Hauling Gas

 Roundabout Route with Propane on Board 

Our BBQ was out of propane.  Jacque thought she should go get a refilled tank, but sensing the opportunity for at least a short ride, I volunteered to take a ride in the Catrike for the trip.
Of course, hauling a bottle of propane, empty or full, is not quite feasible just with the trike alone.  So I hitched up the venerable B.O.B. trailer and set out to go.
Clouds were gathering and Jacque warned that it was supposed to start raining "in 5 minutes".  It wasn't raining YET, so I took off anyway.
The neighbors laughed and waved as I went by, for some reason...

Not that I look silly or anything.

I got clear down the block and halfway to the next when it DID begin to rain.
I momentarily considered continuing the trip but turned around in spite of myself.
As I pedaled madly back to the house, the same neighbors hoo-rawed me again with shouts of  "HAH!  You're gonna get WET !!"  Which I cheerfully shouted back as I zoomed into the yard and unhooked enough stuff to get the trike under shelter.  When I stepped back in the house, the rain had dropped off to almost nothing.
Jacque and I had a good laugh.  I thought I might jump back out and try the ride again, but sure 'nuff the rain came back hard and fast.
About an hour later the sun had come out again so I finally got going and was successful in getting another tank.
We have at least a couple local vendors with easy tank exchanges, so it wasn't much of a trip.  The uphill to the Dollar Store was with the empty tank, and that downhill wasn't much of a challenge on the way back with the full tank.

Ride Started: 1:13 PM           Ride Ended:  3:09 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 75 F Highest Temp: 84 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  200   Ending BG: 105
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:   2.65
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
  3.2 MPH                              5.8 MPH            16.3 MPH
Total Trip(s) Time                Moving Time      Stopped Time
 50  minutes                          27 minutes         23 minutes

Thursday Cycle Shopping

Today's Roundabout Boring Tracking 

Today I got almost nothing useful done (2X4's and sheetrock and insulation, etc, etc.).
BUT I did start out with a short trike ride and wound up doing an almost full-around-town shopping/errand trip.
The weatherman had predicted excessive heat today with humidity but it stayed cloudy all day and the heat was bearable.  Mostly.  The humidity of course was up there a bit.
I took a couple pieces of mail over to the Post Office, maybe 3 blocks away, then decided to ride much farther northward to our local Big Box Store.
We are suffering our Summer Fly Invasion - and had only 2 flyswatters in the house.
Of course, every time we spotted a fly, neither swatter was within arm's reach and sometimes hard to find at all.  So, believe it or not, the venerable fly swatter was high on our shopping "Need Now" list.
Along with a couple other forgettable items, I was soon on the road home.
I obviously need to do 5-milers more often, as I sadly note I "gear down" much more than I used to.  Nothing to do with getting to be an Old Fart, of course.
My usual life saving treatment when my sore feets get tired:

     

                                   Literal Angels licking Dad's Sore Feet
                                           (Absolute Bliss)

Ride Started: 2:26 PM           Ride Ended: 3:55 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.6   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.7
Lowest Temp:  76 F Highest Temp: 79 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  124   Ending BG: 159
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.19
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 3.9 MPH                              6.2 MPH            21.4 MPH
Total Trip Time                Moving Time      Stopped Time
1 hour 20  mins                50 minutes          30 minutes

Decent Day, Great Riding Weather

 Tuesday Tracking courtesy of Ham Radio and APRS

My riding has slowed a bit recently, with frequent "treks" to the closest lumber store, nearby post office, and what-have-you, rarely equaling a full mile or so.
The whopping heat and humidity index haven't helped.  Almost two weeks with little or no rain - in MISSOURI ?
Tuesday, 22 June 2021, the day was still in the low to high 90's but it was sunny and clear and not as ugly as it had been for several days.  So I set out to do an around-town ride.
I had an appointment with Wally at our local California Nails salon.
This trip was my once - a - month visit for such comfort.
"California Nails" is on the north side of town but not as far as our area Big Box Store which I usually visit more than once a month.  So  out comes the Catrike and off I went.
After the treatment, which I highly recommend, I rode the roundabout route home.
Of course, several miles pedaling like this resulted in frightful lows in my blood sugar, even though I had suspended the insulin pump for the entire time of the  round trip.  After trying to treat the lows, with sweets of course, I spent much ot the rest of the day and night suffering HIGH blood sugars.  My so-called "metabolism" has changed - evidently - quite a bit in the last year or several months.  Exercise tends to keep my sugar low for longer than I'm used to, and whatever I consume to counteract lows seem to take longer than I'm used to to digest.  I wind up eating too much trying to raise the balky low blood sugar, and when it finally starts raising my blood sugar, it raises it BIG Time and ..... Up and Down. 
Whatever, that's my story.  Thankfully I CAN still ride, without seizures or comas, even when my BG gets frightfully low (30's, 40's, and 50's).

Ride Started: 11:31 AM           Ride Ended: 1:19 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.7
Lowest Temp:  67 F Highest Temp: 82 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  168   Ending BG: 61
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.77
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 3.1 MPH                              6.4 MPH            20.4 MPH
Total Trip Time                Moving Time      Stopped Time
1 hour 51  mins               54 minutes          57 minutes

On the Road Again....

 Monday's Meanderings via GPS / Ham Radio

I've been Up and Down and All Around recently, with age and diabetes and medicatons (?) complicating my life.  I've ridden my pedal -  Trike several times but only a few blocks around and across the tracks to pick up stuff at nearby stores.... Lumber and Hardware being the biggest recipients of my ill earned money.
Making steady progress on Jacque's sewing room addition, which IS tiring duty but not real good deep breathing exercise...
Having been TOO long without a more-than-15-minute ride, I was about to take the trike for another hardware purchase when Jacque mentioned she had 2 prescriptions to be picked up  at our local Big Box Store.  It was an unusually warm day but who cares??  I was way overdue for leg-stretching.
What with recent low-glucose episodes, I paid much closer attention to my blood sugar (BG).
Jacque fed me a good starchy snack right before I left.  I set my pump for a low temporary basal rate and rode off.  Remembering how fast my BG tends to drop when riding made me stop and  re-check my sugars only 3 blocks from home:  76, which is lower than my recommended range.... and only 10 or 15 minutes after eating a sizeable meal.  I suspended the pump entirely and kept riding.  I stopped at my farthest - north destination and checked BG again and was somewhat surprised to see it was still lower than recommendations from my endocrinologist.
I bought most of what I wanted and rode the several hundred feet  to the Big Box Store Pharmacy and picked up my sweetheart's meds.  BG checked low again, so I rodeall the way back home with the pump still suspended.  BG was STILL low. 
SO, I may have actually learned something.  For all my years with diabetes and insulin therapy, I've "gotten away" with many too-highs and even more too-lows without more than mild confusion as a result.  Evidently in my old age, I can no longer ignore highs or ESPECIALLY lows.  It's no fun waking up with EMT's fussing over me.  So now I have to pay better attention AND behave myself.  BAH

Ride Started:  1:53 PM           Ride Ended: 3:32 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.4
Lowest Temp:  82 F Highest Temp: 87 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  113   Ending BG: 76
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.90
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 3.8 MPH                              5.8 MPH            23.0 MPH
Total Trip Time                Moving Time      Stopped Time
 1 hour 33 minutes              1 hour                33 minutes