Today's Nevada APRS/Ham Radio Tracking
We're camped in the Kings Row RV Park near the Las Vegas strip waiting for Donny & Marie to show up and entertain us tomorrow night. Since it is difficult to use the 34 foot RV for a commuter car, we want to just leave it parked in this slot until we leave the morning after the show. I had been wondering if there were any nearby biking trails and wasn't having much luck, as the internet access is a tad slow here. When I finally did dredge up a map of the area, I was mildly surprised to see tne Boulder Highway, just outside our RV camp, has super wide bike lanes for many miles of its length. So while Jacque napped (she's trying to shake a chest cold) I unloaded the tandem Terratrike and took a test ride. I wanted to find a nearby Walgreens or Walmart and get a few items.
These area bike lanes aren't bad at all, though they take some getting used to. The typical bike lane is BETWEEN the main traffic and the super wide bus lane, so normally riders don't hug the curb at all. Boulder Highway traffic is pretty thick and high speed so I worried a bit at first but I had less trouble than I normally do in Albuquerque.
When you approach intersections out here, all of a sudden the bike lane disappears from the middle of the road and reappears curbside, providing priority to the city buses for traversing the intersections.
I found a Walgreens within a couple miles but I realized I had no means of locking the trike so I had to dodge through the typical "Say Mister Can You Help Me" pretty girls accosting people in parking lots and dodge in and rush out to hopefully prevent someone from absconding with my expensive toy trike. Another cyclist exiting the store pointed out a Walmart about another half mile down the road but I decided to return to the RV and try catching a city bus so I can get another bike chain/lock combination. While in Prescott I was saddened to find our bright blinky tail light on the trike had been liberated by person(s) unknown. So I'm now doubly cautious about trying to leave anything unlocked and alone for any length of time.
The weater is a bit warmer than Albuquerque, being Las Vegas and all, but not into the triple digit category yet. Streets thus far encountered on the trike seem fairly level, with very minor occasional grades. SO - a good place to ride.
Later, Jacque and I rode the metro bus to Walmart. It was so slow as we stopped and started every few hundred yards, and I wondered to myself if it might not have taken any more time to just ride the trike, which we would have done but for Jacque's cold. Sure enough, a helmet-less cyclist passed us several times as the bus poked along.....
Trip Started: 2:58 PM Trip Ended: 4:02 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 77 F Highest Temp: 84 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.05
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
7.4 MPH 8.0 MPH 15.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
40 mins 59 secs 37 mins 44 secs 3 mins 15 secs
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Cycling the Grand Canyon
Friday-Saturday Grand Canyon Tracking
Yesterday we left home in the RV for a few days' outing. We hitched up our ugly little 4 X 8 foot trailer to haul our tandem recumbent Terratrike along with us in case we found opportunity to ride it anywhere during our RV trip.We made it almost 100 yards before the first problem occurred.
We stopped at our shed with the big air compressor to check and top off the tires before the big trip. The tires were fine and required little in the way of additional air but when I went to get back inside I was horrified to find the RV electric step actuator no longer worked. Looking underneath I discovered the actuator arm was broken. It took me 15 minutes or more to chain the steps in the up position, since when they're in the down position they are too low and protrude out the side of the RV making it unsafe to drive. We stopped at Rocky Mountain RV first on our way into Albuquerque but they did not have a replacement assembly or repair parts for it. They called Central Trailer Supply, who DID have the assembly, and sent us on over there. Central Trailer Supply is downtown Central in heavy - traffic Albuquerque but luckily we found a large empty spot to park the rig. Central not only had the whole assembly new (Price 300 bucks PLUS) but they had a repair kit for the bargain price of 65 bucks. I was able to crawl under the RV in their lot and replace and repair the offending parts. Thankfully. It's NOT a good idea to try getting such disaster repaired on the VERY MORNING you're trying to leave on a trip but we lucked out finding a part on such short notice.
Sadly, then we went to Sam's Club to fill up the huge expensive thirsty RV gas tank. As the pump rapidly ran up the gallons and the total cost (at the bargain price of $3.23 per gallon) I was horrified to see gasoline spilling out from under the middle of the beast where the filler neck tubing connects to the gas tank. I stopped the pump before filling up completely and decided this was much too dangerous. When Jacque came out of the store she was not thrilled to hear we had ANOTHER problem to delay us. Rocky Mountain Power had worked on that same gas tank last November so we drove over there to see if they could have a mechanic take a look at it to see if it might be under warranty. They actually got a tech to look at it in short order, but he seemed to make slow progress. We arrived about noonish and by 3:00 PM the shop informed us the filler neck hose was cracked; it required a new one; there was too much gas in the tank and it couldn't be worked on until drained; the shop was closing soon and they wouldn't be able to work on it more until tomorrow; etc, etc. They offered to let us stay the night in their fenced yard but we decided to just take it back home for the night, albeit reluctantly. On our way back east through town I decided I would just have to do this one myself too. I decided I could:
-Pull into the empty lot behind Checker Auto Parts
-Use the RV leveling jacks to raise the RV on one side to make the gas in the tank go to the side opposite of the filler neck
And so I did. For about twenty bucks and twenty minutes I had it ready to roll again. A quick trip to the gas station to re-fill the tank proved it was no longer leaking (HURRAY). So we hit the road again.
We started late this way and drove late into the night trying to make up for lost time and wound up staying the night in Norma's RV Park in Joseph City AZ. Got up this morning and made more uneventful miles until we reached the East Entrance to the Grand Canyon way north of Flagstaff.
We had not made reservations anywhere and the web sites for area campsites said they were all full. Jacque wanted to "just ask, anyway" so we drove up to the crowded Trailer Village camp - and, with 3 RV's waiting in front of us, were informed we could have their last spot. What a great place, tall pines, and sweeping views. PLUS - Get This - The area has BIKE trails that run through our camp. Since it was like 5 PM locally, rather than spend precious daylight setting up the RV, we immediately unloaded the trike and took off for a ride. This is my first time ever at the Grand Canyon and Jacque's first trip since about 1965. Great stuff, and riding the bike trail puts us up close and personal to the rim and has many views not available to auto drivers unless they park and walk.
After a great peaceful night's rest at the Grand Canyon Trailer Village, we did another trike-ride in the other direction, this time riding west up to Hermits Rest, Kolb Artist Studio, and the amazing Hopi Lodge and
El Tovar structures designed by Mary Colter and financed and built by the Fred Harvey company and the Santa Fe Railroad. Fantastic views of the Canyon were again in all directions. We encountered a murderously steep climb the last quarter-mile into the main parking lot but we made it.
Gotta come back to this wonderland before we die so we can spend at least a few days exploring. I watched the hikers going through one of the rock tunnels on the trail to the bottom with some envy....
There is STRONG Ham Radio coverage at these Canyon locations. A digipeater ID'ing as "CANYON" relayed my gps-aprs position reports solidly to the internet and there is a very strong ham repeater on 147.32 WB6JAA. The only trouble is..... no one seems to be listening to it. I heard some weak signals on 146.520 simplex while riding the rim but wasn't able to make contact with anyone. Oh Well. At least the automatic digipeater provides useful service.
Friday evening Trip Started: 5:00 PM Trip Ended: 6:15 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 13.2 (weird)
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 77 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 6.28
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.1 MPH 5.6 MPH 17.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 32 mins 1 hour 7 mins 25 minutes
Saturday morning Trip Started: 8:27 AM Trip Ended: 11:11 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.2
Lowest Temp 52 F Highest Temp: 72 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.85
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.3 MPH 4.5 MPH 21.1 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 29 mins 1 hour 17 mins 1 hour 11 minutes
Yesterday we left home in the RV for a few days' outing. We hitched up our ugly little 4 X 8 foot trailer to haul our tandem recumbent Terratrike along with us in case we found opportunity to ride it anywhere during our RV trip.We made it almost 100 yards before the first problem occurred.
We stopped at our shed with the big air compressor to check and top off the tires before the big trip. The tires were fine and required little in the way of additional air but when I went to get back inside I was horrified to find the RV electric step actuator no longer worked. Looking underneath I discovered the actuator arm was broken. It took me 15 minutes or more to chain the steps in the up position, since when they're in the down position they are too low and protrude out the side of the RV making it unsafe to drive. We stopped at Rocky Mountain RV first on our way into Albuquerque but they did not have a replacement assembly or repair parts for it. They called Central Trailer Supply, who DID have the assembly, and sent us on over there. Central Trailer Supply is downtown Central in heavy - traffic Albuquerque but luckily we found a large empty spot to park the rig. Central not only had the whole assembly new (Price 300 bucks PLUS) but they had a repair kit for the bargain price of 65 bucks. I was able to crawl under the RV in their lot and replace and repair the offending parts. Thankfully. It's NOT a good idea to try getting such disaster repaired on the VERY MORNING you're trying to leave on a trip but we lucked out finding a part on such short notice.
Sadly, then we went to Sam's Club to fill up the huge expensive thirsty RV gas tank. As the pump rapidly ran up the gallons and the total cost (at the bargain price of $3.23 per gallon) I was horrified to see gasoline spilling out from under the middle of the beast where the filler neck tubing connects to the gas tank. I stopped the pump before filling up completely and decided this was much too dangerous. When Jacque came out of the store she was not thrilled to hear we had ANOTHER problem to delay us. Rocky Mountain Power had worked on that same gas tank last November so we drove over there to see if they could have a mechanic take a look at it to see if it might be under warranty. They actually got a tech to look at it in short order, but he seemed to make slow progress. We arrived about noonish and by 3:00 PM the shop informed us the filler neck hose was cracked; it required a new one; there was too much gas in the tank and it couldn't be worked on until drained; the shop was closing soon and they wouldn't be able to work on it more until tomorrow; etc, etc. They offered to let us stay the night in their fenced yard but we decided to just take it back home for the night, albeit reluctantly. On our way back east through town I decided I would just have to do this one myself too. I decided I could:
-Pull into the empty lot behind Checker Auto Parts
-Use the RV leveling jacks to raise the RV on one side to make the gas in the tank go to the side opposite of the filler neck
And so I did. For about twenty bucks and twenty minutes I had it ready to roll again. A quick trip to the gas station to re-fill the tank proved it was no longer leaking (HURRAY). So we hit the road again.
We started late this way and drove late into the night trying to make up for lost time and wound up staying the night in Norma's RV Park in Joseph City AZ. Got up this morning and made more uneventful miles until we reached the East Entrance to the Grand Canyon way north of Flagstaff.
We had not made reservations anywhere and the web sites for area campsites said they were all full. Jacque wanted to "just ask, anyway" so we drove up to the crowded Trailer Village camp - and, with 3 RV's waiting in front of us, were informed we could have their last spot. What a great place, tall pines, and sweeping views. PLUS - Get This - The area has BIKE trails that run through our camp. Since it was like 5 PM locally, rather than spend precious daylight setting up the RV, we immediately unloaded the trike and took off for a ride. This is my first time ever at the Grand Canyon and Jacque's first trip since about 1965. Great stuff, and riding the bike trail puts us up close and personal to the rim and has many views not available to auto drivers unless they park and walk.
After a great peaceful night's rest at the Grand Canyon Trailer Village, we did another trike-ride in the other direction, this time riding west up to Hermits Rest, Kolb Artist Studio, and the amazing Hopi Lodge and
El Tovar structures designed by Mary Colter and financed and built by the Fred Harvey company and the Santa Fe Railroad. Fantastic views of the Canyon were again in all directions. We encountered a murderously steep climb the last quarter-mile into the main parking lot but we made it.
Gotta come back to this wonderland before we die so we can spend at least a few days exploring. I watched the hikers going through one of the rock tunnels on the trail to the bottom with some envy....
There is STRONG Ham Radio coverage at these Canyon locations. A digipeater ID'ing as "CANYON" relayed my gps-aprs position reports solidly to the internet and there is a very strong ham repeater on 147.32 WB6JAA. The only trouble is..... no one seems to be listening to it. I heard some weak signals on 146.520 simplex while riding the rim but wasn't able to make contact with anyone. Oh Well. At least the automatic digipeater provides useful service.
Friday evening Trip Started: 5:00 PM Trip Ended: 6:15 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 13.2 (weird)
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 77 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 6.28
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.1 MPH 5.6 MPH 17.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 32 mins 1 hour 7 mins 25 minutes
Saturday morning Trip Started: 8:27 AM Trip Ended: 11:11 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.7 Ending Voltage: 13.2
Lowest Temp 52 F Highest Temp: 72 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.85
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.3 MPH 4.5 MPH 21.1 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 29 mins 1 hour 17 mins 1 hour 11 minutes
Monday, May 5, 2014
Overnight Global Warming
Today's Twomile Tracking via Ham Radio, GPS, APRS
Since it's Monday and the first day of a new week, no reason not to go on at least a short trike ride to start out properly, right? RIGHT?
Since we had lots on our plates today, and felt we couldn't afford a longer more leisurely ride, we did our usual To-the-Post-Office-and-Back stressful ride. Stressful going west TOWARD the Post Office and much more fun screaming down the largely downhill eastbound return trip AWAY from the P.O.
What wonderful warmth all of a sudden! We were sleeping under 2 quilts and building fires every morning in the wood stove to take the chill off the house, and often in the evenings, until 2 days ago when SUDDENLY the weather changed and we are sorely tempted to get up on the roof and limber up the swamp cooler again. Now we must run our bedroom ceiling fan all night and the A/C in the cars during the daytime. Occasionally the breeze while riding the trike is still a bit brisk but we now get overheated rather quickly on the people-pedal-powered machine.
When we got to the Triangle Bicycle Break Station, known to most as the Triangle Shell Gasoline Station, we did our usual soda and rest break. As usual the doggies, who are no help whatsoever while pedaling the trike, won all the praise and glory and attention while they begged and rummaged for crumbs under the outside break table.
Just as we were saddling up to leave, a spandex-clad Serious Cyclist rode up from the highway of North-14 and - admiring our dogs and trike in that order - obviously wanted to talk and visit a while. We asked him where he was from and where he was going and he casually answered "Santa Fe, going to Corrales". Santa Fe is 40+ miles to the north on the Turquoise Trail Byway of North-14 and Corrales is at least that far westerly from here. He didn't even appear to be breaking a sweat. There Ought to Be a Law.
Turns out his wife was in her car next to us and had business earlier in the morning in Santa Fe and carried him and his bike there where he took off toward us while his wife went on to her meeting, catching up to him in the car right there at the Shell Station. Enjoyed a great visit with them. He's of course a Serious Cycle Jockey and they own a tandem 2-wheeler they put lots of miles on. He rode coast to coast a couple of years ago, with his wife driving the sag wagon RV behind. Nice Folks. Great Stuff. Jealousy.
Trip Started: 10:29 AM Trip Ended: 12:03 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 13.2 (? Weird)
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 77 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4.32
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.9 MPH 6.2 MPH 34.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 30 mins 41 mins 59 secs 48 minutes
Since it's Monday and the first day of a new week, no reason not to go on at least a short trike ride to start out properly, right? RIGHT?
Since we had lots on our plates today, and felt we couldn't afford a longer more leisurely ride, we did our usual To-the-Post-Office-and-Back stressful ride. Stressful going west TOWARD the Post Office and much more fun screaming down the largely downhill eastbound return trip AWAY from the P.O.
What wonderful warmth all of a sudden! We were sleeping under 2 quilts and building fires every morning in the wood stove to take the chill off the house, and often in the evenings, until 2 days ago when SUDDENLY the weather changed and we are sorely tempted to get up on the roof and limber up the swamp cooler again. Now we must run our bedroom ceiling fan all night and the A/C in the cars during the daytime. Occasionally the breeze while riding the trike is still a bit brisk but we now get overheated rather quickly on the people-pedal-powered machine.
When we got to the Triangle Bicycle Break Station, known to most as the Triangle Shell Gasoline Station, we did our usual soda and rest break. As usual the doggies, who are no help whatsoever while pedaling the trike, won all the praise and glory and attention while they begged and rummaged for crumbs under the outside break table.
Just as we were saddling up to leave, a spandex-clad Serious Cyclist rode up from the highway of North-14 and - admiring our dogs and trike in that order - obviously wanted to talk and visit a while. We asked him where he was from and where he was going and he casually answered "Santa Fe, going to Corrales". Santa Fe is 40+ miles to the north on the Turquoise Trail Byway of North-14 and Corrales is at least that far westerly from here. He didn't even appear to be breaking a sweat. There Ought to Be a Law.
Turns out his wife was in her car next to us and had business earlier in the morning in Santa Fe and carried him and his bike there where he took off toward us while his wife went on to her meeting, catching up to him in the car right there at the Shell Station. Enjoyed a great visit with them. He's of course a Serious Cycle Jockey and they own a tandem 2-wheeler they put lots of miles on. He rode coast to coast a couple of years ago, with his wife driving the sag wagon RV behind. Nice Folks. Great Stuff. Jealousy.
Trip Started: 10:29 AM Trip Ended: 12:03 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 13.2 (? Weird)
Lowest Temp 67 F Highest Temp: 77 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4.32
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.9 MPH 6.2 MPH 34.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 30 mins 41 mins 59 secs 48 minutes
Friday, May 2, 2014
Another Short Ride on a BEAUTIFUL Day
Today's Pretty Good APRS and Ham Radio Tracking
Jacque took off for Edgewood this morning to comfort a recuperating dear friend who recently underwent surgery. I'd hoped initially to do at least a short ride to get the blood warmed up and circulating starting by about 9:00 AM but of course it was a bit later before I got going.
Rode up the westbound killer hill to the Post Office and then rode east along Frost Road for a ways, feeling guilty all the way.....
Guilty because I left our young pooch Jazzy home alone. The little one is undergoing her first heat cycle and is making little messes everywhere and has to wear a diaper:
Which makes it very uncomfortable for her to ride in the doggy belly harness. Since I planned not to be gone more than an hour or so I left her home and she didn't complain, though she gets really lonely without human attention every few minutes and likely fussed while I was out enjoying the fresh air.
I again noticed the 2 prominent signs at our Post Office declaring:
"No Skateboards, Rollerblades, or Bicycles Allowed on Postal Property". I suppose I'm violating several laws nowadays by riding my bike at my age, riding into the postal parking lot like I owned the place, picking up my mail, tossing my trash in the post office trash cans, etc, etc. I'm sure they're just trying to scare kids away who might use the parking lot for EXERCISE such as biking and rollerblading. How terrible. I've posted pictures of these signs before and no officials ever called me to apologize. I thought I'd post them again but forgot, of course, like I do many of the great ideas that pop into my small mind. I think the signs should proclaim that such activities have priority and petroleum-powered vehicles are obligated to look through their windshields and yield the right of way to such. Which normally happens without any government instructional signage.
And, talk about Fresh Air. The recent howling winds we've endured produced some Los Angeles-style brown haze even after the winds died down the last couple of days, and we've even had air quality warnings to stay indoors. Which of course we mostly ignore. When we had the horrible ash and smoke pollution from nearby (and distant) forest fires a couple years ago, I just wore cheap painters masks and rode anyway, and never suffered any ill effects I know of. (Cough; Ahem.)
Today's weather guessers got it right for once: A very warm and beautiful day. The air was almost crystal clear. I should have planned better and taken a longer ride, but I'm demonstrating ham radio at our East Mountain Self-Reliance Fair tomorrow and need to do some gathering of STUFF and organizing.
Trip Started: 10:10 AM Trip Ended: 11:29 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 71 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.14
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.0 MPH 8.5 MPH 25.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 22 mins 57 mins 46 secs 14 minutes
Jacque took off for Edgewood this morning to comfort a recuperating dear friend who recently underwent surgery. I'd hoped initially to do at least a short ride to get the blood warmed up and circulating starting by about 9:00 AM but of course it was a bit later before I got going.
Rode up the westbound killer hill to the Post Office and then rode east along Frost Road for a ways, feeling guilty all the way.....
Guilty because I left our young pooch Jazzy home alone. The little one is undergoing her first heat cycle and is making little messes everywhere and has to wear a diaper:
Which makes it very uncomfortable for her to ride in the doggy belly harness. Since I planned not to be gone more than an hour or so I left her home and she didn't complain, though she gets really lonely without human attention every few minutes and likely fussed while I was out enjoying the fresh air.
I again noticed the 2 prominent signs at our Post Office declaring:
"No Skateboards, Rollerblades, or Bicycles Allowed on Postal Property". I suppose I'm violating several laws nowadays by riding my bike at my age, riding into the postal parking lot like I owned the place, picking up my mail, tossing my trash in the post office trash cans, etc, etc. I'm sure they're just trying to scare kids away who might use the parking lot for EXERCISE such as biking and rollerblading. How terrible. I've posted pictures of these signs before and no officials ever called me to apologize. I thought I'd post them again but forgot, of course, like I do many of the great ideas that pop into my small mind. I think the signs should proclaim that such activities have priority and petroleum-powered vehicles are obligated to look through their windshields and yield the right of way to such. Which normally happens without any government instructional signage.
And, talk about Fresh Air. The recent howling winds we've endured produced some Los Angeles-style brown haze even after the winds died down the last couple of days, and we've even had air quality warnings to stay indoors. Which of course we mostly ignore. When we had the horrible ash and smoke pollution from nearby (and distant) forest fires a couple years ago, I just wore cheap painters masks and rode anyway, and never suffered any ill effects I know of. (Cough; Ahem.)
Today's weather guessers got it right for once: A very warm and beautiful day. The air was almost crystal clear. I should have planned better and taken a longer ride, but I'm demonstrating ham radio at our East Mountain Self-Reliance Fair tomorrow and need to do some gathering of STUFF and organizing.
Trip Started: 10:10 AM Trip Ended: 11:29 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 71 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.14
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.0 MPH 8.5 MPH 25.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 22 mins 57 mins 46 secs 14 minutes
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Yeah, So We Rode Where it's Warmer
Today's Good Coverage Tracking
Jacque had an appointment for lab blood work this morning, so at the last minute, I of course suggested a new plan: We'd go together, with the Tandem Terratrike on the roof of the Ford Exploder, and go for a ride in flatter and warmer Albuquerque (It was 31 degrees this morning, a couple degrees warmer than the previous 2 mornings).
So we did.
Instead of riding our favorite route, up and down the Bosque Trail along the Rio Grande, we decided to see if the much ballyhooed bike bridge across I-25 near Osuna was open and ridable.
Since I-25 is nigh unto impassable due to the ongoing Paseo Cloverleaf Project, and all available nearby streets that COULD be used to get AROUND all the mess are ALSO under construction (A New Mexico Tribute to Highway Planning), we took the long way around, going west on Montgomery to Edith Street and Edith north to Alameda. Taking Alameda this way leads us to a relatively roomy and safe place to park the car and catch the bike trail running by and through it: Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park.
As we approached the entry to Balloon Fiesta Park, we noticed a new section of bike path where none had previously been, running parallel to Alameda on the south side of the road. We decided we would first ride over to Osuna and attempt to cross the new wonderful bridge, then come back, and time permitting, explore the new Alameda bike path,
There was no problem riding down from the Park to the Osuna trail and heading east on Osuna UNTIL we got to the Jefferson trail crossing.
We had complained about narrow bollards on the newly repaved Bosque Trail last year, resulting in very quick response and nice sufficient widening of the new bollards so our (and hopefully others') wider people-powered machines could get through. Obviously this widening did NOT occur city-wide. The width on the OTHER side of this gap is even MORE impassable, at about 10" LESS width.
We were able to barely squeeze through by pushing the middle bollard on my left HARD while scrunching through the gap. On the way back through the other direction a half hour later this strategy did NOT work, and we scraped our paint badly going through.
We DID find the marvelous new enclosed bike bridge ready and ridable and..... leading to NOWHERE. Well, sorta. It ends in the small cul-de-sac between TD's Showclub and Alameda Animal Kennels. There's also a sports bar there, so one must suppose one of these places is a destination for walkers and cyclists worth a million or more dollars' worth of new bridge. We took a break in the shade of some trees in one of the parking lots and since there were no public facilities available I walked around the corner into a tree-lined alley shielded from public view to "water the shrubbery". Much to my embarrassment a huge beer truck pulled into the alley behind me before I was totally presentable. When I turned around to sheepishly face the truck driver it turned out to be a rather pretty FEMALE truck driver, adding to my loss of dignity. BAH
We walked the doggies, saddled back up, and rode the bridge and trail the several miles back to Alameda and turned west on the new (to us) bike trail. Not bad, not bad at all, UNTIL we tried to cross a paved street at the intersection:
Jacque didn't dismount just to take these pictures, she HAD too in order for us to be able to flop the trike back and forth to gain entry into the crossing.
As we trundled the trike back around the other direction, we noticed a much narrower paved foot or bike-path on farther, but no reasonable way to pass this obstacle unless on foot only..... BAH
Trip Started: 11:24 AM Trip Ended: 2:04 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.1 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 70 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.93
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.9 MPH 6.5 MPH 20.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 34 mins 1 hours 31 mins 1 hour 2 minutes
Jacque had an appointment for lab blood work this morning, so at the last minute, I of course suggested a new plan: We'd go together, with the Tandem Terratrike on the roof of the Ford Exploder, and go for a ride in flatter and warmer Albuquerque (It was 31 degrees this morning, a couple degrees warmer than the previous 2 mornings).
So we did.
Instead of riding our favorite route, up and down the Bosque Trail along the Rio Grande, we decided to see if the much ballyhooed bike bridge across I-25 near Osuna was open and ridable.
Since I-25 is nigh unto impassable due to the ongoing Paseo Cloverleaf Project, and all available nearby streets that COULD be used to get AROUND all the mess are ALSO under construction (A New Mexico Tribute to Highway Planning), we took the long way around, going west on Montgomery to Edith Street and Edith north to Alameda. Taking Alameda this way leads us to a relatively roomy and safe place to park the car and catch the bike trail running by and through it: Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park.
As we approached the entry to Balloon Fiesta Park, we noticed a new section of bike path where none had previously been, running parallel to Alameda on the south side of the road. We decided we would first ride over to Osuna and attempt to cross the new wonderful bridge, then come back, and time permitting, explore the new Alameda bike path,
There was no problem riding down from the Park to the Osuna trail and heading east on Osuna UNTIL we got to the Jefferson trail crossing.
 |
| ABQ's Infernal Bollards |
We were able to barely squeeze through by pushing the middle bollard on my left HARD while scrunching through the gap. On the way back through the other direction a half hour later this strategy did NOT work, and we scraped our paint badly going through.
We DID find the marvelous new enclosed bike bridge ready and ridable and..... leading to NOWHERE. Well, sorta. It ends in the small cul-de-sac between TD's Showclub and Alameda Animal Kennels. There's also a sports bar there, so one must suppose one of these places is a destination for walkers and cyclists worth a million or more dollars' worth of new bridge. We took a break in the shade of some trees in one of the parking lots and since there were no public facilities available I walked around the corner into a tree-lined alley shielded from public view to "water the shrubbery". Much to my embarrassment a huge beer truck pulled into the alley behind me before I was totally presentable. When I turned around to sheepishly face the truck driver it turned out to be a rather pretty FEMALE truck driver, adding to my loss of dignity. BAH
We walked the doggies, saddled back up, and rode the bridge and trail the several miles back to Alameda and turned west on the new (to us) bike trail. Not bad, not bad at all, UNTIL we tried to cross a paved street at the intersection:
 |
| Uh Oh, a very narrow street entry with a SHARP turn |
 |
| Not sure we can squeeze this thing through here |
 |
| A bit of jockeying.... |
 |
| More Jockeying back and forth... |
 | |
| FINALLY got lined up enough to get through |
This turning entry took about 8 iterations to get through without having to heave the trike over the curb. Next time we'll ride out in the street so we can more safely cross the intersection.
We spotted something we could not pass by peacefully: A Sonic Drive-In. They were thrilled to see us and the doggies and even threw in an order of onion rings free, just because they thought our dogs were so cute. First time I know of they've actually saved us any money.
Then, about half a mile farther down the trail, the wonderful new trail just ENDED in a light pole abutment:
 |
| Typical Bike Path: Ends for No Good Reason |
Trip Started: 11:24 AM Trip Ended: 2:04 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.1 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 57 F Highest Temp: 70 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.93
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.9 MPH 6.5 MPH 20.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 34 mins 1 hours 31 mins 1 hour 2 minutes
Friday, April 25, 2014
Riding With Lovely Sarah
Today's Tracking with Surprisingly Good Coverage
My eldest daughter Sarah has recently moved to the Edgewood area and has developed interest in riding a bike. She is fearful of riding on paved roads (since there are cars on such roads) and has been slowly riding on horrible gravel washboard roads around her home, which actually is more dangerous than riding on paved roads mixing it up with cagers. She recently asked me to come over and do a short ride with her so she could have some company and courage to ride on the highway.
Today was the day. We had set a time for noonish but last night's weather report forecast high winds of up to 60(!) MPH. This morning dawned fairly calm so we decided to ride a couple hours earlier in hopes of beating the afternoon winds which are almost always much worse than in the morning. I thought at first I'd drive my 2-wheel recumbent over there since it's about 10 miles away but thought better of it and just saddled up the bike and rode it all the way. I worried the winds would get too nasty before I got there but all turned out OK.
I was shocked at the horrible loose big-rock gravel on the washboard roads leading to her house. If she can ride around this nasty stuff on a street bike with relatively narrow tires she can ride anywhere.
She has not ridden bikes since her college days, now fading into yesteryear, so she admittedly is not "in shape" and has not built up her leg strength or stamina yet. But, she's been trying to ride at least a little bit, every day, and that will definitely result in success.
We rode out the nasty gravel stuff and got on old Highway 66 which passes within a few hundred yards of her house. She is still very leery of the whoosh of passing vehicles, but I tried to convince her that hundreds of cyclists ride this very area every day, and most vehicles and their drivers are used to encountering such. We didn't go very far, but as Bob used to say in the movie "What About Bob?"...... Baby Steps... That's all it takes is Baby Steps......
We rode back to her house and I, as the multipurpose Daddy, got to work on her obstreperous guest bathroom toilet. I tore it out and made a mess of the bathroom but got it working a LITTLE bit better, hinting they might just have to cough up the big bucks and buy a new unit. They are on the Entranosa community water system and scale and calcium deposits are a big problem, plugging up waterworks eventually almost everywhere in a house without a softener system...
On the way home I got a close-up and personal look at the "new improved" pavement recently completed at the junction of State 217 (Mountain Valley Road) and Old Route 66. The new pavement has a nice wide shoulder EXCEPT at this critical stretch just west of the 217 turnoff.
The contractors could have, just as easily, installed these metal posts and rails just OUTSIDE the shoulder and leave legal room for bikes, but no.....
As is normal with road shoulders, even relatively new ones such as this, gravel, garbage, and cinders clog up the narrow shoulder making it more likely cyclists will ride out in the relatively safer traffic lane.
If you ever wonder why a cyclist is out riding in front of you blocking your personal high-speed traffic lane instead of riding in the shoulder, try riding a bike in these areas yourself before criticizing....
The much ballyhooed winds never achieved their gloomy forecasts.
This again proves you'll get a lot more enjoyable bike rides if you just saddle up and go ..... And see for yourself. It WAS breezy and gusty, but not nearly as bad as forecast by the experts.
Trip Started: 9:07 AM Trip Ended: 1:56 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 64 F Highest Temp: 72 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 20.49
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 8.2 MPH 34.8 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 30 mins 2 hours 29 mins 1 hour 1 min
My eldest daughter Sarah has recently moved to the Edgewood area and has developed interest in riding a bike. She is fearful of riding on paved roads (since there are cars on such roads) and has been slowly riding on horrible gravel washboard roads around her home, which actually is more dangerous than riding on paved roads mixing it up with cagers. She recently asked me to come over and do a short ride with her so she could have some company and courage to ride on the highway.
Today was the day. We had set a time for noonish but last night's weather report forecast high winds of up to 60(!) MPH. This morning dawned fairly calm so we decided to ride a couple hours earlier in hopes of beating the afternoon winds which are almost always much worse than in the morning. I thought at first I'd drive my 2-wheel recumbent over there since it's about 10 miles away but thought better of it and just saddled up the bike and rode it all the way. I worried the winds would get too nasty before I got there but all turned out OK.
I was shocked at the horrible loose big-rock gravel on the washboard roads leading to her house. If she can ride around this nasty stuff on a street bike with relatively narrow tires she can ride anywhere.
She has not ridden bikes since her college days, now fading into yesteryear, so she admittedly is not "in shape" and has not built up her leg strength or stamina yet. But, she's been trying to ride at least a little bit, every day, and that will definitely result in success.
We rode out the nasty gravel stuff and got on old Highway 66 which passes within a few hundred yards of her house. She is still very leery of the whoosh of passing vehicles, but I tried to convince her that hundreds of cyclists ride this very area every day, and most vehicles and their drivers are used to encountering such. We didn't go very far, but as Bob used to say in the movie "What About Bob?"...... Baby Steps... That's all it takes is Baby Steps......
We rode back to her house and I, as the multipurpose Daddy, got to work on her obstreperous guest bathroom toilet. I tore it out and made a mess of the bathroom but got it working a LITTLE bit better, hinting they might just have to cough up the big bucks and buy a new unit. They are on the Entranosa community water system and scale and calcium deposits are a big problem, plugging up waterworks eventually almost everywhere in a house without a softener system...
On the way home I got a close-up and personal look at the "new improved" pavement recently completed at the junction of State 217 (Mountain Valley Road) and Old Route 66. The new pavement has a nice wide shoulder EXCEPT at this critical stretch just west of the 217 turnoff.
 | |
| WHY put barriers in the precious PAVED SHOULDER? |
 |
| Nice Narrow New Shoulder with Debris |
If you ever wonder why a cyclist is out riding in front of you blocking your personal high-speed traffic lane instead of riding in the shoulder, try riding a bike in these areas yourself before criticizing....
The much ballyhooed winds never achieved their gloomy forecasts.
This again proves you'll get a lot more enjoyable bike rides if you just saddle up and go ..... And see for yourself. It WAS breezy and gusty, but not nearly as bad as forecast by the experts.
Trip Started: 9:07 AM Trip Ended: 1:56 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 64 F Highest Temp: 72 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 20.49
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 8.2 MPH 34.8 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 30 mins 2 hours 29 mins 1 hour 1 min
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Another Windsday Trike Ride
Today's Partial Path Tracking with Limited Radio Coverage
I've become so enamored of the route looping around Frost -> Vallecitos -> Sedillo -> Route 66 -> Gutierrez Canyon that I convinced Jacque to ride the Tandem Recumbent Trike there today.
It was actually even windier than yesterday and slightly cooler but still a great ride. Almost everywhere along the route (except for parts of Vallecitos and Sedillo Hill Road) there were wide enough shoulders to allow safe passage of the wider trike. We had to stop for multiple breaks but had a good time. When we got to the old Zuzax tourist trap gas station on Old Route 66 Jacque decided we needed a refreshment break. While there the doggies got several new admirers.
A National Rental van pulled up to the overhang sheltering the gas pumps and we were horrified to watch him scrape about 2 or 3 inches of sideboard and trim off the overhang.... his truck was too high and the driver obviously did not realize he could have stopped and minimized further damage by letting some air out of his tires to gain a couple inches of extra clearance. I quickly pulled our trike farther away from the ongoing destruction lest the falling debris hit us, the dogs, or the trike. The station owner told him so many trucks had done the same thing that they were going to completely rebuild the roof and overhang and to not worry about the damage. We crossed I-40 at the Zuzax overpass onto the north frontage road and within a mile turned northward on Gutierrez Canyon. A couple miles up this road, a white Subaru approached us slowly from the rear. It turned out to be our dear friend Paul, a fellow ham radio operator who lives a few hundred yards down El Refugio, just off the road we were on. He invited us to "drop in" at his home for a break and who can resist that? Shortly after he drove off, another car approached us from the rear, again slowing to talk to us, and this time it was Paul's wife Linda, who also invited us to come by and "Be sure to bring the doggies." Their turnoff was still another hundred yards or so up the hill from our current location so they got home quite a bit before we arrived. This was supposed to be a short break, but they are such dear friends we wound up staying slightly over an hour, enjoying their cool water and hospitality and bathrooms.
Trip Started: 9:36 AM Trip Ended: 1:36 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Voltage: 13.2
Lowest Temp 60 F Highest Temp: 69 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.23
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.1 MPH 5.3 MPH 33.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 58 mins 2 hours 18 mins 1 hour 40 mins
I've become so enamored of the route looping around Frost -> Vallecitos -> Sedillo -> Route 66 -> Gutierrez Canyon that I convinced Jacque to ride the Tandem Recumbent Trike there today.
It was actually even windier than yesterday and slightly cooler but still a great ride. Almost everywhere along the route (except for parts of Vallecitos and Sedillo Hill Road) there were wide enough shoulders to allow safe passage of the wider trike. We had to stop for multiple breaks but had a good time. When we got to the old Zuzax tourist trap gas station on Old Route 66 Jacque decided we needed a refreshment break. While there the doggies got several new admirers.
A National Rental van pulled up to the overhang sheltering the gas pumps and we were horrified to watch him scrape about 2 or 3 inches of sideboard and trim off the overhang.... his truck was too high and the driver obviously did not realize he could have stopped and minimized further damage by letting some air out of his tires to gain a couple inches of extra clearance. I quickly pulled our trike farther away from the ongoing destruction lest the falling debris hit us, the dogs, or the trike. The station owner told him so many trucks had done the same thing that they were going to completely rebuild the roof and overhang and to not worry about the damage. We crossed I-40 at the Zuzax overpass onto the north frontage road and within a mile turned northward on Gutierrez Canyon. A couple miles up this road, a white Subaru approached us slowly from the rear. It turned out to be our dear friend Paul, a fellow ham radio operator who lives a few hundred yards down El Refugio, just off the road we were on. He invited us to "drop in" at his home for a break and who can resist that? Shortly after he drove off, another car approached us from the rear, again slowing to talk to us, and this time it was Paul's wife Linda, who also invited us to come by and "Be sure to bring the doggies." Their turnoff was still another hundred yards or so up the hill from our current location so they got home quite a bit before we arrived. This was supposed to be a short break, but they are such dear friends we wound up staying slightly over an hour, enjoying their cool water and hospitality and bathrooms.
Trip Started: 9:36 AM Trip Ended: 1:36 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Voltage: 13.2
Lowest Temp 60 F Highest Temp: 69 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.23
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.1 MPH 5.3 MPH 33.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 58 mins 2 hours 18 mins 1 hour 40 mins
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