Ride With A Mission
I biked to Huffman and beyond today to checkout a couple of things. First I wanted to go east of the Liberty County line to the railroad overpass (a recent construction effort) to check out the road surface. The second was to ride through the area on FM1960 where i picked up the screw on Saturday and complete the ride home.
I changed the route a little to do these things by riding north on E. Lake Houston Parkway to Smith Road and then to FM2100. On FM2100 I biked north to Huffman-Eastgate to get to FM1960. Once I got to FM1960 I went east to the railroad overpass. This is about 1 1/2 east of the Harris – Liberty county line. It also is about the tallest thing in that part of either county. Here are some pictures from the peak of the overpass.
(click on the image to enlarge it)
I found the road surface between the county line and the overpass to be chip’n seal until I reached the area where the overpass construction moved FM1960 slightly to the south from the original path. This was asphalt until I reached the actual overpass where concrete was in place. While I was stopped at the top of the overpass several large trucks passed going west and I could feel the overpass bouncing from the moving trucks. Not what I expected. Since the chip’n seal shoulders are still in place I probably will not ride to Dayton unless I want to jar my body around. I headed back to Huffman from the overpass and was glad to reach Harris County where the road changed back to asphalt. The FM2100 and FM1960 intersection has some surface issues even though it is concrete. Not sure what caused all of the gouges in the concrete though.
The next thing was to ride through the area where I picked up the screw on Saturday and my ride stopped. I was watched closely as I rode there but I did not see any more screws. Sometimes a bunch are in a spot where a truck dropped a box or something. I was relieved to get past there and can now bike this route with less angst. I keep meaning to post a picture of the Stradalli with the mismatched tires. I took this picture while I was stopped at the Huffman Chevron today.
Mismatched tires. Schwalbe on the front, Continental on the rear
It’s really hard to see the difference especially when I am riding.
I cannot think of a better weather riding day so far this year. Scattered clouds and a light breeze made for gorgeous riding and the temperature started at 84 (10:52) and rose to 90 when I finished at 1:55. I wore a short sleeve jersey, shorts and a good coating of spray-on sunscreen.
Today’s ride went 37.53 miles putting me over the top on my April goal of 778 miles. I am at 811.68 miles for the month!!! With 2 days to go I should make that even more. 2071 miles year to date. Start the slide show for more metrics. Link to RideWithGPS map and ride metrics.
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