Twelve-Mile Thursday

Tijeras Canyon Tracking - Hard to report positions in here
Enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day and a very pleasant ride through Tijeras Canyon via Old Route 66 this morning.
Jacque was going into town for errands and I wanted some new cycling gloves and a new saw chain for my noisy  gas-burning handheld firewood-cutting machine (Stihl).  We decided I'd hitch a ride down the hill with her to Tijeras, and I'd ride from there into Albuquerque while she drove and did errands.  Thenceforth we'd meet somewhere and drive back home together.
We decided the bike AND the Exploder were much too loaded with mud, dried and otherwise, so we jogged just east of Tijeras for the quarter-gobbling car wash there.  After only investing $1.75 worth of quarters for 4 precious minutes of high pressure water, I got the clumps off the bike and much of the wheel-well globs cleared off the Exploder.  I unloaded the bike there;  Jacque took off for Albuquerque at a much more rapid pace than I did.
Old 66 is quite a pleasant ride.  No wonder so many Albuquerque-ites ride their bikes out here in spite of the occasional roughness of the road, lack of shoulder in spots, etc.  The grades are just enough to keep you from getting lazy.  There was a bit of an unwelcome eastbound wind in my face much of the trip, but not enough to deter enjoyment of the open road on an open bike under your own steam.
We decided to meet at the Eubank dog park, which was a bit too early in the shopping cycle for me:  I could have ridden around metro NE Albuquerque probably for an extra hour on the pedals had I planned it out better,  Still a great ride, and we got home in time to get some actual work done (eternal firewood cutting for me, it's still January and no telling when another big dump of snow and ice might hit us and bury the woodpile.)
Morning Pre-Ride BG:    165                                  Post-Ride BG:  85   
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.3                Ending Voltage: 12.2
Start-Ride Temperature:  48 degrees F                 Arrival Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 11.84
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
08.8 Mph                                         11.8 mph                             22.7 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
1 hour 21 mins                                1 hour 00 mins                  20 mins 46 secs