The first 1/2 mile of today’s route traveled on the greenbelt tail in the shade. With my “early” start of 8:57 the cool shade along with 81 degrees was a pleasant ride. Leaving the trail to the streets to exit Kingwood on US59 northbound service road the shade was spotty. I wanted to ride over 40 miles so I biked to SR242 and turned west on SR242 to Old Houston Road. Up to SR242 the wind was helpful as can be seen from interval 3 20.0 mph average speed. Riding on SR242 the wind resisted my movement and I slowed down. The cooling effect was appreciated but the effort required did not let me cool down much. As I rode through Porter the Whataburger US flag gently fluttered in the wind.

I stopped at the Chevron station at FM1485 and SR242 to refill my water bottle to get me to the Stripes station on FM1314 where I planned to stop and rest. From there I rode mostly into the wind until I turned onto Old Houston Road. Thanks to the trees lining Old Houston Road I did not get the full brunt of the breeze which was good and bad since I could use the cooling effect.

Reaching FM1314 I made a left turn and headed to Porter. At first the wind seemed to be coming at me but after a couple of bends in the road it finally moved to my right rear quarter and did hold me back as much. I looked forward to getting to the Stripes store and taking a break before riding the last 11 miles or so. Sitting at the Stripes store in the slowly decreasing shade I had to stretch my legs out to avoid a muscle cramp. With summer about half over the sun is moving more to the south and the overhang from the store is providing less and less shade. In another week or two I will need to stand if I want to be in the shade.

Leaving the rest break I headed to Briar Tree and Oakhurst before riding back into Kingwood. The road resurfacing on Loop 494 appears to be finished so I did not have a problem taking Kingwood Drive to the first traffic light and then moving to the side streets.

My route totaled 43.59 miles, meeting my goal, and the average speed came in at 16.0 mph. August miles now total 79.13 and year to date is 4330 miles. This week I biked 183.34 miles so far and I should get some miles in tomorrow after church.

No other bicyclists crossed my route today. Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com maps and metrics.

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