Snooties and Snakes

Today's Tracking via GPS and Ham Radio

I haven't been on the bike in like THREE days now and this morning I got up with blood glucose testing above 200.  I'm sure this has nothing to do with the ice cream and cake I forced down last night during a grandson's 17th birthday.  Even after a couple of boluses with the insulin pump it was still too high, so I skipped breakfast entirely and took off for a ride, which usually drives my BG down quite nicely.
Jacque was home, so I thought I'd sneak out and do a solo ride without any faithful doggie passengers.
Not so fast..... Tink hates to be left behind.  And she's only, what, 6 pounds or so?  So it's not like I'm really saving any time or effort trying to desert her. 
We again took the old beat-up recumbent 2-wheeler with the fantastic new right hand shifter and it did great.
We didn't forget the GoPro camera again today and got a couple of minor videos....
First we passed "One of THOSE" cyclists who cannot be bothered with mere mortal passersby on odd looking bikes.

I've encountered this unfriendly fellow several times in the past and he either ignores me or does a quick glance and then ignores.  No biggie.  Bicyclists come in all shapes and sizes and.... attitudes.
By the time we got to our ~5 mile halfway turnaround point, my blood sugar had dropped below 100, which is a wonderful thing.  We'll see how it holds out the rest of the day.
As we began the return leg for home, within 100 yards or so we encountered a victim of hit-and-run...

At least Jacque will be partially satisfied with this kind of snake..... dead, that is.  He was a fatty with a very rattlesnake-looking pattern on his back but was obviously one of our popular copycat bull-snakes that somehow manage to imitate a rattler's looks except for the head shape. And lack of rattle buttons.
On the way crawling up the last-mile of goat-path toward home, my new shifter "found" a new gear.... NOTHING.  It shifted the chain so far it popped off the inside of the cassette's largest gear, forcing a stop and a quick retrieval of the chain with the invaluable multi-tool.  Hopefully I can adjust the screw stops on the derailleur to prevent that from happening again.

Ride Started: 8:56 AM    Ride Ended:  11:08 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.9   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  13.1
Lowest Temp  75 F      Highest Temp:  84 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10.57
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.5 MPH                              7.2 MPH                   32.2 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 55 mins                      1 hour 28 minutes       28  minutes

Gotta Love a Working Shifter....

Today's Tracking

I worked much of the morning installing another new right-hand shifter on my weather-beaten recumbent bike.  The last one I tried was a simple friction shifter only and it did not work well at all, and was impossible to install at a useful angle for thumb-action.

Two Wheel Drive in Albuquerque had the desired item in stock:  a SRAM 8-speed index shifter, new in the box.  My cassette is only 7 speeds but they didn't have any 7-speed shifters so I made do with this unit, and man, it is SWEET. Shifts like butter and installed into an almost perfect position on the handlebars.
Adjusting and setting up a new cable or shifter is no easy task, though the mounting was quite reasonable.
Every time you think you have it adjusted properly, you find it over-shifts (off the small cassette gear into the frame, locking things up frightfully) or under-shifts by at least one gear.  After multiple tries I finally got it working throughout its range, and found I now actually had ALL seven gears on the cassette available: 
For all the time I've owned this rig, the largest  cassette gear (Ultimate Granny Gear)was never available.

Once I finally got it installed, I absolutely had to take it for a ride, right?  Right.  I had both dogs with me but Lilly was sleeping puppy-soundly and Tinkerbell was the one really anxious to go for  a ride.  Although stuck in the basket behind me, with limited movement and visibility, she unfailingly wants to go anywhere anytime for a bike ride.  If I start putting on my biking shirt and gathering up gear, or mention the words "BIKE RIDE", she is ON it, and follows me around closely so I won't forget her.
On the 2-wheel recumbent, I don't have to use a trailer (Unless the road is muddy and nasty), so I can just saddle up and ride away from the house.
I barely got a few hundred feet before I realized I had not re-tightened the brake lever, which I had loosened during the shifter installation.  So we stopped near the neighbors' barking dogs so I could break out the multi-tool and tighten the clamp screw.  A few minutes later, while climbing the hill and grabbing for Grandma Gear, I heard a horrible rattle and scraping:  The previously unavailable Granny Gear now caused the chain to rub raucously against the corner of the plastic fender next to it.  So another stop and grunting and groaning with my trusty Gerber multi-tool knife, and I was able to carve out a bit of fender so the grinding noise would subside.  
Once all this hassle was out of the way, with Tinkerbell patiently tolerating the delays while perched above me in the trusty back seat doggie crate (formerly known as a cargo basket), I found my new shifter was just great.  Going our usual 10 mile route up hill and down dale, I went through most of the 21 speeds available, especially the highest and lowest gear combinations, several times with great gusto and satisfaction.
Just a short blurb of video showing off a beautiful day and GREEN countryside, very easy on the eyes:

Ride Started: 11:15 AM    Ride Ended:  1:33 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   14.2   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  13.1
Lowest Temp  82 F      Highest Temp:  98 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  10.58
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  4.7 MPH                              7.5 MPH                   28.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 14 mins                     1 hour 24 minutes       49  minutes

Riding in the Traffic

Today's Short-Circuit Track

Took off on the usual 10-mile loop but at a very warmish time of day: Almost 4:00 in the PM.
We had taken the RV to Horizon Auto Glass in Albuquerque to (ouch) replace both front windshields and the trip had eaten up the earlier part of the day.  I missed riding yesterday and decided, again, to ride in spite of the late hour and the heat because if I don't ride even when things aren't just right I miss TOO MANY rides.  My blood sugar drops unbelievably and I have to set my insulin pump to a slower rate during and after bike rides.  Too Cool.
About the time I got only a few miles up the road I looked at the clock  and realized I had to turn around and get back so we could get back to Albuquerque in time to pick up the finished RV.  No way did we want to leave the RV parked in the middle of Albuquerque for the night unattended.  The shop called just as I arrived at the bike-transport-Explorer and we were just able to make it to town before the facility closed.  What a beauty the new windshields are!  Not cheap but no one estimated anything cheaper.
The heat was hot for the bike ride and made the headwinds very welcome indeed.
Since the riding time was between 3 and 4 PM the going-home traffic was quite heavy.  This route has a decent riding shoulder and no one was blindly texting and wobbling across any lines so everything was copasetick .
I had the GoPro camera on the helmet today but every time I tried to turn it on it stopped within a few seconds:  The stupid battery was dead.  Go Figure.
Just as I pulled up to load the trailer with the  trike, another bicycling maniac rode up and introduced himself: E. Girdner.  He was another non-Spandex user but  heavier duty than I:  He had ridden aver 20 miles already, to Tijeras and back, and still had several miles to go. Way to ride, Ironman....

Ride Started: 3:41 PM    Ride Ended:  4:34 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  78 F      Highest Temp:  84 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  6.14
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  6.6 MPH                              7.6 MPH                  25.2 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
56 minutes                             48 minutes                 7  minutes

Just Missed the Rain

Today's Tracking via Ham Radio and GPS

Jacque left for work early this morning, leaving me and the 2 doggies to our own devices, so we went for a ride.

An oddity I'm not sure if I ever mentioned before....  Especially on this odd looking tandem recumbent Terratrike Tandem Pro, drivers almost invariably give us plenty of clearance when they pass.  Just as invariably, they inevitably "stick their feet through the floorboards", accelerating madly, after passing us.  Perhaps most slow down as they approach me, unnoticed by me, and feel the urge to resume speed and make the precious few seconds lost after passing us.  Often, though, the engine will rev and roar when passing, raising my suspicions that the driver is of the lesser-mature type and hoping to either scare or at least impress us with the display of horsepower.  I just find it a bit odd.  I guess I'm getting so old I fail to remember my own irresistible impulses to pop the clutch and hit the gas and make the pipes roar way back in the dark ages when driving was fun..... but I mostly tried to impress girls I passed.  Didn't occur to me to try to scare or impress any cyclists, which were admittedly rare back in the 1960's.

We rode my favorite 10-mile ride today, and this time stopped by a church friend's home to look at their latest project that's keeping their mechanically- minded boys occupied:  An old garden tractor with a big Briggs & Stratton engine.  Turns out the starter motor had broken its electrical cable connection, and it LOOKS like we may be able to solder a new tab into the internal brush connector and epoxy the connection so as to protect it from shorting out and replace the missing pieces of insulation fiber.  The kids all enjoyed walking and spoiling Lilly, and Tinkerbell enjoyed resting in the shade underneath the rear trike seat while we putzed around with the tractor starter.
The weather today was a bit cloudy and PLEASANT for riding.  The breeze was cool  and conditions were great.

I've been noticing my battery voltages have been sagging recently so today I used a voltmeter to check the output of my wall charger:  11.8 volts.  This charger is designed for lead-acid batteries and is probably non filtered DC output which may not make the LiFEPO4 battery protective circuits very happy.  So this afternoon I switched to a more-pure-output charger (that I've used successfully in the past) in hopes it will improve the battery voltage profile.
On the way home we noticed the clouds getting a bit thicker but it seemed non threatening.  Just as I got back to the transporter vehicle and started loading the trike into the trailer, it began to rain, and didn't stop most of the rest of the day.  Just missed it....

Ride Started: 10:48 AM    Ride Ended:  1:18 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  12.6
Lowest Temp  71 F      Highest Temp:  82 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  9.44
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  4.0 MPH                              7.3 MPH                  29.5 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 21 mins                     1 hour 17 mins           1 hour 3  minutes

Short Trip, Hot and Sunny

Today's VeryShort Track, I Think the Antenna Broke

Tink and I had hoped to get an early start this morning, but no dice.  It was after noonish when we got down to the parking place so we decided to do just the short but intense Post Office Run.
On the way up the long gradual hill toward the Post Office, we decided to take a short rest break in the shade of Spencer Squires' Eagle project:  the nice bike rest area with bench and wonderful shade.
I have never seen anyone but myself using this facility, but it is a nice shade break.  I was disappointed to see that - indeed - someone HAS used the facility, but did not present themselves as thoughtful.

The empty vodka bottle and power/energy drink cans speak volumes for whoever left them behind.  I suppose it was some after-dark "visitors" who thought this a good place to imbibe.  Sigh.  Humanity seems so..... HUMAN..... at times.
Just as Tink and  I were saddling up to finish the ride to the Post Office, another cyclist rode up to say 'Hello':  It was Brian Kreimendahl from Edgewood, well known area power cyclist.  He was (ahem) on his way up to Sandia Crest, after riding the 10-12 miles already from Edgewood...... Like I said, a SERIOUS cyclist.  It's been a while since we've encountered each other and it was good to see him smoking along the roadway again.

Ride Started: 12:04 PM    Ride Ended:  1:34 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  12.7
Lowest Temp  78 F      Highest Temp:  84 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  3.49
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  3.6 MPH                              6.8 MPH                  29.2 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour                                   31 minutes                 27  minutes

3 Wheels, 10 Feets, 3 Heads.. What Is It?

Today's Track, Again

Today I had both doggies so they both rode with me on the tandem recumbent Terratrike .
Tink rode in the black milk-crate basket and Lilly rode in the stoker's seat but did not contribute any stoking since she was locked up in a seat-mount carrying case.  She was vocal about this arrangement too, but for some reason she doesn't whine as much or as long when in captivity.  She quickly shuts up, curls up, and conks out.
The weather is getting hotter with the pause in monsoon rains so I NEED to get rolling earlier in the day to beat some of the heat.  Hard to do since I normally have to eat breakfast of some kind to build up my blood sugar prior to a ride.


Ride Started: 11:08 PM    Ride Ended:  1:03 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 13.0  Lowest:  12.6
Lowest Temp  75 F      Highest Temp:  82 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  9.41
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.0 MPH                              6.4 MPH                  29.4 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 53 mins                      1 hour 28 mins            24  minutes

Solo Ride on a Tandem Trike

Today's Tracking

Lilly (The New Puppy) and I went a-riding today.  She has not figured out how much fun it is to ride yet, and she is very vocal when wanting something different.  But she makes  a cute subject anyway. (Tinkerbell, the Jealous Older Sister) was with Jacque in town today.

Keep in mind while watching this shocking video that she is tethered in, and cannot climb far enough to escape the basket, much as she obviously hopes to.
She normally whines and cries when she's bored, upset, or needs to potty.  So shortly after this video we stopped, walked around and chased bugs, but no potty performance.
My 2-wheeler still has a broken non functional right rear shift lever so we rode the trike today.  Of course all kinds of passersby slowed, gawked, and commented as they spotted the noisy pup in the back rack.

Ride Started: 1:15 PM    Ride Ended:  3:01 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.2   Ending Voltage: 12.7  Lowest:  12.9
Lowest Temp  75 F      Highest Temp:  82 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  9.39
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  5.3 MPH                              6.4 MPH                  30.8 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour 46 mins                      1 hour 7 mins              19  minutes