Night Riders

Surprisingly Good East Mountain Tracking Today

Jacque and I had planned to do an Albuquerque Bosque Trail Evening Ride yesterday but as we started into town we ran into rain and got reports over the ham radio that it was raining and sparking lightning in Albuquerque.  So we regretfully turned around and came home and put the trike under the deck to shelter it from the rain.
What was even more frustrating was the wonderful sunny day that had preceded the later afternoon thunderstorm.  We missed some perfect riding weather earlier in the day for a storm that gathered later to wipe out our riding ambitions.
Today I was determined to get in a decent ride before any storms could wipe out such plans.  Unfortunately, we awoke to very cloudy and gloomy skies.... but thankfully it cleared up somewhat later in the morning, without rain.  I decided to chance a ride after looking around the skies and deciding I might be able to get in a ride between the surrounding cloudiness.  (Jacque had gone into town for several shopping items.)
The clouds were mostly a blessing, providing coolness and shade.... until I got closer to Edgewood along County Line Road and Dinkle.  I felt several splatters from tentative raindrops and worried I might get soaked.  I put the steam into the pedals and got to the Mountain Valley Church at the corner of Dinkle and Mountain Valley, hoping their front overhang over their entry doors might provide shelter from the impending rain.
No such luck.....

Those front pillars on the church are just decorative and have no roof or cover whatever.
However, after walking around back of the church I discovered there is a nice carport shelter there.  Handy to know for future reference, so I saved the location in my GPS as "Church Rain Shelter".  I did not get rained on - after all - so I dallied in the parking lot for a bit eating my snack and guzzling my water bottles.
As seen in the photo, it was a bit threatening, so I considered several times the idea to cut short the ride to minimize the risk of getting soaked.  Happy I am that I foolishly continued the entire route, since I never got splatted by any raindrops again.
As I approached the last couple of miles to home, I was surprised to see the weather toward Albuquerque, over the Sandias, had cleared up, unlike yesterday.  I thought maybe Jacque might be interested in trying again for an evening Bosque ride, and sure enough, she was.
So here's the data from my first ride today on my recumbent 2-wheeler:
Ride Started: 1:14 PM    Ride Ended:  4:12 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8       Ending Voltage: 13.1
Lowest Temp  71 F      Highest Temp:  78 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  22.49
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  7.6 MPH                               9.5 MPH                    32.7 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 58 mins                     2 hours 21 mins          36 minutes

THEN we loaded the trailer up with the tandem terratrike and fought the 5:00 westbound I-40 rush to get to Rio Grande and the Bosque Trail.  We knew it would be a late ride but we have become fond of riding this area at sundown and even after dark.

Not Quite Dark, but Close

 As we unloaded the trike and started setting it up, I was horrified to realize I had left my pannier at home, plugged in for recharging the battery that powers the GPS and radios and whatnot.  Not only that, but my bike gloves were safely home inside that pannier, as was my snack kit and blood glucose test kit.  AND riding goggles.  As you can see, I rode with naked eyes, relying heavily on the homemade yellow plastic oil-can visor to block oncoming bugs and dust.  It turned out to be pretty much OK... as far as I know I only got one bug in my eye, and considering after dark the headlamp on my helmet is a great bug-attractor, I got off lightly for my forgetfulness.  The Garmin 350 has an internal battery so I let it run on that by itself, in hopes it would record the mileage and such long enough to complete the trip.  It did, fortunately.
Jacque and I were surprised at the number of cyclists we encountered well after it got totally dark.... and they ALL had red flashing tail lights and bright headlamps.  In our hundreds of prior rides in the dusk or dark, we've encountered riders smoking along with NO lights or even reflective clothing.  Tonight everyone we encountered had lights, even the walkers.  Good Stuff for safety and lack of stress and all that.
One small problem also encountered:  My pannier had my extra carb-snacks, and I only had a ziplok baggie with 3 homebrew chocolate chip cookies and ONE 29-carb power bar with me on my person.  About 5 miles up the Bosque Trail, I had no way to check my glucose but I was feeling very wobbly.  So I ate my cookies.... and still felt even more wobbly, so I also ate my sole power bar.  That got me out of the doldrums and we were able to resume honking along, but on the return leg I got awfully low on energy again and really struggled making the last several miles.  Was I ever happy to see the lights of Central and Tingley Beach as we rolled up to resume travel home in the petroleum-burner.
Since I had no battery pack to run the radios, I got no tracking.  All I have for the second leg of my day's self-powered miles is the GPS data.
Trike Ride Started: 7:15 PM    Ride Ended:  9:20 PM
Stats from the GPS:               Total Miles:  15.83
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  6.5 MPH                               8.2 MPH                    18.6 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 25 mins                     1 hour 55 mins           29 minutes

So Hey.   I rode a total of 38.29 miles today.  Not a personal best but certainly something I don't accomplish every day.  Should sleep well tonight if I can find a non-sore side to lie on.....