Nice Side-Trip for Shopping Today

today's divergent APRS/GPS track

I did the normal park-the-car and ride-the-7-miles-to-work thing today, but as the noon hour approached I considered riding up to Bikes Plus (to buy another spare shifter cable) on Holly parallel to Paseo Del Norte - about 3 miles slightly uphill and a fairly easy slightly-downhill ride back.  The biggest problems are getting through the busy intersection at Alameda and the I-25 Frontage Road, and crossing Wyoming and Wilshire.  It's quite the aerobic exercise going east on almost any street in Albuquerque east of the Rio Grande, since the city sits in a gentle valley that slopes from both directions E-W toward the River.
No problems encountered.  The traffic light at Alameda and Frontage Road actually help me since it slows the traffic down, and I rarely get any grief from motorists when I come out of the CarMax auto dealership lot onto Alameda and ride between cars to the light and wait my turn.  Years ago I would ride the sidewalk there and wait for the "Walk" light but that is EXTREMELY dangerous since cars are never looking for a bike to come out into the intersection from the sidewalk.  When I ride in the ROAD, with the cars, they very definitely SEE me and thankfully, rarely get huffy about it.  Today, as is usual, when the light turned red I was able to match the autos' speed as we approached the intersection, so I wasn't slowing anyone down.
The weather was forecast to be nasty today, and of course it turned out to be a beautiful balmy day.
The early morning forecasters disappointedly stated that "It will get COLD and likely WET this afternoon" - I plotted to ride anyway and take my chances.  There are only a few days a year where the weather actually gets ugly enough to worry about, and I've had to call Jacque to come rescue me only a few times a year out of hundreds of days riding year in and year out.  As I type currently the weather is still just cool enough to be enjoyable and the online weather maps don't show anything threatening in  the vicinity.  I'll let ya know if I get soaked but it's not very likely.
Noon Ride Stats from GPS:  Total Distance Miles:  6.55
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.       Ending Voltage: 12.5   (Gel Cell battery pack, no charge for 3 days now)
Beginning Temperature:  80.6 F        Ending Temperature:  80 F
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.6  Mph                             10.9 mph            22.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  41:00 mins                       36:13 mins          04:47 mins

Later:  I got soaked.  Actually, only mildly.  It was sprinkling by the time I left work.  I started north to go my normal route but the rain was harder and the sky darker that direction, so I turned tail and rode south on Jefferson to Paseo to shorten the ride back.  The rain at first started to slack off but then started in earnest.  About 3 miles south the rain stopped, and though the path was wet, the rest of the ride was dry and uneventful, but I really regretted forgetting my toy video-cam:  Just before I got back to the car I passed the CUTEST little redheaded girlie-girl riding on her Momma's shoulders, strolling along.  "Hiya", says I, and the wee cutie says "Look, Mom!  A BICYCLE!!!"
BG before ride home:  224   BG after getting home, before dinner:  115
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  6.51
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
9.4  Mph                             11.1 mph            22.5 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  47:00 mins                       43:23 mins          03:37 mins