We're losing altitude!

My wife's favorite refrain - not while flying - but while riding our tandem, is We're losing altitude!  I was on my own today riding my Platano, but I felt the same despair - I'm losing altitude! I'm going to have to go uphill again, groan. There is no tilt (inclination) meter so sensitive as a cyclist's legs.

But in case you need one for your boat, Jeep or other non-pedal-powered vehicle, you can go to Tiltmeter and get an inclinometer of any kind. Theoretically they will warn you when you approach an angle that is dangerous (tipping over). Your guts will warn you too, but the inclinometer might give you an actual figure to write on the insurance claim form ...

Remember the Range Rover the other day in front of the beautiful Spanish house? Here's another one, the same color, only one block away! Then I saw a third RR up a driveway, in very bad condition. Another glut of look-alikes? Same as Mustang convertibles? I hope not.

Notice that this vehicle is on a very slight slope - iPhoto software says only 1% (but my legs noticed).

Rather than exhaust myself today on the hills, I headed for the river, where theoretically the bike path is flat as a pancake.

Eventually I got off the bike path and into civilization again, when I noticed yet another Red Ford Convertible. At least it has a black top. And it's a T-Bird and not a Mustang. I don't know why I discover all these Fords - I've never owned a Mustang, T-Bird or any other red Ford. I have had a Lincoln and a swoopy green Taurus wagon though (not my best car buy).

I cruised past Brad's office (a friend of a friend, met at a party recently). It's a nice-looking place. I've almost always had jobs in tilt-up concrete industrial parks or scruffy old houses - seldom in such stylish structures.

I'd been riding about 10 miles and I was getting hungry. Enough for today. I took the fast route home and was climbing upward to my place, when I glanced down a side street and spotted yet another old Ford. I had to make a decision - was I going to lose altitude? Go see it? Or not?

Yes. Of course I went to see it. I'm just a sucker for a pretty face.