The last two days of October did not go as I planned as far as biking goes. Starting Wednesday morning the rain arrived and did not leave until late Thursday afternoon. During that time my home weather station recorded over 4″ of rain. Thankfully it did not flood like other places in Houston and Austin. This meant my goal of 400 miles for October got washed away and I had to settle for 329.09 miles.

Today the weather was much more cooperative with a brilliant blue sky, light south breeze and temperatures in the middle 70’s when I was biking. I wore a short sleeve and long sleeve jersey in case the shade hung onto the 54 degrees that greeted me when I checked my weather station this morning at 7 AM. As I rode the Atascocita – Walden – Huffman route I did not see any high water but there were plenty of pine needle tumbleweeds in some places. These come about when the wind blows the needles out of the trees and the water washes them along the streets.

I waited until 12:40 to leave to allow the sun to warm the air. As I pulled out the driveway I felt the sun but there still was a hint of that 54 degrees. One of the advantages of leaving this time of the day is the traffic around the schools is light. On the return home I run into traffic on Kingwood Drive when I cross over to go the last 2 miles to home. Today I used the traffic light at Kingwood Drive and W. Lake Houston Parkway to go across. This seems to take longer but I know the cars eventually will stop.

Going east over Lake Houston I wanted to remember to take a couple of pictures when I made the return leg going west. From all of the rain the lake water was brown instead of the usual blue but the scene always looks peaceful. The second picture shows two birds resting on a tree limb sticking up out of the water. I am not sure what kind of birds they are though. There were several boats with fishermen aboard in the second one. I don’t know if the rise in water improves the bites or if they just wanted to be on the lake.

The route today totaled 32.59 miles with a 15.3 mph average speed. This is a good start for November. I want to reach 6,000+ miles for the year which means 500 or more miles during November and December. I am at 5579 miles now. I have some other commitments Saturday and Sunday so the possible biking day will be Monday. The weather on Monday looks favorable but cooler than today.

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