I haven't ridden a people-powered machine in what, 17 days? Absolutely shameful. I'm paying for it, too, of course. I've been busy putting new fake hardwood flooring in the RV, transferring my ham radios to a different Ford Exploder, and various other excuses that kept me too busy to stay healthy.
Busting my chops out in the yard is tiresome and makes my joints and thin muscles hurt at the end of the day but such activity doesn't seem to pep me up and lower my blood glucose and all the good things that happen during and after a bike ride.
Today I dug out the bike and did my favorite 10-mile total out 'n back ride. The weather has been ferociously HOT the last couple of weeks, but last night it had rained a bit, today was a bit cloudy, so it was pleasantly cooler and provided wonderful temperatures to ride in. The wind gusted a bit, and the dark clouds kinda bunched up threateningly about when I got to my halfway turnaround point. But it was all good.
For once, I didn't forget my GoPro video camera at home, but I did forget to activate it when I first took off on the ride. Then when I remembered it in my pocket, stopped, snapped it into the helmet-top mount, and tried to turn it on, nothing doing. Evidently the battery was dead before I even started. So I dug out the weaker, spare battery and installed it and sure enough, it now came on and started capturing video. Somewhere during the ride it also died so we'll see if it captured any action at all (it's downloading on Jacque's PC as I type this entry).
Well, I just checked it and it did indeed work until the spare battery ran out.
First of all, I caught this view of our near neighbors who took a lightning strike a couple weeks ago, which set their storage shed and garage slowly on fire. The lightning struck about 9 PM (I heard it hit and thought it had hit MY structures, but the lights were still on ) and about 1:00 AM the neighbors were frightened awake with the county Fire Dept. guys banging on their door telling them to COME GET YOUR HORSES, YOU HAVE A FIRE OUT HERE!! These are the neighbors with the pretty little month-old colt, mama mare, and another horse in another shelter on the other end of their house. How the colt and his Mama survived all this is amazing, as their shelter was the carport adjoining this garage and shed....
Then, down the road another quarter mile, I encountered our new neighbors who purchased a "project House" unfinished house just across the gully from us. Nice people....
I suffered a bit more fatigue than usual today since it's been so long between rides.
Jacque had our sole surviving doggie Tinkerbell with her in Albuquerque today so I was all by myself; no companion to help me with potty and snack breaks.....
On the return trip home, I was cruising along minding my own business when I heard a slight swishing sound just behind me and was mildly shocked to see another cyclist passing me. Here I have a rear view mirror and evidently don't use it much, especially when something so quiet as another cyclist comes up behind me. I can hear cars coming several minutes before they appear in my eyesight, but sneaky cyclists are another matter. This was one of those friendly cyclists. He said HI in passing but evidently didn't want to slow down or stop for a visit.
Ride Started: 10:58 AM Ride Ended: 12:43 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.2 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 71 F Highest Temp: 94 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 10.51
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 7.7 MPH 27.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 48 minutes 1 hour 22 mins 26 minutes
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