Back on the trails again today. The sky started to cloud up as I prepared to ride. I started earlier than the other rides this week rolling out at 10:38AM. Nothing came from the clouds until I reached Kings Crossing Drive south of Town Center. It looked like rain but I rode east and a little to the north and the rain drops stopped. (As I write this the clouds got heavier but no rain yet.)

Earlier I experienced what happens when I apply the rear brake hard on wet leaves. Approaching an intersection to the trail I need to stop quickly because a car suddenly appeared from behind some bushes bordering the trail. I locked the rear brake and the tire slid sending toward the curb but I regained control and rode over the curb onto the street avoiding the car.

Lengthening the route today I biked 17.20 miles. The week mileage now totals 57.31; a big drop from the normal miles.

I continue to miss my rear view mirror. Turning my head to look behind doesn’t give me the same view the mirror does.

The temperature let up some today ranging from 82 at the start and 85 when I got back home. Wind slowed me down whenever I came out of the trees. 15 mph from the southeast provides lots of resistance. At one spot around 9 miles I biked along side a small lake exposed to the wind. I need to exert lots of effort on the pedals to keep my speed around 14 mph.

September continues to be a month of bumps and crashing. Last night on the way to the monthly Houston Jeep People meeting we drove west on Northpark Drive. To our left the traffic backed up to turn left onto Loop 494. All of a sudden a black car in the left lane turns right into our lane and rubbed against the front tire of my Jeep Wrangler. Thankfully no damage to the Jeep except for a scuff mark on the large tire but the black car peeled the ride side of the front bumper away from the car. On the left of the black car a red Honda SUV suffered scrapes from the black car hitting it. We pulled off the road and exchanged contact information. Since my Jeep had no damage we left. While we were at the HJP meeting a DPS trooper called my home phone leaving 3 messages about coming back to the scene and then to call him. Come to find out we were not supposed to leave. The black car driver got a ticket. The black car sported some scratches on the passenger door from an earlier encounter with a pole. Maybe this driver needs to try another mode of transportation?

[wppa type=”slide” album=”240″ size=”auto”][/wppa]

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/382540260 470px 570px]

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1856714/embed 95% 700px]