Dodging Storm Clouds...

Today's GPS/Ham Radio Tracking

This morning we awoke again to driving rain.  It was dark and wet and still spitting a bit of rain as we got home from our early morning seminary class.  I prefer to ride in the mornings before the weather warms up too much, but it was too soggy out.  Around 11 AM I checked outside and decided it was dry enough for a quick ride, but it started raining again before I got saddled up.  BAH.
We got a little done on the bathroom and floors after spending money on a small belt sander  - to replace my old Craftsman sander that had given up the ghost after so many years of intermittent use.  We have a bothersome ridge in the floor between the kitchen and dining room, and hoped with the small sander and the coarsest belts available we could grind it down sufficiently to start laying new flooring over it.  Within a few seconds both belts I tried were hopelessly clogged with old floor glue and gunk.  So we'll work on a new strategy.  We'll see.
I kept checking the weather and finally it looked like things had stopped ripped dripping out of the sky.  This time I saddled up a bit quicker and got going with only a few tiny drops of rain hitting me.
I at first thought I'd duplicate the nice route from yesterday, but the weather north of town looked a bit threatening,  so I tried to cut it a little shorter by not going any farther north than 13th street.  I stayed on 13th as I rode west, assuming I could take it all the way to Busch/Bush St. like yesterday, but when I got to the crossing at "Main" (Highway 95), it turned out not to be a crossing at all but only a dead end at that point.  So I turned back and looked for a street to get around towards home again.  I kept getting tempted to ride farther west to get some extra miles but the dark clouds seemed to be gathering steam toward the north and I didn't want to get caught in a downpour.

ME Trying to put the Storm Behind Me..

I encountered several very courteous drivers on this ride.  I pulled up at one intersection just as a large pickup pulling an even larger horse trailer pulled up opposite me.  Even though I had barely arrived at the intersection earlier than the truck, thus having theoretical "Right of Way", I have driven such long loads before, and I waved the horseman to go ahead of me through the intersection.  Even though it took a couple minutes for him to accept the invitation, I felt better letting him go first.  A few other drivers, in amazement as usual, slowed or stopped to watch me go by.
Arrived back at the house with hardly any moisture soaked into my hide.  Great Stuff.

Ride Started:  2:11 PM      Ride Ended:  3:20 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.1  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  149      Ending BG: 49

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  78  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.54
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.6 MPH                              7.2 MPH              19.4 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 10 mins                   54 minutes           16 minutes