Miserable Day, Great Day, Same Day

Today's Manually Plotted Route (Radio Tracker No Workie)

I have not ridden my trikie-toy in weeks.  I have been mostly on hands and knees removing old nasty flooring tile and scraping and installing new flooring to Jacque's specifications.  We invited some friends for Thanksgiving, and since the kitchen and dining floors were a mess, we were under tremendous pressure and motivation to get the new floor in.  With Jacque helping measure and cut flooring panels and me stretching and straining on my knees, we barely made it.  Mostly.  A few pieces of trim were yet to be installed, but the  new floor was in place in time for the feast.

What I soon discovered was that my contortions, with multiple rest breaks throughout the day and short bursts of flooring, burned MORE calories and carbs than my normal Trike Ride "Exercise".
I had to consume a LOT more carbs to keep from low blood glucose episodes than when taking trike rides.  Evidently trike riding is a lot more leisurely than actually working and getting something accomplished.
The Thanksgiving feast was a success, with the usual overeating and visiting half asleep afterwards.The weather, though, was not conducive to enjoyment of the outdoors.  Cold, wet, and fog.  DEEP fog.  Lots of rain and slop in the yard.  Sump pump in the basement chugging on and off all day and all night.   Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we made a late afternoon run to Springfield to restock our supply of moulding to trim the new flooring.  It was a pea soup ride in the muck most of the way out and back, slowing often to avoid over-running our headlight visibility, with several sightings of dead dear and other critters along the shoulders and in the middle of the roadway in the dark foggy mist.  Thankfully we didn't have any encounters of our own to deal with.  We got home late, soaked, and tired.  Again the sump pump chugged and hiccuped all night long, with water seeping too fast in various spots along the foundation.  Thunder and lightning.  Typical Missouri winter weather.
This morning, Saturday, it was still drizzling, miserable, and deep fog.  It looked like we were in for a weekend of slop again.
Along about noonish, Heavenly Father answered our hearts' desires and the sun actually started peeking through the misty muck.  Within a couple hours it had warmed from the upper 30's to the 60's and it was actually WARM outside and almost dry.  I had some bills to mail at the Post Office and a UPS parcel to deliver for Jacque, so I determined to take a trike ride for the errands and take the day off from flooring. 
I thought it must be warm enough to require only a windbreaker instead of a jacket.  As I stepped out the door I was SHOCKED at the sunny warmth of the day, and immediately took off the windbreaker and returned it to the house closet before taking off. 
It was a FABULOUS day for riding, and before I got halfway through the ride I had to unsnap most of my  shirt buttons and roll up my pants legs to get some cooling air going for the old bod.
I was getting a bit tired early on and realized missing a month of riding had resulted in lack of stamina - as if I ever had any to spare to start with.  The exercise of waddling around with flooring had not kept my cycling muscles properly trimmed.  SIGH
I stopped to check my blood glucose and saw it was getting close to the dizzy stage.  As IF I need any additional dizziness in life, hah.  I took a break and ate one of my emergency 3-packs of cookies stashed for just such occasions.  I had an unusual encounter with a bicycle rider I passed going the other way:  He refused to look at me or acknowledge my wave as we passed.  Very unusual.  Perhaps he - unlike most cyclists - was forced to ride his 2-wheeler by circumstances and not because he enjoyed it.  Who knows?  Didn't wipe the foolish grin off MY face.

Ride Started:    1:13 PM      Ride Ended:  2:14 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 96

Lowest Temp:  55 F    Highest Temp:  64  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.45
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3 MPH                             7.4 MPH               18.1 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 1 minute                  45 minutes           17 minutes