Update Post
No pictures today. I mentioned before that we went to Biosphere 2. It is a very interesting research center for Arizona University. We enjoyed it. I haven't gotten the pictures off the camera cards yet.
Last night we did a 2 hour desert hike in Saguaro National Park (east unit). It was a ranger led hike and we learned a a bunch of things about the Sonoran desert and the night sky and as a bonus we say the biggest brightest shooting star we have ever seen. It was the last activity to be led by a ranger for awhile...because of the government shutdown. We have several more hikes scheduled in the coming days. Sure hope the KIDS in DC get things worked out soon. We would like to do the hikes and I am sure the government employees would like to continue receiving their paychecks.
At this point I would like to add that I am very glad to be able to write this post.Very glad indeed. Had a real close call this morning on the bike trail. Let me start with some terms I will be using.
The Loop; the loop is a paved system of bike trails that circles the greater Tucson Area.
A Tandem; think of a bicycle built for two
A Recumbent; that is a bicycle that has a seat more like a chair and sits very low to the ground. They come in different configurations some 2 wheeled some 3 wheeled, with the two wheeled axle sometimes in front with a single wheel to steer in the back, sometimes the other way around. In either case the two wheeled axle is WIDE .
A Recumbent Tandem; see above and put them together. But just picture this on a bike trail.
A Subway; this is a tunnel that goes under a roadway. They are common on the loop especially when there is already a tunnel in place for the road to cross a wash.
Riding Glasses; sunglasses for ...the sun... and wind protection. Can be dark tinted.
Ok now to put this all together. We were on the loop heading east and I was leading cruising about maybe 12 -15 mph. We were approaching a subway and as I was about to enter the dark tunnel I noticed a recumbent coming in the middle of the subway, (the driver had bright clothing on and had a strobing light on the front), what I didn't see was the recumbent tandem with dark clothed riders coming out of the subway tunnel). As you approach the subway the trail narrows slightly, and most riders favor the yellow line to avoid debris on the right. Thats where I was. ( I may want to reconsider this practice now). I heard a yell and then I could make out the first tandem (one of three coming). I locked up the brakes (hydraulic disk ) and started to skid the back tire. I moved as far to the right as I could as quick as I could. We missed and I was able to control the skidding bike and keep it both upright and away from the cement wall. The tandem did the same and they stayed away from the steel guard rail on their side of the trail, according to Gloria's view point. Had we collided or even brushed it would have been a multi-bike pile up in the tunnel with some of us certainly hitting the walls.
So clearly I own a lot of the responsibility for the situation because I was hugging the center line, not thinking of a pack of tandems coming out of the shadows. But thankfully my reactions were quick enough and my biking experience was sufficient to have the muscle memory to react quickly. Because for certain I didn't think through any of this, I just reacted. If I have a guardian angel she sure works a lot of hours.
As is my typical reaction to something like this, I am fine right after, un-phased it seems, but as I rode on after a mile or two more it starts to sink in about how close to a total disaster it was. When we finished our ride I checked my heart rate graph expecting to see a spike in heart rate about 3 miles in. What I saw was a skip in the data, no readout for a few minutes???
Last night we did a 2 hour desert hike in Saguaro National Park (east unit). It was a ranger led hike and we learned a a bunch of things about the Sonoran desert and the night sky and as a bonus we say the biggest brightest shooting star we have ever seen. It was the last activity to be led by a ranger for awhile...because of the government shutdown. We have several more hikes scheduled in the coming days. Sure hope the KIDS in DC get things worked out soon. We would like to do the hikes and I am sure the government employees would like to continue receiving their paychecks.
At this point I would like to add that I am very glad to be able to write this post.Very glad indeed. Had a real close call this morning on the bike trail. Let me start with some terms I will be using.
The Loop; the loop is a paved system of bike trails that circles the greater Tucson Area.
A Tandem; think of a bicycle built for two
A Recumbent; that is a bicycle that has a seat more like a chair and sits very low to the ground. They come in different configurations some 2 wheeled some 3 wheeled, with the two wheeled axle sometimes in front with a single wheel to steer in the back, sometimes the other way around. In either case the two wheeled axle is WIDE .
A Recumbent Tandem; see above and put them together. But just picture this on a bike trail.
A Subway; this is a tunnel that goes under a roadway. They are common on the loop especially when there is already a tunnel in place for the road to cross a wash.
Riding Glasses; sunglasses for ...the sun... and wind protection. Can be dark tinted.
Ok now to put this all together. We were on the loop heading east and I was leading cruising about maybe 12 -15 mph. We were approaching a subway and as I was about to enter the dark tunnel I noticed a recumbent coming in the middle of the subway, (the driver had bright clothing on and had a strobing light on the front), what I didn't see was the recumbent tandem with dark clothed riders coming out of the subway tunnel). As you approach the subway the trail narrows slightly, and most riders favor the yellow line to avoid debris on the right. Thats where I was. ( I may want to reconsider this practice now). I heard a yell and then I could make out the first tandem (one of three coming). I locked up the brakes (hydraulic disk ) and started to skid the back tire. I moved as far to the right as I could as quick as I could. We missed and I was able to control the skidding bike and keep it both upright and away from the cement wall. The tandem did the same and they stayed away from the steel guard rail on their side of the trail, according to Gloria's view point. Had we collided or even brushed it would have been a multi-bike pile up in the tunnel with some of us certainly hitting the walls.
So clearly I own a lot of the responsibility for the situation because I was hugging the center line, not thinking of a pack of tandems coming out of the shadows. But thankfully my reactions were quick enough and my biking experience was sufficient to have the muscle memory to react quickly. Because for certain I didn't think through any of this, I just reacted. If I have a guardian angel she sure works a lot of hours.
As is my typical reaction to something like this, I am fine right after, un-phased it seems, but as I rode on after a mile or two more it starts to sink in about how close to a total disaster it was. When we finished our ride I checked my heart rate graph expecting to see a spike in heart rate about 3 miles in. What I saw was a skip in the data, no readout for a few minutes???
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