After watching the 17th stage of the Vuelta a Espana I went for my ride but not on the the bike I originally planned. I put back my road shoes and got the mountain bike shoes. I thought today would be a good day to ride on the greenbelt trails in mostly shade. Leaving the house at 11:18 I quickly thought of a route riding the opposite direction of Monday’s ride but with only one dirt section; W. Lake Houston to Mills Branch Way. The dirt was packed hard so it felt like I was on the paved greenbelt. We have not had any rain for over a week so with the heat (could reach 100 today) the ground is very dry. This route ended up at 15.1 miles with a 12.1 mph average speed and 17.8 mph max speed. Moving time was 1:14:49 with 3:37 time stopped.

The greenbelt shows the problems from last year’s drought with trees cut and stacked by the trail in many places. With all of these trees cut down there are stretches without any shade but lots of sawdust on the ground. There were a few people on the trails but not enough to cause any problems.

With later start the temperature had time to get up there but only to 90 degrees. The scattered clouds in the sky and calm breeze indicated it would be very warm later in the day. The weather forecast hints at a “cold” front coming to town this weekend but I am doubtful. Last year on this date we were in Chattanooga sloshing around in the warm rain at Rock City. Chattanooga set a record for the most rain in one day.

Link to RideWithGPS.com map and metrics.

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