Thursday, July 23, 2015

Thank God for HeadWinds

Today's Boring Track

The Senior Princess (aka Tinkerbell) and I went for another ride today.  With the new puppy "Lilly" around sucking up so much ooh's and aah's and other attention, Tink seems even more enthusiastic about "Going for a Ride" on the bike than she used to, and she has always enjoyed it.  The last few times have meant she was able to get one of her vassals away from "That Other Dog" and have some time with her human without any competition.
Tink is such a good rider she stayed with me, no escapes or mishaps, even though I forgot to strap her back in after the halfway-point stop, a distance of several miles.  She HAS been known to leap from her seat/basket when excited by another dog passing by so she is normally restrained and clipped in with a short strap to limit her flight to a few inches should she bounce or leap out.
We spent so much time during our 6-week RV journey in areas of high humidity that I seem to be having a bit of trouble re-acclimatizing to our dry NM air.  I've been drinking extra water and I still seem to suffer from dry throat and mouth whether riding the bike or not.  Tink may be experiencing similar symptoms, since she now drinks multiple handfuls of water straight from my hand instead of her usual response of turning up her nose at such undignified guzzling.  Compared to back East, this dry air is WONDERFUL.  Trouble is when I stop or go too slowly, the summer heat and sunshine really start building up, and it's actually a wonderful feeling to get going and feel a decent headwind, cooling the blubber around the midsection quite nicely.  Along with the stinky armpits.
(Said midsection is motivating me to trying to ride more often to keep said blubber from expanding further)
This time of day any shade along the way is exceedingly hard to find, although the weeds and sunflowers may get tall enough to block the sun soon....
The heat kinda got to me more than usual today.  We (Tink and I) had to stop for water and breaks several times more than usual, and after reviewing the recorded temperatures I'm seeing why.
Glad we are for not waiting to ride later in the day....

Ride Started: 10:30 AM    Ride Ended:  12:30 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   14.1   Ending Voltage: 12.7  Lowest:  12.7
Lowest Temp  82 F      Highest Temp:  94 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10.56
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.2 MPH                              7.8 MPH                  31.5 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours                                 1 hour 21 mins           39  minutes

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