Today had a low temp in the 20's as the daylight savings first day of the week awoke.
The sun came out in short order but the temperature stayed treacherously low and the breeze was one of those that cut right through the clothing. At least that's MY story.
I wanted to try at least a short trike ride in the morning, but I was short on time due to practicing song and guitar for our amateur quartet's upcoming command performance at one of our local senior centers.
Note to self: Practice is supposed to make perfect..... Sigh.
Later this afternoon, it was still bitter cold but I have often ridden in colder temperatures. When I was younger and braver, no doubt.
At my elderly stage in life exercise is almost critical in order to keep my blood circulating in some order and my diabetic blood sugar under better control.
So I bundled up and took a very short ride.
I had to walk the doggies first, in hopes of averting "accidents" while leaving them home alone - even for a few minutes. I had a nice coat on but it was still COLD.
Getting the critters back inside where it was warm, I dug out my leather work boots (not terribly warm but great for blocking the cold wind), insulated mechanics coveralls, with a sweater to add a layer to my chest area.
Topping that fashionable dress with a knit skull cap and insulated mittens, I pedaled out into the sunset. Literally.
Since it was after 6 PM and now freshly Daylight Savings Time, the sun was low on the horizon and at various angles during the ride was smack dab right into my eyes. My extra large "visor" fashioned from the sidewall of an empty yellow 1-gallon plastic oil container worked nicely for several of those angles of attacking sunshine.
I almost aborted the trip just as it began: The street I normally take was rumbling with the approach of the usual screaming freight train, and the crossarms were in descent as I approached. I turned right on another street parallel to the tracks and rode the opposite direction the train was going, hoping to meet the end of the train at the next intersection / crossing.
The train was still in full extent when I got to that crossing. No other vehicular traffic was around so I waited at the junction for a few minutes to see if it was going to be one of those mile - long rigs or if would be reasonably short.
After a few more minutes I decided to just go back around the block and give up and go home. Of course, as soon as I made the turn, the tail end of the train came chugging up and passed. So I turned back around, expecting to cross as soon as the crossarms arose again. THIS seemed to take forever, and looking up the track, another PARKED train was not moving but close enough to the junction to keep the crossarms locked down. Again, I was about to give up again, but the parked train engineer must have sent a signal to make the crossarms obey, and I happily crossed the tracks.
Which is a bit silly since that route only added maybe another quarter mile to my ride. But hey, making a short ride even shorter is discouraging to an old fart like me.
At this time of day the streets were relatively empty and I encountered few cars as I rode back toward the official center of town, the inevitable town square so popular here in the midwest.
It was still cold, even though by now I was breathing heavily. I was very happy to make the final turn toward our little house and pull into the drive.
It's supposed to get even COLDER in the next few days. Whee.
At least we so far are avoiding the flooding in California and the deep snows and worser cold in the New England area. Thank You, Heavenly Father
Ride Started: 6:34 PM Ride Ended: 6:47 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.1 Ending Battery Voltage: 12.6
Lowest Temp: 35 F Highest Temp: 35 F !!
Beginning Blood Glucose: 180 Ending BG: 125
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 1.68
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.0 MPH 7.2 MPH 13.0 MPH
Total Trip(s) Time Moving Time Stopped Time
17 minutes 14 minutes 3 minutes
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