Bad Cycling Weather

The last time I rode the bike was Friday, 17 December.  Beautiful day for it.... but over the weekend we received about 10" of snow followed by another foot a couple days later, then a couple inches on top of that.
We had over 24" of knee-deep snow followed by several days of below-freezing temperatures, so the snow has been slow in fading away.  Then this last week between Christmas and New Years has been spent largely at home busting up firewood and enjoying visiting kids and grandkids.  A few more cold shots....

Here's a shot of the snowman Christopher a nd Jason constructed, with very wet snow that was beginning to melt but produced a snowman that would make Calvin and Hobbes jealous:

I expect to begin riding at least the 14+ miles a day starting my first day at work on Monday, 2 Jan 2012.
We might try a joint Jacque & Jim ride down the Bosque trail on Saturday:  We'll see.

A Dry Butt is a Wonderful Thing

Friday Morning Warm-Butt Track
Friday Evening Return Track

My recumbent lawn-chair-on-2-wheels seat had only a fairly thick coating of fresh frost this morning (14 degrees) which brushed off nicely with a couple swipes of my mittens, with no imbedded ice to refigerate my hind end as I rode to work.  The difference in comfort level compared to yesterday's frozen-fanny episode was, of course, wonderful.
I neglected to mention last night as I rode out from under the Montgomery bicycle underpass, I again encountered "the screamer".  I mentioned several months ago about this lunatick who got outraged at me as I passed him a bit further south, around sundown, because I had blinking red lights on my bike.  He was somehow offended by this and screamed at me as I went past and continued to scream at me even though I was a long way past him and ignoring him.  I swear he was still screaming audibly half a mile away.
Well, last night he saw me coming toward him as he walked north on the trail and I walked south, and began screaming gibberish at me as I neared him and thankfully only 40 or 50 yards after I passed him,
I'm always tempted to taunt him just as I get close enough to sprint by him and avoid any attempted physical response, but at age 64 I have learned it's seldom worth the risk to get in a slice-and-dice comment.  If he was sane enough to understand such a gibe he likely wouldn't be screaming insanity at me in the first place.  If he understood it enough to REALLY take offense, who knows if he's:
-Faster than I (not hard to imagine)
-Stronger than I (ditto)
-Armed??
(Sigh) Oh Well.  I suppose I'll just continue to allow him to scream insanities so long as he continues to allow me to get past him with only minor injuries to my hearing.
I really enjoyed my ride back to where Jacque was waiting for me in her Exploder tonight.  It was cold enough to require mittens (though no chemical hand warmers were needed, unlike the mornings) but the breeze turned into a mild tail-wind that kept from freezing me and it was just a great ride.  Love it.

Great Ride, Frozen Butt

Today's freezing but enjoyable track via APRS

The weather has been pretty nasty recently.  I can and do ride the bike no matter how cold it is but with freezing rain and snow dominating the last several days I have missed out on the desired exercise.
Yesterday, Wednesday, when I left home it was snowing and miserable slush, giving way to blue sky and dry roads just as I exited Tijeras Canyon and entered the Albuquerque City Limits.  BAH - I was driving Jacque's Exploder but should have taken the time to mount the trailer hitch-mounted bike rack and brought the long monster along.  It was cool and cold all day but the wind was very mild and no rain, ice, nor snow.... I felt cheated for not having brought along the recumbent.
Jacque and I decided last night that she would give me a ride to "town" this morning and I would ride the bike the last 7 miles, as usual, and she would go to her normal morning water-exercise class.  It was a bit of  a pain in the butt to take the bike rack off the RV and bolt it onto the Exploder, but the real pain in the butt began when we got to town and I saddled up:  The bike has been out in the snow all week and built up some crunchy ice in the padding and webbing of the seat which did not want to come out easily.  I dusted off the snow and ice as best I could and saddled up and took off.  I had an extra wind-breaker jacket layer this morning and was warm enough everywhere EXCEPT my hiney which immediately got chilled and thence near-frozen the farther I rode.  I got to work after a good and uneventful ride but with a seriously cold and numb backside.  It's noon as I write this and it has ALMOST dried and thawed out by now.
It's always dicey changing vehicles, or clothes, for me.  I invariably forget something I later find necessary when I move my large stash of STUFF to another set of clothing or a different vehicle.  When I started unoading the bike from the rack this morning I realized I had left me GPS/Ham Radio handlebar set in my normal commuter-car, so I was unable to exchange insults or anything else with my normal coterie of other ham radio operators who enjoy hassling and teasing me while I'm on the bike.  The Tracker Radio (APRS) is stashed inside the back pocket of the bike seat, however, so I was able to activate it and obtain a track of position reports on the way to work (see above link).
Pre-Ride BG:  262(!)   --  BG when arrived at Work: 68
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.6 (New Gel Cell battery pack, charged 5 days ago)
Beginning Temperature: 34 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 59 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.3 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             19 mph
 

Balderdash, Curbed Again

Track me until. the tracking stops for some reason
Heading home last (Friday) night after work, all was calm, all was  bright, er, dark...... and then I hit the SAME STUPID CURB that bent my front fork last week.  This inspires me to do (at  least) 2 things:
(1) - Get a brighter head-lamp
(2) - take some reflective paint and tape and mark this crossing so I and others can avoid injury and damage.
This time, however, no damage seemed to occur to the fork, frame, or wheel.  I may have hit it at a slower speed, but it still didn't help my self image the least bit.  My commitment to avoid foul language took another beating, as well.  I was really surprised my chewing-gum-looking blobby welding job on the current front fork survived this stress.  I have been watching and worrying about it since I re-welded and re-painted it
Today I am in the midst of frantically cutting firewood (mostly juniper and :"gift:" scrap lumber from friends' remodeling projects) - we have been really burning the stuff heavy duty with the freezing and sub-freezing and sub-zero weather we've had for over a week now.  We still have several inches of very cold frozen snow in all directions, including our primitive roadway to our house.  I bladed the road today using our old trailer tongue "V" pulled via a chain attached to Jacque's 4WD Ford Exploder.  Then I set about gassing and lubing up the chainsaw and cut a couple sled-loads of the stuff, and got exhausted and took a long break.  Now I'm all rested and warm and comfy so I better get back out there again;  daylight's a-wasting.....

b-b-b-B-Back in the Saddle Again

Today's Freezing Forte via APRS
Well, late Sunday night I finally finished stitching the new black-mesh fabric onto my lawn-chair-looking recumbent bicycle seat.  Saturday, the day before, I had successfully welded a cracked front fork, painted it, and installed it on the bike.  Since Jacque was gone to Dallas to visit the grandkids over the weekend, I did all the necessary work inside the house where it was nice and warm, with the stretch-recumbent bike parked right in the living room, right in front of the wood stove.  I really love my twin-V dual Kick Stand, which when folded up looks just like a normal kickstand but when extended for parking makes a "V" support that elevates the rear wheel.  This allows brake and chain and wheel adjustments, and allows bike repairs without a bike stand.  To keep the front elevated with the front wheel and fork removed, I just put an upside down bucket underneath the front of the frame;  the V kickstand kept everything steady and no danger of falling over.
Welding the front fork was a bit tricky:  The metal in the fork tubing is very thin while the stem where both sides of the fork meet is very heavy pipe, and takes forever to get orange and white-hot so the metal will flow together for a good weld.  It took quite a bit of careful effort to get the thick stem heated up to welding temperature while trying to avoid overheating and completely melting the thin tubing of the fork.  The finished weld is not too pretty but seems solid.  I scraped and sanded it and painted it bright yellow;  a color I'd like to paint the whole bike eventually.  Even with all this effort, it was small potatoes compared to re-fabricking the seat.  It laces up behind like a fat old woman's corset, so it took a long time to untie all that cord, cut the new fabric to approximate the old fabric, hand stitch reinforcement seams on all borders, punch holes for the lacing cord to match the old fabric, etc, etc.  My fingers were already dry and cracked and sore from all our recent cold weather so it was a mild bit of torture working the big sewing needle back and forth through all those seams.  Finally I was able to start lacing the new seat cover in place, trying to make it fit well and tight, etc.
So, I was "finished" with the bike late Sunday night.  I couldn't ride it on Monday since it had been below zero and  snowing all weekend, and the roads and snow and ice were so miserable I wouldn't have even driven to Albuquerque to work except for the fact Jacque was flying back Monday Night to arrive at 9 PM.  So, since I had to fight my way to town sometime during the day in order to be ready to pick her up, I drove on in to work.... 2 hours late.  Thankfully the snow stopped before noon and no more came down until about midnight, so picking Jacque up was no problem except for the bitter cold and we arrived home safe and sound.  It snowed a bit more Monday night and when we arrive home it was FIFTEEN BELOW ZERO.
I'd left the water dripping so thankfully no pipes have locked up yet in spite of the bitter weather.   The roads were snowy and icy again both Tuesday and yesterday, Wednesday, so I drove my Taurus all the way to work each day (having to put tire chains on the front wheels to get up the nasty mile of private road to our home).
The roadways here in Albuquerque have seemed to dry out fairly nicely, and smart remarks by one of my local ham radio buddies (Tom, KG6MVB) convinced me it was time to ride again.
It was 12 degrees on our outside-wall thermometers at home this morning, meaning it was barely (if) above zero out in the air away from the house walls.  Several of the ham radio guys and gals told me it was in the upper teens in Albuquerque as I drove to town to park the car and saddle up the bike.  It was tempting to put on another layer of a warmer coat this morning but experience has taught me no matter how cold it is, I get overheated quickly with a coat on.  My layers this morning were:  Garment, thermal turtleneck wicking shirt, thick long sleeve work-shirt, sleeveless insulated vest, and the ever necessary day-glo green/yellow reflective vest that also helps a little bit to break the wind.  Polar Fleece skull cap underneath the bike helmet, wraparound safety goggles to protect the eyes from the biting breeze, and a Velcro-attaching face mask fo give the nose, face, and throat a break from the breeze as well.  I did NOT get very overheated until about the last mile of the 7-mile commute today, and then most of the heat was bothersome under the face mask, which is easy to remove and hang on to while riding without stopping.  I also didn't break any speed records today... you know how it is.  It takes weeks of exercise to build up any stamina at all but only a day or so off the exercise and it all seems to fast fade away.
Pre-Ride BG:  UNK   --  BG when arrived at Work: 188(!)
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.1                Ending Voltage: 12.0 (Old Gel Cell battery pack, charged last WEEK)
Beginning Temperature: 37 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 34 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.44
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.3 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             18.3 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
53 mins 34 secs                            46 mins 08 secs                   7 mins 26 secs 

The Bigger They are the Harder They Fall; Lazy Blogger Playing Catch-up

Boring Normal Upright Bicycle Tracker-Path
I haven't missed more than 1 day out of the last 300+ workdays riding the bike, but Thanksgiving involved a 4-day weekend and thus I got no bike miles whatsoever during that period.  We did, however, finish Jacque's new quilting / long-arm sewing machine room... almost.  It still lacks a few finishing touches.  We ran out of moulding and the doorway from the main sewing room (aka small ex-bedroom) into the new room needs to be framed, dressed, and painted (it used to be a front window and was cut out to make a walkway).  The exterior door baseplate needs finishing to keep the cold drafts at bay.  But the room is essentially el finito, filled with all that stuff, and the long arm machine no longer fills our dining room.  So we can resume our life of entertaining friends.  Hah.
Since the loss of daylight savings time I have been getting up at 4:15 AM instead of 5:15 AM with the goal of getting to work early enough to be able to LEAVE work early enough in the evening to have at least a partial daylight ride back to the car.  Hasn't worked out well at all.  Even if I get to work an hour earlier than usual it's still difficult to depart early enough to catch any evening daylight.  Monday I was riding back to the car and, while crossing a street with poorly marked bike-path entries on each side, mistook the RIGHT-hand pylon for the CENTER pylon and passed it on the right, resulting in my crashing nastily into the 5" high curb, sending me and bike and stuff up into the air and landing sideways after jumping the curb with both front and rear wheels.  If I had been riding a "normal" bike I would have gone over the handlebars, which is almost physically impossible (Thankfully) on the low-riding recumbent.  I thought surely the front wheel would be toast.  After looking at it and spinning it by hand, it appeared to have no damage at all, so I remounted and rode on.  Trouble is, now every time I turned the bike the slightest to the right or left, my foot (AND the cranks) hit the front wheel, resulting in nasty noise and angst.  I carefully looked it all over again when I limped back to the car, under the streetlights, but still couldn't see any bent frame, fork, etc.  But when I arrived home and compared it with an older fork I removed from this bike a year or more ago, it was obvious the fork had been bent backwards to the rear at least 4 full inches.  So now the recumbent is parked awaiting repairs.  The old fork, while still straight, was removed because of a large stress crack on one side.  Also, the recumbent seat fabric is falling apart and needs to be re-fabricked.  I have the fabric but have been putting off installing it, but hopefully this weekend.... AFTER I weld and repair the necessary front fork.  These last 2 days I've been riding my backup bikes, upright DF (Diamond-Frame) both... and I'm shocked at how much more effort is required to rack up the miles on them.  I am most motivated to get with the program and get the recumbent repaired and returned to service.
There has been no snow nor rain recently, so no ice has seemed to exist, UNTIL I noticed last night, right at a very sharp corner-turn, a small patch of ice evidently formed from a water sprinkler leak in the adjacent commercial parking lot grass border.  So I have to continue to remind myself to watch for curbs and corners that harbor ice even when there's not supposed to be any.  BAH
Pre-Ride BG:  87   --  BG when arrived at Work: 73
Beginning Battery Voltage: Unk, current APRS does not report this  Ending Voltage: Unk (Gel Cell battery pack, charged last night)
Beginning Temperature: Unk    Ending Temperature: Unk
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.40
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
7.8 Mph                                         10.0 mph                             20.2 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
57 mins 0 secs                                44 mins 20 secs                   12 mins 40 secs 

'Twas the Wednesday Before Thanksgiving

Pre-Thanksgiving Two-Wheel Trek-to-Work Track
Well, it's been, like, a WEEK since I rode the recumbent last.  Longest absence from the bike in the last couple of years.  In spite of the cool, nay, freezing temperatures outside in the mornings, Idon't like to miss a day.... Because I really miss the riding and the feeling of well being that comes daily after cooling down from a ride.
My excuse has been the effort to maximize daylight in order to finish construction on Jacque's new sewing room which will primarily house her long arm quilting machine.  I'm down to the last 2 ceiling panels and thence the flooring will commence.  Jacque piped up in her inimitable fashion and told me this morning "Let's stop trying to rush the sewing room.  No matter what we do we can't get it done in time for dinner tomorrow anyway."  So I took the sweet hint and dressed in bicycle layers and did my usual 7.47 mile commute from the top secret parking place this morning.  I was more slow than ever this morning and I assumed it must be due to a week of not riding.  However, I was shocked to find my blood glucose at 265(!) when I got to work.  Something was wrong in my insulin pump connection or plumbing somewhere.  It was almost out of gas (insulin) anyway, and started bleeping about 40 minutes after arrival at work, so I had to re-load and re-insert the apparatus.  Hopefully this fresh load of insulin will have more punch.  And I can get back to eating like a pig again.  Erp.Oink
Pre-Ride BG:  216   --  BG when arrived at Work: 54
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5                Ending Voltage: 12.5 (Gel Cell battery pack, charged last WEEK)
Beginning Temperature: 55 F  (in ABQ)     Ending Temperature: 66 F
Morning Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.37
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
8.2 Mph                                         09.7 mph                             18.9 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
54 mins 0 secs                                45 mins 33 secs                   8 mins 27 secs 
The ride back to the car was wonderfully nice:  The boss ordered us to leave early and I was happy to do so.  It meant I got to do my afternoon ride in the daylight instead of just while the sun is setting and totally dark by the time I'm halfway back to the car.
Pre-Ride BG:    152                                   Post-Ride BG:  56  
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.7                Ending Voltage: 12.6 (Why it's a tenth of a volt higher than this morning is a mystery)
Evening Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.41
Overall average speed                    Moving Avg                       Max Speed
7.8 Mph                                         10.0 mph                             20.9 mph
Total Trip time                               Moving Time                      Stopped Time
56 mins 59 secs                                44 mins 19 secs                   12 mins 40 secs