I waited until 12:33 to leave home for today’s ride. I ate a snack of Rykrisp crackers, jelly, a banana and tortilla chips. For the ride I took a Kashi trail mix bar and 2 Kashi trail mix cookies for the stop in Huffman at the Chevron station. The RyKrisp crackers were not in grocery stores around me so I ordered them online. Back when I was a teenager I ate them but probably used more of them as carp bait.

The wait was to allow the clouds to thin out some and the temperature to get above 70 so I would not overdress. It was 75 when I left and by the time I returned home at 3:49 it was a nice 81. The clouds thinned some but I would call the sky overcast. Wind was not an issue today with the maximum speed less than 10 mph.

After riding north yesterday the route today was to Huffman via Atascocita and Walden. I added distance by taking Kings Row all the way to Atascocita Road and side streets into Walden before heading to Huffman over Lake Houston. In Huffman I rode north on FM2100 after finishing my snack at the Chevron station. The goal was to ride at least 33 miles to get below 100 miles remaining to reach my March goal. I was successful, biking 34.72 miles while averaging 15.4 mph. I was slower today probably because of the effort I used on yesterday’s ride. March miles increased to 407.7, this week I biked 143.94 miles and 1112 miles year to date. I have 98 miles left to reach my March goal of 505 miles.

While I was riding today I noticed a creaking sound whenever I pedaled with effort. It seemed to come from the crankset area. I stopped to tighten the quick releases on both wheels but this didn’t make any difference. When I got back to Kingwood I stopped at Bike Werks to see if they could identify the problem. They took a test ride and heard the noise. They thought it was the crank and tightened by the crank bolt half a turn. The noise went away and I pedaled in silence the last 2 miles home. I wanted to fix this so that next weekend’s ride in Stonewall TX at the LBJ 100 would go smoothly and quietly.

Yesterday I titled my ride commentary “Looking for Grand Texas” but I forgot to say whether I found it. The only thing I saw under construction was south of SR 242 to the west of the Flying J truck stop. There were a couple of pieces of equipment clearing trees on about 20 acres of land. On the north side I did see a RV trailer parked next to some trees and a large open area that was cleared years ago. Maybe that is where Grand Texas will be.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to change as a mild cold front passes through. I doubt that will allow me to ride. Monday could be wet which leaves Tuesday as the most likely biking day. I am planning on 62 miles at the LBJ 100 which means I need 36 miles on other rides to hit the goal.

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