It wasn’t a pretty sight seeing me riding on my mountain bike on the street heading into a strong wind with the knobby tires rumbling along. This is what happened hen I was going south on W. Lake Houston Parkway over the river. To top it off there were two cars in the shoulder lane with a person working on one of them. I needed to get around them but I had to come to a complete stop before I could do that due to the heavy traffic. Getting a 22 to 25 pound mountain bike with knobby tires back up to speed does not happen quickly. At the time I think the wind was blowing 14 mph from the SSW.

I went on a trail I have not been on for a long time. It was sad to see all of the dead trees that have been cut down because of the drought. Many of them were almost 2 feet in diameter. It will take many years for the remaining trees to get that size.

My shins were hurting and my left calf muscle was sore from the pedaling. I think my saddle is the problem. Whenever I stood up to pedal the pain went away. So I think I need to find a better saddle even though this one was comfortable on my road bike.

Today I biked 15.83 miles (my Garmin Edge showed 16.1) at an average speed of 11.6 mph. The max speed was 19.1 since I did not have any hills to go down. Average cadence dropped to 76.6 RPM. Because of the shin pain there were times when I slowed to less than 10 mph. For the week I broke 100 miles at 104.86, November is 209.55 miles and the year is 5193.06 miles.

The weather was threatening to rain it seemed with some dark clouds floating around. I had rained a few minutes earlier in the morning so I wanted to get back home without getting drenched. I made it and the rain has held off so far. The temperature has increased from yesterday to 80 degrees. It is supposed to be as warm tomorrow. This coming week I will be on my road bike again whenever it is practical.

11-13-2011 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/445411 95% 700]

Link to the Garmin Connect ride data and map.

11-13-2011 Home Weather End