Ending Voltage: 12.9  Lowest:  12.9
Lowest Temp  67 F      Highest Temp:  75 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  4:28
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  3.4 MPH                               6.4 MPH                  29.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 16 mins                       40 minutes                 35  minutes

Two-Wheeling Instead of 3-Wheeling

Today's Spotty Tracking

(Just a short clip showing Jazzy's cuteness)

Man, the warm weather just keeps getting better and better.  We still normally have to build at least a small fire in the wood stove late evening and early morning but after about 10:00 AM it just gets wonderfully balmy around here.
Yesterday's ride on the  Tandem Terratrike was very noisy, with the chain rubbing and grinding against something, even though the chain restraints appeared to not be rubbing every time I tried to take a look.  Today before I took off on my solo 2-wheel ride I worked on the trike:  It was still in the trailer, and closer to my eyeball level so I could hopefully investigate what was going on.  I merely elevated the rear, drive, wheel with a jack-stand and cranked the pedals and watched the action.  The chain and idlers and derailleur were all pretty dry so I realized they needed a good lubrication, but I also noticed the chain up front was sagging and rubbing no matter what I tried.  The spring-loaded idler was pressing all the way "trying" to take up the chain slack but it appeared the chain had either stretched or worn sufficiently that the idler no longer could hold tight enough to keep the chain taut.  I finally decided to break the chain and remove a link (of course with bike chains "removing a link" actually means TWO have to be removed).  With the links removed it was a bit of a struggle to rejoin the shortened chain, but I was able to get 'er done, and now the idler is able to keep the chain taut enough to avoid rubbing the chain guide all the time.  This done, I broke out the expensive "bicycle chain lube" bottle and carefully juiced each link on both chains, which of course ate up at least another half hour.  Then the wipe-off of the chain to remove the sloppy excess lubricant which always results from a lube-job.  All chain action is now much quieter.  Hopefully this will get us through a few dozen more rides before other major 'surgery' is required.
As per usual, it was later in the PM by the time I actually got saddled up on my 2-wheeler and bouncing down the goat-path from home to highway.  Jazzy was in the belly-pack and happy until about halfway down the mountain we met Jacque coming home in her Subaru:  Jazzy suddenly lost enthusiasm for the bike ride and whined piteously until I unbuckled her from the harness and handed her off to Jacque.
This is my usual easier 10-mile ride and nothing of consequence happened, not even encountering any friendly or unusual folk.  On the return leg home I saw another cyclist coming towards me and I assumed it was going to be Brian K, who I often meet around this area.  Nothing doing, it was one of the many "too-busy-to-wave-back" types, so it CERTAINLY wasn't Brian.
What beautimous weather.  I neglected to take any windbreaker or jacket with me, and as I rode the return route it started getting JUST a little cooler, reminding me that I should never "assume" the weather couldn't change enough during an hour's bike ride to require layering up..... or down.  Thankfully I made it home without getting unduly chilled.
Still not sure how much, if any, good the solar panel might be doing.  The sun was fairly high during this ride but the recorded battery voltages looked better yesterday powering the trike electronics.... withOUT any solar assist.  Stay tuned.

Ride Started: 3:33 PM    Ride Ended:  5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.5   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  64 F      Highest Temp:  75 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10:52
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  6.6 MPH                               8.6 MPH                  28.7 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 35 mins                      1 hour 13 minutes       21  minutes

Close Encounters of the Bicycle Kind

Today's Tracking via Ham Radio and APRS

I planned to do a decent bike ride today and dragged my 2-wheel recumbent out of the storage shed, checked the tires, and readied it for a loaded ride including Jazzy, our cutest and youngest Papillon.
It was  "only" about 10 AM by then, so I thought I would take a few minutes and fix the out-of-round front tire on the Tandem Terratrike  we suffered with on our last ride.  The tire had been flat from sitting unloved for too long under  the deck and I had aired it up in haste, and the bead had seated a bit skewed causing a slight out-of-round condition for the tire, which didn't show up unless we went over about 7 MPH.  I'm not telling how many miles we rode before we noticed it......
While I had the trike out in the open I remembered I'd been threatening to mount a dual stand-up water bottle mount in place of the single bottle clip between my legs in front of the driver's seat.  So I dug around in my junk and finally came up with a piece of angle aluminum I thought would work for mounting two water bottle clips side by side vertically.
Of course, instead of taking a half hour or so, this sucked up the rest of the morning.  I was happy with the result and about ready to put the trike away and take off on the 2-wheeler for a ride.....
Jacque came home early from her Over the Mountain Quilter's Club.
She casually mentioned something about taking the trike for a ride so I told her I was just tying up the loose ends on it.  I finished the loose ends, put all the tools away, and hitched up the trailer and loaded up the trike.
By the time we got to our starting point it was  3:30 PM or so but we hoped our newfound "extra hour of daylight" would pay off for us.  It didn't turn out bad at all.
We first rode over to Tingley Beach for a potty break.  Then we rode the 3 or so miles over to Old Town via Mountain Road, now co-labeled "Bicycle Boulevard" with a so-called "calming speed limit" of 18 MPH.  Few motorists stay anything close to this limit but evidently there is sufficient bike traffic up and down Mountain Road that most drivers seem willing to slow down and wait to pass when they can't take the oncoming lane to get around us.  Whiich is a wonderful thing, since "Bicycle Boulevard" has no shoulder and thus no bike lanes along most  of the way.
Old Town itself is also a great place to ride a 2 or 3-wheeler since there are rarely any parking spaces available and the traffic is one-way around the plaza and everybody, including high powered cars, creeps along slowly traversing the area.  So it's rather safe and fun for bikes, baby strollers, and such.
We took a long break there, walking the doggies and getting a leisurely lemonade for Jacque.
We finally resumed the ride.  It's always a hoot to hear the inevitable, "OOOOoohhh, Look at the Cute Doggie!  OOOHH!  There are TWO Cute Doggies!"  When it's a little kid or a toddler we try to make sure we stop long enough for the youngster to pet the pooches.  That's what riding a bike is all about anyway, right????
We encountered ever more friendly folk out on the Bosque Trail today.  We almost always see a few friendly walkers, baby stroller pushers, and other riders on this trail but today we encountered several, including the most rare of all things:  A group of speed riders who all cracked up and said "HELLO!" as they passed.  The usual reaction of similar riders could be termed "Eyes straight ahead, Nose In The Air".
One particularly fun couple must have passed us a dozen or more times, both coming and going, with teasing and irreverent remarks and jibes increasing in volume each time.  I AGAIN forgot my $400-something GoPro camera so I got none of the hilarious footage.  So Sad....
We turned around at the Montano underpass and rode back, arriving back at the trailer-towing Subaru just before dark.  Almost Perfect.   Almost no breeze whatever this afternoon, and temperatures almost balmy.

Ride Started: 3:38 PM    Ride Ended:  6:51 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.7   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  12.1
Lowest Temp  57 F      Highest Temp:  75 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  12.19
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  6.6 MPH                                7.8 MPH                 14.7 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 50 mins                      1 hour 33 minutes      17  minutes

Beautiful Bosque Biking

Today's Ham Radio / GPS / APRS Tracking

I had what might be called a rough week this week.
Monday, after my last bike ride, I suddenly developed a horrific jaw-warping toothache that I thought was gonna kill me.  Hydrocodone pills did NOTHING for it, and I spent the night in agony trying to sleep with my head throbbing and nasty awful terrible no good...... ow.
I was able to get an emergency dental appointment on Tuesday.  The dentist could again find nothing wrong with my tooth or jaw but suspected infection again so he prescribed pain pills and antibiotics.  A couple hours after the first pills, the pain suddenly subsided again and I was able to get a decent night's sleep.  Trouble is, even though I'd slept well and no longer seemed to need any pain pills, I felt like I had been run over by a truck - or something - and didn't feel strong enough to do a bike ride Wednesday, and besides, I had another appointment with the same dentist late Wednesday to get..... my favorite.... a ROOT CANAL.
The root canal wasn't all that bad, but the supposed pain-numbing shots in the jaw beforehand had me literally screaming in pain.  If the doc had any patients out in the waiting room I'm sure they all got up and left after hearing me yell.  I was in deep agony when I walked out and thankfully Jacque was with me as my personal driver.  Again, in a few more hours the pills had taken root, pun intended, and I was able to relax and get another night's sleep.
Thursday I felt much better, still no need for pain pills, but again not enough get-up-and-go to get out on the bike.
Today, Friday, I determined I was going to ride no matter what, and Jacque left for Albuquerque, so I assumed I would soon get in a ride while she was gone.  She came home early - her trip to the big city cancelled - and she started talking about a TRIKE ride, as in tandem, that is.
So we saddled up the tandem Terratrike and went to the Bosque Trail  in the Big City.  As usual, the Terratrike is big and heavy but it is within our capabilities on this largely straight and level route almost completely blocked off from vehicular traffic.
It was a bit late when we finally arrived at our secret parking place close to Central and Tingley but we figured we still had enough sunshine for a couple of hours riding, and the weather was downright BEAUTIFUL.
The City of Albuquerque continues to "Improve" various parking places we've been able to use in the past.
As usual, government "improvement" means "elimination" or striping previously available parking as no-parking zones.  BAH
We found another spot anyway, and hopefully will still be able to in the future in spite of ongoing city "improvements".
We only made slightly over 11 miles but it was great to get out together under joint pedal-power again.
Lots of other bikers and walkers and even a couple of horsey-riders were out on the trail today, and we were all enjoying the wonderul weather.
Then, after the very satisfying ride, we went to the China King Restaurant for a wonderful dinner and.... life is GOOD.
.
Ride Started: 3:38 PM    Ride Ended:  5:39 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.7   Ending Voltage: 13.1  Lowest:  12.3
Lowest Temp  57 F      Highest Temp:  75 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  11.11
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.8 MPH                                6.8 MPH                 14.5 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 55 mins                      1 hour 37 minutes      17  minutes

No Sun, Still Fun

Today's Tracking via APRS, GPS, and Ham Radio

Today did not appear optimal for a bike ride:  The sun never showed its face, the wind was pretty nasty.... but it was actually a lot warmer than it has been for the last several  days.  It was around 50-something degrees when I finally saddled up and left, which is practically springtime-style temperature.
We got a tremendous dump of snow Friday and Saturday, resulting in drifts of 3 feet in our yard and perhaps a foot all around average in most of the acreage.  The snow was so wet and deep I could barely get the tractor out of its own tracks, even without pulling a load of snow with the scraper, so I gave up and re-parked the tractor.  Sunday morning the weater suddenly warmed up and by that evening most of the deep snow was GONE.  Talk about dramatic quick weather changes.
Supposedly the weather guessers are forecasting more storms coming in, so I hated to wait several more days in hopes of better weather, so I determined to ride today even for a short one..... trying to get exercise in the breaks between worser weather.
Since all the area's dirt parking areas are again sloppy with mud, I drove up to the Post Office and parked in the empty paved lot adjacent.  Since I had a house payment needing to go to the outgoing mail slot this worked in my favor.
I then rode east on Frost Road, and the conditions were not too bad.  The wind was gusting pretty heavily, but I've endured worse.   I sorta hoped to make a 10-miler by riding 5 miles and then returning, but it was already late when I started, the wind was getting worse, and I turned around just past the 4 mile point.
By now the wind was really getting strong, and occasionally I got a bit sideways, thankfully not while cars were close by.
Arrived back at the SUV/trailer combo safe and sound.

Ride Started: 4:14 PM    Ride Ended:  5:19 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   14.0   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  50 F      Highest Temp:  50 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  8.10
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  7.3 MPH                                8.9 MPH                 24.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 6 mins                         54 minutes                 12  minutes