Riding north was where I wanted to go today but I hesitated riding the same route from last Saturday. Most of my other choices involved riding on the southbound US59 service road through the Community Drive area. What overcame my concern was the traffic is usually lighter on the southbound side than the northbound. I wanted to go at least 34 or 35 miles so I checked my past rides and saw that the New Caney – Casey Ridge – Roman Forest one was that long. Another constraint was that I needed to be back in time for a 3:00 appointment. The last time I rode this route was July 29th and the mileage was almost identical. My average speed was the same too. Today I biked 35.48 miles at 15.5 mph average speed.

In order to avoid the northbound service road at Community Drive I rode the “back” exit from Kingwood. This shortens the north routes about 3 miles from the normal route I take out of Kingwood. Loop 494 does not seem to have gained any traffic from the construction but this might be influenced by the time of day. I wondered what the southbound service road would look like at Community Drive and as I approached the right shoulder had the orange barrels until about 100 yards from where the old right turnoff to Community Drive was. The service road was closed and all the traffic moved to this turnoff but only one vehicle accompanied as I made the semi-circle back to the service road. The dirt mound that led up to the overpass is being removed or modified in preparation for the Grand Parkway exchange with US59/I-69.

Once I passed the work area the road was back to normal. When I reached Porter I went to the McDonald’s for a Diet Coke, not my favorite but the $1 cost was. While I ate a Kashi Trailmix bar and cookies I watched the traffic drive by. It didn’t take too long to see that a number of drivers need instructions on how to drive.

No need for two jerseys today. Mostly cloudy skies, 58% humidity and a temperature range of 78 (start) to 83 (finish) meant a warm ride. My first stop to refill the water bottle was in New Caney at the Chevron after coming out of Roman Forest. I wore my wrist bands just in case perspiration got heavy. They were damp when I finished but my bandana was wet.

I crossed the 300 mile mark for October with this ride increasing the miles to 329.09. Year to date I rode 5546 miles. To hit 400 miles this month the next two days will need to be 35 miles or better. Wednesday looks iffy and Thursday as well with 70% and 80% chance of rain, respectively.

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