Early Start, Heating Up, Clear Skies – May 29th Bike Ride
The goal was to be on the road before 7:00 AM but I missed it by 6 minutes. The temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees then and wind was just barely moving. The weatherman predicted mid-90’s but I wanted to get finished by 11:30 which I beat by 2 minutes. My wife and I were tackling the garage today to get rid of a bunch of stuff in preparation of getting some storage cabinets and other components to keep the place organized. One big unused tool was a Lawnboy lawnmower that had not been used in 2-3 years. This was in the way of parking my Raleigh M800 mountain bike. (You have to have priorities here.) Since I did not know if it would start we parked it at the end of the driveway with a “free” sign and within an hour or so it was gone.
Last evening I replaced my saddle on the Mercier. I have been riding a Performance Forte SL-Pro but I think it was too wide. I had been riding a Colorado Cyclist Booty Luv saddle and liked it much better so it went back on the bike. Today’s ride confirmed my previous thoughts and the Booty Luv will stay. It is much more comfortable.The problem is that it is no longer made. It just so happened that when I got home in the mail was the latest Colorado Cyclist catalog with the replacement model saddle on sale. I have a rule that if I like a saddle I try to have a good replacement on hand in case it breaks or something. So I will probably be ordering a backup saddle.
Today’s ride went through Splendora, a small town straddling the railroad tracks north of Kingwood about 15 miles. I have ridden there many times and the roads are great for riding. On FM2090 west of town there must 6 or more Share the Road signs. I wonder who requested these. Here are a couple of picture I took today.
From Splendora I headed west to a crossroads community named Grangerland. Many years ago I used to stop at the local grocery store to buy some cheese waffle crackers to eat while resting for the ride back home. I never see those in the stores around home. I took these pictures of Grangerland.
I did not see another biker today. The holiday weekend may be taking precedence over riding. I felt great during the ride and this evening we are heading out to pick blueberries. Hopefully the heat will let up some when the sun starts going down.
Today’s riding statisitcs:
- miles = 57.31
- riding time = 3:45;33
- average pace = 3:56 min/mile
- average speed = 15.2 mph
- max speed = 20.4 mph
- average cadence = 79.6 rpm
- max cadence = 104 rpm
- climb 232 ft., descend 202 ft., max elevation 156 ft., minimum elevation 64 ft.
- May miles 599.55
- YTD miles 1999.35
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