I hit the trails today on my Motobecane 700HT MTB because the temperature stayed in the 60’s. Yesterday it barly got into the 60’s so I did not ride. Tomorrow and Saturday it could get back to the upper 70’s or maybe even 80. What a way for December to arrive! I waited until 12:54 hoping it would get warmer before heading out the door. Scattered clouds and a 9 mph south breeze did not help it feel as warm as my home weather station showed: 67 at the start and 69 when I got back home. Later I saw it get up to 71 degrees.

Riding the Kingwood trails can be interesting since there are no markings. Google Maps show the trails but when you are out riding knowing when to turn is not always clear. I know most of the trails but there are sections that I don’t ride very often and I usually get lost when I go there. Today I wanted to ride 15 or 16 miles so I took the trails I thought would get m to that number. I ended up with 17.96 miles (SportTracks) or 18.48 miles (Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com). While this is not a large difference it is over a half of a mile. Not sure how this happens. I thought my average speed would be higher than the 12.3 mph I ended up with. Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com both add .3 or .4 to that number, respectively. I did not encounter many people on the trails but since it is a weekday and in the middle of the day I would not expect anything different. One lady jogger I passed was dressed a lot less than me. I wore leg warmers, long sleeve jersey and a windbreaker jacket.

I went on two sections of dirt trail along the drainage bayous. It is very evident that we need rain. I am not that aggressive of a rider but the very dry dirt was hard as a rock and there were times when I bounced around a lot. My tires are about 58 psi which is fine for the paved trails but riding over ruts and roots I get to bouncing. We are now back in the drought status according to the National Weather Service. Earlier this week we got a heavy dew instead of the rain that was headed our way. It dissipated by the time it got Harris County.

With some warmer weather on tap for the next two days I probably will be back on my road bike.

Some ride numbers for today:

• Riding time: 1:27:48, 2:36 stop time
• 22.3 mph top speed
• 53.99 miles this week
• 308.57 miles for November
• 6248.79 miles YTD

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