Thursday, February 27, 2020

What Happened to my Sunny Day?

Today's Route Track via GPS and Ham Radio APRS

Today dawned bright and beautiful, though cold, after a nasty cold breezy day yesterday.
As the day wore on, the sun continued, warming things up wonderfully.
About 3 PM Jacque enquired of me "Are you going to ride your trike today?"
I says "Of Course!"
She says "You better get with it then."
I agreed, though it was earlier than I usually get around to riding.
I'd actually gotten something done earlier today, stripping and sanding and painting 2 layers of new paint on another formerly grubby kitchen cabinet door.  The weather had been nice and sunny all day...
UNTIL I opened the door to go get the Catrike out of the garage.  It had turned almost DARK and cold, at the unacceptable hour of three in the afternoon.  A cool breeze had materialized from somewhere for some odd reason, but as noted previously, I have to take advantage of all possibles or I would miss too many days of pleasant exercise.
So I saddled up and took off anyway.  I had thought all day that today would be shirt-sleeve riding weather, but I put on a light but warm jacket with my yellow-reflective outer windbreaker on the outside, and decided to start out with my open-able hunter mittens, just in case.  I could always switch to cooler gloves later in the ride if it got too warm.
I did NOT regret the layers nor the gloves, though I did unzip both outer layers for the last few miles as I warmed up.
I have ridden this route, more or less, at least once before, and in spite of the cloudy conditions and dark enough to elicit headlamp in addition to the always-used blinky tail lamp, all was good with no "close encounters" whatever.
Unfortunately, when I turned to my homeward leg of the ride, I was needing to find a, er, facility.
A 7-11 gas station exists right at the road exit I had just turned into, so I parked and went inside.
Naturally, since I was about to explode and needed immediate relief, the bathroom door inside was close at hand...... but LOCKED.  Some other poor soul was inside and in no hurry to come out.
I waited as long as I could, maybe 15 seconds, and decided to go a little farther in hopes of finding a vacant bathroom.  The Texas County Medical Center was right next door, and a short few pedal strokes away, and Thank Heaven, they were still open, their facility was also close at hand, and Available.  God is Good, as always.  Feeling much better, I finished my ride with a big smile.
AND, wouldn't you know it.... as I rode around the corner on the last block toward home, the SUN came back out and the weather was suddenly clear again.
I can't really complain, since I didn't get rained on or too cold or run over.

Ride Started:   3:01 PM      Ride Ended:  4:37 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.7  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9
Beginning Blood Glucose:  115      Ending BG: 119 
Lowest Temp:  46 F    Highest Temp:    50 F
Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   9.61
Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dogs!)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.0 
MPH                             7.3 MPH               25.4 MPH 
Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 35 mins
                   1 hour 19 mins      16 minutes

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