Today's Tracking Courtesy of Ham Radio and the GPS
Today dawned cool and breezy, with weather guessers forecasting possible rain. I waited a while and watched the front window closely and often. Finally - about noon - I decided:
-Iit hadn't rained yet
-Tomorrow I have an early dental appointment and I may not FEEL like riding afterwards
-If I didn't ride today who knows how many MORE days before I get in a few more miles?
So I saddled up the recumbent two-wheeler and Jazzy and I took off for a ride.
It WAS a bit cool but just a bit cold for comfort; not BITTERLY cold.
With Jazzy in the belly harness at my front the warmth from her body helps a bit, and by the time I topped the first long hill I scrunched the sleeves on my windbreaker back to my elbows and unzipped the front wide open, which helped a lot in cooling me down without freezing me. The wind was not terrible; just in our faces and a bit bothersome, thassall.
By the time we got to the halfway and turnaround point it appeared the wind was still the same direction.
I took off the windbreaker and tucked it away for the rest of the ride. Since we were now going the other way the wind was mostly at our back so I did not get overheated OR terribly cold. I was too lazy to stop at the top of impending downhill screamers so it did get a bit over-cool but those downhills are not that long....
Not nearly as long going down as going up. What are the physics of that?
We got back about 2 PM, leaving me plenty of time to split a few firewood chunks and get started on my 2014 income tax forms. BAH. I'll be extra grumpy the next several days while I work on that..... what a bother. Maybe if I take some 2-hour bike riding breaks in the middle of taxes it will improve my sour mood.
I wouldn't bet on it.
Ride Started: 11:58 AM Ride Ended: 2:03 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.9 Ending Voltage: 13.1 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 49 F Highest Temp: 57 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 10:51
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.1 MPH 7.5 MPH 30.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 3 mins 1 hour 24 mins 39 minutes
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
Excuses, Excuses
Today's Very Short Tracking
Okay, Okay. So it's been 5 days since I/we rode last. The weather has been part of the problem, and of course procrastination is another problem category all in itself. We've had rainy weather in the afternoons, too-full days where the time demands leave nothing for (ahem) staying healthy, whine, whine, you can fill in the details yourself, Dear Reader.
I thought I might get in a ride earlier this morning to avoid possible afternoon showers but - as usual - Noon came and went and I still was nowhere near ready to roll. The excuse for this was my decision to saw and split a bit of firewood, which sucked up most of the morning. The weather is warming, but we still burn wood in the stove in the mornings and occasionally in the evenings, and our woodpile has dwindled dramatically these last few weeks. SO -- messing with the wood isn't just for personal enjoyment and making the bones complain.
The after-lunch sky turned bright and clear and warm so prospects looked great for a ride. As I was getting ready for saddling up my recumbent 2-wheeler I casually asked Jacque if she was in the mood for a joint trike ride instead. She was in the middle of a quilting project so I thought she wouldn't but by the time I actually got ready she was ready for a ride too. So I loaded up the trike into the transport trailer and off we went.
I'm getting a bit leery of riding the trike out here close to home, but we didn't want to separate and we didn't have sufficient time to make the longer trip across the canyon and Albuquerque to ride the Bosque. We decided to just make a mail run, which is very short mileage wise but a great workout, if frustrating, climbing the long hill approaching the Post Office.
It turned out better than I thought. Last time we tried this route on the trike I thought I was going to keel over from exhaustion but today we made the trip with moderate effort and no real suffering on my part.
Talk about beautiful riding weather. No wind to speak of, sunny and yet just cool enough to be pleasant.
We are truly going to miss this "Not-Yet-Spring" weather when spring actually gets here and the winds and weather are not as nice.
After the P.O. stop, a short ride up the rest of the hill to the Snack Station, er, Shell Station for a soda and rest break. On the way home, of course, those same hills were easier going down than climbing up.
Ride Started: 3:33 PM Ride Ended: 5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 14.0 Ending Voltage: 12.9 Lowest: 12.9
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4:28
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.4 MPH 6.4 MPH 29.4 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 16 mins 40 minutes 35 minutes
Okay, Okay. So it's been 5 days since I/we rode last. The weather has been part of the problem, and of course procrastination is another problem category all in itself. We've had rainy weather in the afternoons, too-full days where the time demands leave nothing for (ahem) staying healthy, whine, whine, you can fill in the details yourself, Dear Reader.
I thought I might get in a ride earlier this morning to avoid possible afternoon showers but - as usual - Noon came and went and I still was nowhere near ready to roll. The excuse for this was my decision to saw and split a bit of firewood, which sucked up most of the morning. The weather is warming, but we still burn wood in the stove in the mornings and occasionally in the evenings, and our woodpile has dwindled dramatically these last few weeks. SO -- messing with the wood isn't just for personal enjoyment and making the bones complain.
The after-lunch sky turned bright and clear and warm so prospects looked great for a ride. As I was getting ready for saddling up my recumbent 2-wheeler I casually asked Jacque if she was in the mood for a joint trike ride instead. She was in the middle of a quilting project so I thought she wouldn't but by the time I actually got ready she was ready for a ride too. So I loaded up the trike into the transport trailer and off we went.
I'm getting a bit leery of riding the trike out here close to home, but we didn't want to separate and we didn't have sufficient time to make the longer trip across the canyon and Albuquerque to ride the Bosque. We decided to just make a mail run, which is very short mileage wise but a great workout, if frustrating, climbing the long hill approaching the Post Office.
It turned out better than I thought. Last time we tried this route on the trike I thought I was going to keel over from exhaustion but today we made the trip with moderate effort and no real suffering on my part.
Talk about beautiful riding weather. No wind to speak of, sunny and yet just cool enough to be pleasant.
We are truly going to miss this "Not-Yet-Spring" weather when spring actually gets here and the winds and weather are not as nice.
After the P.O. stop, a short ride up the rest of the hill to the Snack Station, er, Shell Station for a soda and rest break. On the way home, of course, those same hills were easier going down than climbing up.
Ride Started: 3:33 PM Ride Ended: 5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 14.0 Ending Voltage: 12.9 Lowest: 12.9
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4:28
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.4 MPH 6.4 MPH 29.4 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 16 mins 40 minutes 35 minutes
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Two-Wheeling Instead of 3-Wheeling
Today's Spotty Tracking
Yesterday's ride on the Tandem Terratrike was very noisy, with the chain rubbing and grinding against something, even though the chain restraints appeared to not be rubbing every time I tried to take a look. Today before I took off on my solo 2-wheel ride I worked on the trike: It was still in the trailer, and closer to my eyeball level so I could hopefully investigate what was going on. I merely elevated the rear, drive, wheel with a jack-stand and cranked the pedals and watched the action. The chain and idlers and derailleur were all pretty dry so I realized they needed a good lubrication, but I also noticed the chain up front was sagging and rubbing no matter what I tried. The spring-loaded idler was pressing all the way "trying" to take up the chain slack but it appeared the chain had either stretched or worn sufficiently that the idler no longer could hold tight enough to keep the chain taut. I finally decided to break the chain and remove a link (of course with bike chains "removing a link" actually means TWO have to be removed). With the links removed it was a bit of a struggle to rejoin the shortened chain, but I was able to get 'er done, and now the idler is able to keep the chain taut enough to avoid rubbing the chain guide all the time. This done, I broke out the expensive "bicycle chain lube" bottle and carefully juiced each link on both chains, which of course ate up at least another half hour. Then the wipe-off of the chain to remove the sloppy excess lubricant which always results from a lube-job. All chain action is now much quieter. Hopefully this will get us through a few dozen more rides before other major 'surgery' is required.
As per usual, it was later in the PM by the time I actually got saddled up on my 2-wheeler and bouncing down the goat-path from home to highway. Jazzy was in the belly-pack and happy until about halfway down the mountain we met Jacque coming home in her Subaru: Jazzy suddenly lost enthusiasm for the bike ride and whined piteously until I unbuckled her from the harness and handed her off to Jacque.
This is my usual easier 10-mile ride and nothing of consequence happened, not even encountering any friendly or unusual folk. On the return leg home I saw another cyclist coming towards me and I assumed it was going to be Brian K, who I often meet around this area. Nothing doing, it was one of the many "too-busy-to-wave-back" types, so it CERTAINLY wasn't Brian.
What beautimous weather. I neglected to take any windbreaker or jacket with me, and as I rode the return route it started getting JUST a little cooler, reminding me that I should never "assume" the weather couldn't change enough during an hour's bike ride to require layering up..... or down. Thankfully I made it home without getting unduly chilled.
Still not sure how much, if any, good the solar panel might be doing. The sun was fairly high during this ride but the recorded battery voltages looked better yesterday powering the trike electronics.... withOUT any solar assist. Stay tuned.
Ride Started: 3:33 PM Ride Ended: 5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5 Ending Voltage: 13.1 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 64 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 10:52
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.6 MPH 8.6 MPH 28.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 35 mins 1 hour 13 minutes 21 minutes
(Just a short clip showing Jazzy's cuteness)
Man, the warm weather just keeps getting better and better. We still normally have to build at least a small fire in the wood stove late evening and early morning but after about 10:00 AM it just gets wonderfully balmy around here.Yesterday's ride on the Tandem Terratrike was very noisy, with the chain rubbing and grinding against something, even though the chain restraints appeared to not be rubbing every time I tried to take a look. Today before I took off on my solo 2-wheel ride I worked on the trike: It was still in the trailer, and closer to my eyeball level so I could hopefully investigate what was going on. I merely elevated the rear, drive, wheel with a jack-stand and cranked the pedals and watched the action. The chain and idlers and derailleur were all pretty dry so I realized they needed a good lubrication, but I also noticed the chain up front was sagging and rubbing no matter what I tried. The spring-loaded idler was pressing all the way "trying" to take up the chain slack but it appeared the chain had either stretched or worn sufficiently that the idler no longer could hold tight enough to keep the chain taut. I finally decided to break the chain and remove a link (of course with bike chains "removing a link" actually means TWO have to be removed). With the links removed it was a bit of a struggle to rejoin the shortened chain, but I was able to get 'er done, and now the idler is able to keep the chain taut enough to avoid rubbing the chain guide all the time. This done, I broke out the expensive "bicycle chain lube" bottle and carefully juiced each link on both chains, which of course ate up at least another half hour. Then the wipe-off of the chain to remove the sloppy excess lubricant which always results from a lube-job. All chain action is now much quieter. Hopefully this will get us through a few dozen more rides before other major 'surgery' is required.
As per usual, it was later in the PM by the time I actually got saddled up on my 2-wheeler and bouncing down the goat-path from home to highway. Jazzy was in the belly-pack and happy until about halfway down the mountain we met Jacque coming home in her Subaru: Jazzy suddenly lost enthusiasm for the bike ride and whined piteously until I unbuckled her from the harness and handed her off to Jacque.
This is my usual easier 10-mile ride and nothing of consequence happened, not even encountering any friendly or unusual folk. On the return leg home I saw another cyclist coming towards me and I assumed it was going to be Brian K, who I often meet around this area. Nothing doing, it was one of the many "too-busy-to-wave-back" types, so it CERTAINLY wasn't Brian.
What beautimous weather. I neglected to take any windbreaker or jacket with me, and as I rode the return route it started getting JUST a little cooler, reminding me that I should never "assume" the weather couldn't change enough during an hour's bike ride to require layering up..... or down. Thankfully I made it home without getting unduly chilled.
Still not sure how much, if any, good the solar panel might be doing. The sun was fairly high during this ride but the recorded battery voltages looked better yesterday powering the trike electronics.... withOUT any solar assist. Stay tuned.
Ride Started: 3:33 PM Ride Ended: 5:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5 Ending Voltage: 13.1 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 64 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 10:52
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.6 MPH 8.6 MPH 28.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 35 mins 1 hour 13 minutes 21 minutes
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Close Encounters of the Bicycle Kind
Today's Tracking via Ham Radio and APRS
I planned to do a decent bike ride today and dragged my 2-wheel recumbent out of the storage shed, checked the tires, and readied it for a loaded ride including Jazzy, our cutest and youngest Papillon.
It was "only" about 10 AM by then, so I thought I would take a few minutes and fix the out-of-round front tire on the Tandem Terratrike we suffered with on our last ride. The tire had been flat from sitting unloved for too long under the deck and I had aired it up in haste, and the bead had seated a bit skewed causing a slight out-of-round condition for the tire, which didn't show up unless we went over about 7 MPH. I'm not telling how many miles we rode before we noticed it......
While I had the trike out in the open I remembered I'd been threatening to mount a dual stand-up water bottle mount in place of the single bottle clip between my legs in front of the driver's seat. So I dug around in my junk and finally came up with a piece of angle aluminum I thought would work for mounting two water bottle clips side by side vertically.
Of course, instead of taking a half hour or so, this sucked up the rest of the morning. I was happy with the result and about ready to put the trike away and take off on the 2-wheeler for a ride.....
Jacque came home early from her Over the Mountain Quilter's Club.
She casually mentioned something about taking the trike for a ride so I told her I was just tying up the loose ends on it. I finished the loose ends, put all the tools away, and hitched up the trailer and loaded up the trike.
By the time we got to our starting point it was 3:30 PM or so but we hoped our newfound "extra hour of daylight" would pay off for us. It didn't turn out bad at all.
We first rode over to Tingley Beach for a potty break. Then we rode the 3 or so miles over to Old Town via Mountain Road, now co-labeled "Bicycle Boulevard" with a so-called "calming speed limit" of 18 MPH. Few motorists stay anything close to this limit but evidently there is sufficient bike traffic up and down Mountain Road that most drivers seem willing to slow down and wait to pass when they can't take the oncoming lane to get around us. Whiich is a wonderful thing, since "Bicycle Boulevard" has no shoulder and thus no bike lanes along most of the way.
Old Town itself is also a great place to ride a 2 or 3-wheeler since there are rarely any parking spaces available and the traffic is one-way around the plaza and everybody, including high powered cars, creeps along slowly traversing the area. So it's rather safe and fun for bikes, baby strollers, and such.
We took a long break there, walking the doggies and getting a leisurely lemonade for Jacque.
We finally resumed the ride. It's always a hoot to hear the inevitable, "OOOOoohhh, Look at the Cute Doggie! OOOHH! There are TWO Cute Doggies!" When it's a little kid or a toddler we try to make sure we stop long enough for the youngster to pet the pooches. That's what riding a bike is all about anyway, right????
We encountered ever more friendly folk out on the Bosque Trail today. We almost always see a few friendly walkers, baby stroller pushers, and other riders on this trail but today we encountered several, including the most rare of all things: A group of speed riders who all cracked up and said "HELLO!" as they passed. The usual reaction of similar riders could be termed "Eyes straight ahead, Nose In The Air".
One particularly fun couple must have passed us a dozen or more times, both coming and going, with teasing and irreverent remarks and jibes increasing in volume each time. I AGAIN forgot my $400-something GoPro camera so I got none of the hilarious footage. So Sad....
We turned around at the Montano underpass and rode back, arriving back at the trailer-towing Subaru just before dark. Almost Perfect. Almost no breeze whatever this afternoon, and temperatures almost balmy.
Ride Started: 3:38 PM Ride Ended: 6:51 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.2 Lowest: 12.1
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.19
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.6 MPH 7.8 MPH 14.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 50 mins 1 hour 33 minutes 17 minutes
I planned to do a decent bike ride today and dragged my 2-wheel recumbent out of the storage shed, checked the tires, and readied it for a loaded ride including Jazzy, our cutest and youngest Papillon.
It was "only" about 10 AM by then, so I thought I would take a few minutes and fix the out-of-round front tire on the Tandem Terratrike we suffered with on our last ride. The tire had been flat from sitting unloved for too long under the deck and I had aired it up in haste, and the bead had seated a bit skewed causing a slight out-of-round condition for the tire, which didn't show up unless we went over about 7 MPH. I'm not telling how many miles we rode before we noticed it......
While I had the trike out in the open I remembered I'd been threatening to mount a dual stand-up water bottle mount in place of the single bottle clip between my legs in front of the driver's seat. So I dug around in my junk and finally came up with a piece of angle aluminum I thought would work for mounting two water bottle clips side by side vertically.
Of course, instead of taking a half hour or so, this sucked up the rest of the morning. I was happy with the result and about ready to put the trike away and take off on the 2-wheeler for a ride.....
Jacque came home early from her Over the Mountain Quilter's Club.
She casually mentioned something about taking the trike for a ride so I told her I was just tying up the loose ends on it. I finished the loose ends, put all the tools away, and hitched up the trailer and loaded up the trike.
By the time we got to our starting point it was 3:30 PM or so but we hoped our newfound "extra hour of daylight" would pay off for us. It didn't turn out bad at all.
We first rode over to Tingley Beach for a potty break. Then we rode the 3 or so miles over to Old Town via Mountain Road, now co-labeled "Bicycle Boulevard" with a so-called "calming speed limit" of 18 MPH. Few motorists stay anything close to this limit but evidently there is sufficient bike traffic up and down Mountain Road that most drivers seem willing to slow down and wait to pass when they can't take the oncoming lane to get around us. Whiich is a wonderful thing, since "Bicycle Boulevard" has no shoulder and thus no bike lanes along most of the way.
Old Town itself is also a great place to ride a 2 or 3-wheeler since there are rarely any parking spaces available and the traffic is one-way around the plaza and everybody, including high powered cars, creeps along slowly traversing the area. So it's rather safe and fun for bikes, baby strollers, and such.
We took a long break there, walking the doggies and getting a leisurely lemonade for Jacque.
We finally resumed the ride. It's always a hoot to hear the inevitable, "OOOOoohhh, Look at the Cute Doggie! OOOHH! There are TWO Cute Doggies!" When it's a little kid or a toddler we try to make sure we stop long enough for the youngster to pet the pooches. That's what riding a bike is all about anyway, right????
We encountered ever more friendly folk out on the Bosque Trail today. We almost always see a few friendly walkers, baby stroller pushers, and other riders on this trail but today we encountered several, including the most rare of all things: A group of speed riders who all cracked up and said "HELLO!" as they passed. The usual reaction of similar riders could be termed "Eyes straight ahead, Nose In The Air".
One particularly fun couple must have passed us a dozen or more times, both coming and going, with teasing and irreverent remarks and jibes increasing in volume each time. I AGAIN forgot my $400-something GoPro camera so I got none of the hilarious footage. So Sad....
We turned around at the Montano underpass and rode back, arriving back at the trailer-towing Subaru just before dark. Almost Perfect. Almost no breeze whatever this afternoon, and temperatures almost balmy.
Ride Started: 3:38 PM Ride Ended: 6:51 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.2 Lowest: 12.1
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.19
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.6 MPH 7.8 MPH 14.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 50 mins 1 hour 33 minutes 17 minutes
Friday, March 6, 2015
Beautiful Bosque Biking
Today's Ham Radio / GPS / APRS Tracking
I had what might be called a rough week this week.
Monday, after my last bike ride, I suddenly developed a horrific jaw-warping toothache that I thought was gonna kill me. Hydrocodone pills did NOTHING for it, and I spent the night in agony trying to sleep with my head throbbing and nasty awful terrible no good...... ow.
I was able to get an emergency dental appointment on Tuesday. The dentist could again find nothing wrong with my tooth or jaw but suspected infection again so he prescribed pain pills and antibiotics. A couple hours after the first pills, the pain suddenly subsided again and I was able to get a decent night's sleep. Trouble is, even though I'd slept well and no longer seemed to need any pain pills, I felt like I had been run over by a truck - or something - and didn't feel strong enough to do a bike ride Wednesday, and besides, I had another appointment with the same dentist late Wednesday to get..... my favorite.... a ROOT CANAL.
The root canal wasn't all that bad, but the supposed pain-numbing shots in the jaw beforehand had me literally screaming in pain. If the doc had any patients out in the waiting room I'm sure they all got up and left after hearing me yell. I was in deep agony when I walked out and thankfully Jacque was with me as my personal driver. Again, in a few more hours the pills had taken root, pun intended, and I was able to relax and get another night's sleep.
Thursday I felt much better, still no need for pain pills, but again not enough get-up-and-go to get out on the bike.
Today, Friday, I determined I was going to ride no matter what, and Jacque left for Albuquerque, so I assumed I would soon get in a ride while she was gone. She came home early - her trip to the big city cancelled - and she started talking about a TRIKE ride, as in tandem, that is.
So we saddled up the tandem Terratrike and went to the Bosque Trail in the Big City. As usual, the Terratrike is big and heavy but it is within our capabilities on this largely straight and level route almost completely blocked off from vehicular traffic.
It was a bit late when we finally arrived at our secret parking place close to Central and Tingley but we figured we still had enough sunshine for a couple of hours riding, and the weather was downright BEAUTIFUL.
The City of Albuquerque continues to "Improve" various parking places we've been able to use in the past.
As usual, government "improvement" means "elimination" or striping previously available parking as no-parking zones. BAH
We found another spot anyway, and hopefully will still be able to in the future in spite of ongoing city "improvements".
We only made slightly over 11 miles but it was great to get out together under joint pedal-power again.
Lots of other bikers and walkers and even a couple of horsey-riders were out on the trail today, and we were all enjoying the wonderul weather.
Then, after the very satisfying ride, we went to the China King Restaurant for a wonderful dinner and.... life is GOOD.
.
Ride Started: 3:38 PM Ride Ended: 5:39 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.1 Lowest: 12.3
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.11
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 6.8 MPH 14.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 55 mins 1 hour 37 minutes 17 minutes
I had what might be called a rough week this week.
Monday, after my last bike ride, I suddenly developed a horrific jaw-warping toothache that I thought was gonna kill me. Hydrocodone pills did NOTHING for it, and I spent the night in agony trying to sleep with my head throbbing and nasty awful terrible no good...... ow.
I was able to get an emergency dental appointment on Tuesday. The dentist could again find nothing wrong with my tooth or jaw but suspected infection again so he prescribed pain pills and antibiotics. A couple hours after the first pills, the pain suddenly subsided again and I was able to get a decent night's sleep. Trouble is, even though I'd slept well and no longer seemed to need any pain pills, I felt like I had been run over by a truck - or something - and didn't feel strong enough to do a bike ride Wednesday, and besides, I had another appointment with the same dentist late Wednesday to get..... my favorite.... a ROOT CANAL.
The root canal wasn't all that bad, but the supposed pain-numbing shots in the jaw beforehand had me literally screaming in pain. If the doc had any patients out in the waiting room I'm sure they all got up and left after hearing me yell. I was in deep agony when I walked out and thankfully Jacque was with me as my personal driver. Again, in a few more hours the pills had taken root, pun intended, and I was able to relax and get another night's sleep.
Thursday I felt much better, still no need for pain pills, but again not enough get-up-and-go to get out on the bike.
Today, Friday, I determined I was going to ride no matter what, and Jacque left for Albuquerque, so I assumed I would soon get in a ride while she was gone. She came home early - her trip to the big city cancelled - and she started talking about a TRIKE ride, as in tandem, that is.
So we saddled up the tandem Terratrike and went to the Bosque Trail in the Big City. As usual, the Terratrike is big and heavy but it is within our capabilities on this largely straight and level route almost completely blocked off from vehicular traffic.
It was a bit late when we finally arrived at our secret parking place close to Central and Tingley but we figured we still had enough sunshine for a couple of hours riding, and the weather was downright BEAUTIFUL.
The City of Albuquerque continues to "Improve" various parking places we've been able to use in the past.
As usual, government "improvement" means "elimination" or striping previously available parking as no-parking zones. BAH
We found another spot anyway, and hopefully will still be able to in the future in spite of ongoing city "improvements".
We only made slightly over 11 miles but it was great to get out together under joint pedal-power again.
Lots of other bikers and walkers and even a couple of horsey-riders were out on the trail today, and we were all enjoying the wonderul weather.
Then, after the very satisfying ride, we went to the China King Restaurant for a wonderful dinner and.... life is GOOD.
.
Ride Started: 3:38 PM Ride Ended: 5:39 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.1 Lowest: 12.3
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 75 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.11
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 6.8 MPH 14.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 55 mins 1 hour 37 minutes 17 minutes
Monday, March 2, 2015
No Sun, Still Fun
Today's Tracking via APRS, GPS, and Ham Radio
Today did not appear optimal for a bike ride: The sun never showed its face, the wind was pretty nasty.... but it was actually a lot warmer than it has been for the last several days. It was around 50-something degrees when I finally saddled up and left, which is practically springtime-style temperature.
We got a tremendous dump of snow Friday and Saturday, resulting in drifts of 3 feet in our yard and perhaps a foot all around average in most of the acreage. The snow was so wet and deep I could barely get the tractor out of its own tracks, even without pulling a load of snow with the scraper, so I gave up and re-parked the tractor. Sunday morning the weater suddenly warmed up and by that evening most of the deep snow was GONE. Talk about dramatic quick weather changes.
Supposedly the weather guessers are forecasting more storms coming in, so I hated to wait several more days in hopes of better weather, so I determined to ride today even for a short one..... trying to get exercise in the breaks between worser weather.
Since all the area's dirt parking areas are again sloppy with mud, I drove up to the Post Office and parked in the empty paved lot adjacent. Since I had a house payment needing to go to the outgoing mail slot this worked in my favor.
I then rode east on Frost Road, and the conditions were not too bad. The wind was gusting pretty heavily, but I've endured worse. I sorta hoped to make a 10-miler by riding 5 miles and then returning, but it was already late when I started, the wind was getting worse, and I turned around just past the 4 mile point.
By now the wind was really getting strong, and occasionally I got a bit sideways, thankfully not while cars were close by.
Arrived back at the SUV/trailer combo safe and sound.
Ride Started: 4:14 PM Ride Ended: 5:19 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 14.0 Ending Voltage: 13.0 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 50 F Highest Temp: 50 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.10
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
7.3 MPH 8.9 MPH 24.4 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 6 mins 54 minutes 12 minutes
Today did not appear optimal for a bike ride: The sun never showed its face, the wind was pretty nasty.... but it was actually a lot warmer than it has been for the last several days. It was around 50-something degrees when I finally saddled up and left, which is practically springtime-style temperature.
We got a tremendous dump of snow Friday and Saturday, resulting in drifts of 3 feet in our yard and perhaps a foot all around average in most of the acreage. The snow was so wet and deep I could barely get the tractor out of its own tracks, even without pulling a load of snow with the scraper, so I gave up and re-parked the tractor. Sunday morning the weater suddenly warmed up and by that evening most of the deep snow was GONE. Talk about dramatic quick weather changes.
Supposedly the weather guessers are forecasting more storms coming in, so I hated to wait several more days in hopes of better weather, so I determined to ride today even for a short one..... trying to get exercise in the breaks between worser weather.
Since all the area's dirt parking areas are again sloppy with mud, I drove up to the Post Office and parked in the empty paved lot adjacent. Since I had a house payment needing to go to the outgoing mail slot this worked in my favor.
I then rode east on Frost Road, and the conditions were not too bad. The wind was gusting pretty heavily, but I've endured worse. I sorta hoped to make a 10-miler by riding 5 miles and then returning, but it was already late when I started, the wind was getting worse, and I turned around just past the 4 mile point.
By now the wind was really getting strong, and occasionally I got a bit sideways, thankfully not while cars were close by.
Arrived back at the SUV/trailer combo safe and sound.
Ride Started: 4:14 PM Ride Ended: 5:19 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 14.0 Ending Voltage: 13.0 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 50 F Highest Temp: 50 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.10
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
7.3 MPH 8.9 MPH 24.4 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 6 mins 54 minutes 12 minutes
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Snow Cycling, How Cool
Today's Cool Tracking
Actually, a Truth in Advertising caveat here: I didn't do anything as sexy as riding ON snow, though I have done that in the past. I rode INTO snow in the air, as seen in the video dead ahead of Jazzy and I as we rode east toward the Post Office. Specks of snow were also falling ON us as we rode, especially up around the Post Office, but the camera does not show it. The GoPro will take very high resolution videos but the memory space consumed is horrific, and is difficult to upload to YouTube because of the size of even short clips. These videos are with the GoPro set to its lowest resolution and fewest frames per second (30 fps).
They still look pretty good, IMHO.
This admittedly short ride was my first in a while, since I've been down with a cold pretty much since my last ride. I've started to feel almost human again, since yesterday (Monday), at least, so I determined to do at least a short ride today in spite of the spotty weather.
Temperatures have been in the single digits overnight the last couple of nights and in the low twenties yesterday and close to freezing much of today. The wind was trying to huff and puff too but it wasn't too bad.
Needless to say, with all the overcast and the sun failing to show its face all day, the solar panel was of little or no effect today. The ride was so short the voltage on the battery didn't have a chance to fall much, not to mention I was wearing heavy mittens and did not attempt transmitting on the ham radio this trip, also saving a bit of battery power.
My chain failure a couple weeks ago must have been of the "weakest link" variety. The failed link was replaced and I've had no trouble with it since.
No encounters with other cyclists today. Surely they all didn't exercise better sense and stay home?
I was suffering from a bit of Cabin Fever from staying home with the snotty nose thing so I HAD to get out, especially since more nasty weather is supposed to be coming in. Who knows how long the roads may be icy... Gotta ride when and where I can.
Ride Started: 2:38 PM Ride Ended: 3:38 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.0 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 31 F Highest Temp: 35 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.48
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.2 MPH 7.2 MPH 23.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
53 minutes 45 minutes 7 minutes
Actually, a Truth in Advertising caveat here: I didn't do anything as sexy as riding ON snow, though I have done that in the past. I rode INTO snow in the air, as seen in the video dead ahead of Jazzy and I as we rode east toward the Post Office. Specks of snow were also falling ON us as we rode, especially up around the Post Office, but the camera does not show it. The GoPro will take very high resolution videos but the memory space consumed is horrific, and is difficult to upload to YouTube because of the size of even short clips. These videos are with the GoPro set to its lowest resolution and fewest frames per second (30 fps).
They still look pretty good, IMHO.
This admittedly short ride was my first in a while, since I've been down with a cold pretty much since my last ride. I've started to feel almost human again, since yesterday (Monday), at least, so I determined to do at least a short ride today in spite of the spotty weather.
Temperatures have been in the single digits overnight the last couple of nights and in the low twenties yesterday and close to freezing much of today. The wind was trying to huff and puff too but it wasn't too bad.
Needless to say, with all the overcast and the sun failing to show its face all day, the solar panel was of little or no effect today. The ride was so short the voltage on the battery didn't have a chance to fall much, not to mention I was wearing heavy mittens and did not attempt transmitting on the ham radio this trip, also saving a bit of battery power.
My chain failure a couple weeks ago must have been of the "weakest link" variety. The failed link was replaced and I've had no trouble with it since.
No encounters with other cyclists today. Surely they all didn't exercise better sense and stay home?
I was suffering from a bit of Cabin Fever from staying home with the snotty nose thing so I HAD to get out, especially since more nasty weather is supposed to be coming in. Who knows how long the roads may be icy... Gotta ride when and where I can.
Ride Started: 2:38 PM Ride Ended: 3:38 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.0 Lowest: 13.0
Lowest Temp 31 F Highest Temp: 35 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.48
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.2 MPH 7.2 MPH 23.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
53 minutes 45 minutes 7 minutes
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