'Twas the Day After Christmas

Spring-Like Riding Route

Our recently purchased charcoal burning Barbecue worked wonderfully for Jacque's Christmas turkey on 25 December 2019.  We got a great deal on it, in spite of having to go to West Plains to buy it from its previous owner.  Its only flaw was one of the wheels was destroyed, making it difficult to move around.  Thursday, the day after the big feast, I didn't need much of an excuse to take the trike for a ride.  Since we needed a good wheel for the BBQ, and Ace Hardware seems to be the best place for such odd hardware, I rode that direction.  Just barely north of Walmart, another frequent riding destination, it's only about 2 1/2 miles each way.  I passed a pedestrian about halfway there who seemed dumbstruck when he saw me, stopping in his tracks as if to talk to me about my unusual pedal powered vehicle.  I stopped to see if he wanted to talk, but he just continued to stand and stare, so eventually I wished him a good day and rolled on.
Going for rides really is a great way to get fresh air and warmed up with a bit of exercise.  I surely need to talk myself into putting it as a higher priority for my daily "rituals".

Ride Started:    3:49 PM      Ride Ended:  4:38 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  167      Ending BG: 65

Lowest Temp:  61 F    Highest Temp:  62  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.28
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.4 MPH                             8.1 MPH               16.4 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 49 minutes                          39 minutes           10 minutes

Balmy Christmas Eve

Today's Plotted Route

Again it has been too long without riding around on the trike.
I was mildly surprised a few days ago.  During my last doctor visit I received a sheet of exercises for stretching my back muscles in hopes of strengthening my back to relieve lower back and leg pains.
I don't do them often enough, like most beneficial things I'm supposed to be doing.   A few days ago I noticed a small footnote at the bottom of the page mentioning additional activities that would help including "Stationary Cycling for 20 minutes".  Stationary?  I don't THINK so.
So I should have additional motivation for riding other than keeping the blood glucose lower and pure enjoyment.
My days have of course been largely spent ripping up old linoleum tile flooring, scraping the floorboards underneath, and laying new flooring.  Which turns out to be good carb burning exertion but not all that enjoyable, and I have to stop and rest my feet every 15-20 minutes or so.   Thus, you see, progress is slow.  I'd like to ride every day the weather isn't sloppy, but I often putz around doing all sorts of odd errands and suddenly it's late in the afternoon.  Here at winter's solstice, that means if it's after 4:00 PM I don't have time to get in a decent ride before the sun goes down.  Another day shot without a trike ride.  Ah Well.  Thus is Life in the Slow Lane.
I wasted too much time again today but finally decided to stop my floor scraping early enough to ride up to Walmart for a couple of odd items, just for an excuse to ride.
And, after the usual several false starts and last minute potty breaks, I got going.
Christmas eve 2019 and the weather has been, and is forecast to be, sunny and balmy for the several days involving Christmas.  I wore open toed sandals for the ride and only one of my yellow tee shirts for today's ride and did NOT get chilled in any fashion.  Evidently we had a high of 64 degrees today and it wasn't cooled off much when I did my ride.  All this after a week of freezing temperatures and ice storms.  I DO NOT complain about nice weather, even if it seems out of time and place.
No youngsters on small bikes were out and about today, so I didn't wear myself out trying to prove my manhood keeping up with them.
Arrived at Walmart safe and sound, and what do I see?  A group of merry gentlemen I actually know:  Goodly Guys I usually see at Church meetings.  I can't mention their names, but their initials could be Richardson and Parker.  When I hailed them with a "Merry Christmas", they all laughed aloud at the concept of Christmas in such warm weather. 
Finished shopping for my 2 containers of nuts and returned home.
Mission Accomplished.
(P.S. :  Stay tuned.  We'll likely have the coldest winter on record in addition to the warmest:
IN THE SAME WINTER

Ride Started:    3:00 PM      Ride Ended:  3:55 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  67      Ending BG: 66

Lowest Temp:  59 F    Highest Temp:  61  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.32
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.8 MPH                             7.0 MPH               15.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 55 minutes                          46 minutes           9 minutes

Hartville Run & Ride

Saturday's plotted track

Saturday, 7 Dec, Jacque and I drove up to Hartville (16 miles away) for a Ham Radio Christmas Club meeting and dinner mid-day.  A few of the hams, having heard me on the radio while riding the trike, expressed interest in seeing the trike setup, so I had loaded the Catrike in the back of the Exploder for the trip.
I parked the trike just outside the club door on the sidewalk, turned on the blinky lights, and we enjoyed another Thanksgiving / Christmas style potluck meal with lots of salad, stuffing, and turkey, ham, and chicken for us carnivores.
On the way home, with full tummies, Jacque decided she wanted to go to the YMCA at home for a craft fair there.  She offered to drop me off at home before she went.  Thinking it would have been nice to ride the trike I almost said aloud "Too bad I don't have my trike with us" when I (Duh) suddenly remembered we DID have the trike in the back and thus she was able to drive directly to the Y and all I had to do was unload the trike and take off.
As always, Mountain Grove is so small I have to ride the longest outer roads around in order to rack up more than a couple miles.
I had my dressy jacket on, which I worried was going to be warm since it was nice and sunny out.  I barely got pedaling before I zipped it up as far and tight as it would go.  In spite of the sunshine, it was COLD out there and I did NOT get overheated all the way home.
That night, we attended the Town Square Christmas Parade.  It was of course small-town but there were a few fun things to watch.

Ride Started:    1:39 PM      Ride Ended:  2:11 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  160      Ending BG: 66

Lowest Temp:  50 F    Highest Temp:  57  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   4.13
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  7.8 MPH                             8.2 MPH               19.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 32 minutes                          30 minutes           2 minutes

Grocery Run

Today's Cloudy Route

I actually got in a few miles pedaling the trike today, instead of the more recently-usual less than 2 miles.
I'd planned to ride up to Ace Hardware for some caulking cartridge caps, that seal and keep fresh a tube of silicone or other caulking gun-activated goop.  Having tried various big box stores including Home Depot in Springfield, Ace Hardware here locally was about the only place left unsearched for such handy items.  I'd bought a couple SOMEWHERE  recently but since I have more than two tubes needing caps, I wanted more. 
Jacque also needed some coleslaw from the grocery so I agreed to pick some up on my way across town.
We have a brand new "CHC" home center here, and my route today took me past there, so I stopped there first to see if they had any.  Nice store, lots of good stuff, but no goop-saving caps to be had.
I'm beginning to wonder if most stores fail to sell such caps in hopes of more replacement goop-tubes to be sold when partially used ones dry up early.
On northward to Ace.  This is about the best-equipped hardware store for miles around.  They indeed had the desired caps in stock as well as some replacement blades for my jigsaw.
Then, a quick stop at the Walmart right next to Ace, for a bag of coleslaw.
The day had started out mostly bright and sunny but as I headed south for home the clouds began covering the sun and it started cooling off noticeably.  Still,  I opened a couple more snaps on my shirt to cool down a bit more while climbing the little hills along the way.
When I crossed the bridge over Route 60, a Camaro passed me with his passenger window open and I heard the driver holler something at me, but I didn't hear well enough to tell if he was trying to be encouraging or derogatory.  Since I couldn't tell I am forced to assume it was encouraging, like almost everyone else I've encountered.  The worst comments I hear, though well intended, are similar to "Hope nobody runs over you on that thing."  This in spite of the tall flags, blinky lights, and such.  Invariably, drivers give us WIDE berths when passing and often slow down and follow us slowly for long distances instead of passing in a big hurry.

Ride Started:    2:00 PM      Ride Ended:  3:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  110      Ending BG: 60

Lowest Temp:  60 F    Highest Temp:  62  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.7
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.9 MPH                             6.9 MPH               19.7 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  1 hour 10 mins                   50 minutes           21 minutes

REAL Short Riding

Today's Tracking (Worked for Some Reason)

The cold and fog and clouds burned off about noonish today, which is always a wonderful thing.
I humped dirt and broken sidewalk concrete sections for a couple hours, trying to restore our torn up yard to some semblance of decency after the wreckage remaining from the water line replacement project several weeks ago.  The once-bulging dirt mounded over the new water line has sagged and collapsed with recent rains and soggy weather to where there is a sunken not-so-shallow ditch now, which unfortunately has been draining rain water toward and underneath the house, leading to waterlogging of the soil surrounding the house and basement, causing quasi-continuous cycling on and off for the sump pump in the basement.  I was able to dig out a shallow diversion channel taking most of the rainwater away from the house foundation, but even after 2 days of no rain - the poor sump pump is still cycling every few minutes trying to keep the basement from flooding. 
Life in Missouri.
Anyway, after several rest intervals for my poor feet and back, I realized time was rapidly running out for a fun run on the trike.
Jacque had put up a birthday card for her brother up in Michigan and had asked me to put a stamp on it.  It was still lying on the counter - with stamp firmly attached - when she drove off to the store.
I decided a short ride across the tracks to the Post Office would be better than no ride at all, especially since it would likely get me home shortly before total darkness developed.

Ride Started:    4:28 PM      Ride Ended:  4:48 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.2  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  121      Ending BG: 105

Lowest Temp:  40 F    Highest Temp:  43  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.02
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  3.2 MPH                             6.4 MPH               17.2 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  19 minutes                        10 minutes           9 minutes

Miserable Day, Great Day, Same Day

Today's Manually Plotted Route (Radio Tracker No Workie)

I have not ridden my trikie-toy in weeks.  I have been mostly on hands and knees removing old nasty flooring tile and scraping and installing new flooring to Jacque's specifications.  We invited some friends for Thanksgiving, and since the kitchen and dining floors were a mess, we were under tremendous pressure and motivation to get the new floor in.  With Jacque helping measure and cut flooring panels and me stretching and straining on my knees, we barely made it.  Mostly.  A few pieces of trim were yet to be installed, but the  new floor was in place in time for the feast.

What I soon discovered was that my contortions, with multiple rest breaks throughout the day and short bursts of flooring, burned MORE calories and carbs than my normal Trike Ride "Exercise".
I had to consume a LOT more carbs to keep from low blood glucose episodes than when taking trike rides.  Evidently trike riding is a lot more leisurely than actually working and getting something accomplished.
The Thanksgiving feast was a success, with the usual overeating and visiting half asleep afterwards.The weather, though, was not conducive to enjoyment of the outdoors.  Cold, wet, and fog.  DEEP fog.  Lots of rain and slop in the yard.  Sump pump in the basement chugging on and off all day and all night.   Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we made a late afternoon run to Springfield to restock our supply of moulding to trim the new flooring.  It was a pea soup ride in the muck most of the way out and back, slowing often to avoid over-running our headlight visibility, with several sightings of dead dear and other critters along the shoulders and in the middle of the roadway in the dark foggy mist.  Thankfully we didn't have any encounters of our own to deal with.  We got home late, soaked, and tired.  Again the sump pump chugged and hiccuped all night long, with water seeping too fast in various spots along the foundation.  Thunder and lightning.  Typical Missouri winter weather.
This morning, Saturday, it was still drizzling, miserable, and deep fog.  It looked like we were in for a weekend of slop again.
Along about noonish, Heavenly Father answered our hearts' desires and the sun actually started peeking through the misty muck.  Within a couple hours it had warmed from the upper 30's to the 60's and it was actually WARM outside and almost dry.  I had some bills to mail at the Post Office and a UPS parcel to deliver for Jacque, so I determined to take a trike ride for the errands and take the day off from flooring. 
I thought it must be warm enough to require only a windbreaker instead of a jacket.  As I stepped out the door I was SHOCKED at the sunny warmth of the day, and immediately took off the windbreaker and returned it to the house closet before taking off. 
It was a FABULOUS day for riding, and before I got halfway through the ride I had to unsnap most of my  shirt buttons and roll up my pants legs to get some cooling air going for the old bod.
I was getting a bit tired early on and realized missing a month of riding had resulted in lack of stamina - as if I ever had any to spare to start with.  The exercise of waddling around with flooring had not kept my cycling muscles properly trimmed.  SIGH
I stopped to check my blood glucose and saw it was getting close to the dizzy stage.  As IF I need any additional dizziness in life, hah.  I took a break and ate one of my emergency 3-packs of cookies stashed for just such occasions.  I had an unusual encounter with a bicycle rider I passed going the other way:  He refused to look at me or acknowledge my wave as we passed.  Very unusual.  Perhaps he - unlike most cyclists - was forced to ride his 2-wheeler by circumstances and not because he enjoyed it.  Who knows?  Didn't wipe the foolish grin off MY face.

Ride Started:    1:13 PM      Ride Ended:  2:14 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 96

Lowest Temp:  55 F    Highest Temp:  64  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.45
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3 MPH                             7.4 MPH               18.1 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 1 minute                  45 minutes           17 minutes

Cool Runnings / Riding

Today's non-GPS plotted route

We've been so busy working on the house issues that I haven't had much of a chance for triking since LAST Sunday.
One big milestone done this week was FINALLY getting our water line replaced between the street meter and the house;  about 90 feet worth.
In my crawlings under the house hooking up gas lines for the kitchen range and water lines for the new refrigerator ice maker and new kitchen sink, I - early on - noticed the very corroded galvanized water line coming out of the ground, with very damp earth all around it, even after days of dry weather and no known leaks.  We talked about this maybe being related to our unusually high water bills ever since we moved in.  Deciding it must be the over-50-year-old pipe, we contacted a local plumber to do the nasty replacement for us.  I was pleasantly surprised to get a quote of
$750 labor for the job, plus pipe and parts.  The big problem since then has been the extremely unpredictable weather, with sub freezing temperatures, ice, snow, and rain popping in and out.
One date planned for the work was drowned out with 5-15 degree weather.  The next proposed date was for Friday, 15 November.  Waiting for the day was difficult, still worrying about a possible big failure of the main water line, with several more days of spotty weather.
Finally the big day arrived, and contrary to fears, the weather was great.  AND, instead of taking all day and half the next, as I had worried, they were done shortly after noon.  Happy Camper, Me.
I actually had to work up a sweat a couple times helping the digging plumber get a hole dug underneath our foundation so it could be buried below the freeze danger line without having to build a protective insulating box around it on the surface.
Thus, after taking a relatively restful day off Saturday, moving the kitchen fridge around and peeling up old tile and laying new flooring, enough to roll the fridge back over, I took a ride while resting after Church this afternoon.
Today was a bit overcast, with the sun peeking through the clouds.  However, instead of burning off, the clouds totally obscured the sun most of the day.  By the time I decided to go for a stretch-ride, the temperature was not all that warm:  46 degrees.
So I dug out the cold weather gear, felt skull warmer, hunting mittens (with openable finger flaps), etc.
From experience, I did not wear any heavy layers over my shirt:  Just two layers of lightweight windbreakers.   Even though it was chilly I did not get overheated, and actually had to unzip the jackets about halfway through the ride to let some cooling air in.
It seems a bit more difficult to motivate myself to ride in cold weather, but the lower blood sugar is worth it....

Ride Started:    3:47 PM      Ride Ended:  5:15: PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 96

Lowest Temp:  46 F    Highest Temp:  46  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.00
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.6 MPH                             7.0 MPH               21.5 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 18 mins                    52 minutes           27 minutes