Well, today we decided to load up the trikes and ride again...
That is, until I went outside to load the trailer and realized it was still full of unloaded firewood that I hauled in from Albuquerque yesterday and stopped unloading when it got too dark.
Jacque decided she would haul her Catrike down to the pavement in her Subaru and Lilly and I would do our bounce-all-the-way-down ride directly from the house, skipping the trailer business for this trip.
When Lilly and I got down to the road we turned east on Frost Road, intending to do another shortened ride just out a couple miles and back. We topped the first hill at about the 2-mile mark and turned around and enjoyed the downhill coast for almost a mile, expecting to meet Jacque and Tink at any moment. We got back to our turnoff without encountering them, so we rode over to Jacque's parking spot - still no Jacque - So I called her on the cell phone to enquire as to their whereabouts and found they had ridden down to Guiterrez Canyon Road. So we went there too, Lilly and I. I hadn't ridden this route in almost a year or so and I was surprised to remember how lovely an area it covers, along with the smooth pavement and relative lack of traffic. It also has some fairly steep grades, but not terribly so. We rode up the road for a mile or so, intending to catch up to Jacque eventually. We saw her faintly in the distance as she climbed the first hill.
I got to thinking I'd initially planned to do a short ride, and that I still had to climb the last mile of uphill huffing and puffing to get back to the house, so we turned back, Lilly and I. As we got back to Frost Road I noted my handlebar-clock showed 12-Noon-Something and thought, well, since we're so close to the Post Office, why not ride that-a-way and get the mail?
Lilly soon took to whining and crying, which normally means her bladder is hurting and she needs to stop and "do her business". We parked in front of the only rest facility on Frost Road, a 3-year old Eagle Scout project, and let her do her thing. She finally found an acceptable spot to make the deposit upon, and we saddled up again. While we were buttoning down doggy harness and such, we were passed by a comely young Mommy pushing a baby carriage. Embarrassing it was to take an unseemly amount of time to catch up to and pass the speeding baby buggy as we finished the ride to the Post Office.
We stayed on the so-called Bike Trail for this leg and realized - Again - why we and most other cyclists avoid it like the plague. It was paved very thinly, and years ago when it was brand new, the weeds almost immediately began popping up through the asphalt, cracking and heaving it. The county has "patched" the cracks several times, but the resulting ruts and bumps are very difficult to ride over without bouncing your teeth loose. Passers-by wonder why cyclists are on the "dangerous" road shoulder when there's a bike trail adjacent.... they don't often realize how beat-up most cycling trails can be.
The weather has certainly been bike-friendly this last week or so, and of course it won't last..... but we're still smiling while riding!
Ride Started: 10:40 AM Ride Ended: 12:11 PM
Starting Blood Glucose: 162 Mid-Ride: 95 Ending BG: 70
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 10:02
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.8 MPH 6.3 MPH 30.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 4 mins 1 hour 35 mins 28 minutes
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