What a fabulous last day of summer. The morning started at 60 degrees but by 10:51 AM when I started the ride it climbed to a very pleasant 77 degrees. This weather carried over nicely from yesterday. No need for a long sleeve jersey today. The clear sky awaited the sun to get up. Humidity resembled West Texas levels at 30% and the light to calm breeze meant perspiration evaporated faster than normal for southeast Texas. The “love bugs” left the area so I am not swatting at them as I ride. When I stopped at the Start Stop Exxon in Porter a man gassing up his pickup struck up a conversation about riding with the pesky “love bugs”. He told me about his motorcycle riding days back in the 50’s and how he decided to buy a windshield to stop getting hit by bugs. He said the windshield did a great job on the bugs but it saved his life when he hit a pickup broadside and the windshield kept him from flying over the truck. The truck driver told the motorcyclist curled up like a baby when he went into the windshield as he crashed into the truck. He also told me about a trip he just got back from to Oklahoma with his wife and two daughters. As I went into the store he was cleaning the bugs off the truck windshield.

The last time I rode the New Caney – Roman Forest – Splendora route was July 24, 2012. The route was slightly different because I took another exit route from Kingwood that is about 3 miles shorter when I ride to the north. Today’s route ended up at 41.40 miles. I thought it would be a little less than that but with the gorgeous weather I did not mind the few extra miles. My average speed was higher than my recent rides. When I stopped for the train in Splendora I checked my average speed and the Garmin reported 16.1 mph. Later when I turned onto Kingwood Drive from southbound US59 I checked again and it showed 16.5 mph. For some reason SportTracks only wants to show 15.7 mph but Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com both show 16.1 mph average speed. So those two override the other. My max speed showed as 21.5 mph and average cadence came in at 82.2 RPM. While my max speed was not that high I held a steady speed for the ride. This table breaks down the 5 mile legs:

The speeds below 16 mph were when I rode through residential areas with stops and starts.I will have fond memories of today’s ride. The wind shifts to the southeast tomorrow so the sky will sport some clouds. Temperatures should resemble today’s.

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