Wind Can Wear You Down
As any bicyclist knows wind can wear you down. For the first 21 miles I rode into the wind and my legs wore out. Whenever I was exposed to the wind my speed dropped to 14 mph and at times 12 mph. When I finally reached Huffman- Eastgate Road on FM1960 I turned west and the legs responded by increasing my speed up to 19+ mph. The 25 miles to home were much easier with a tailwind or at least it not in my face. The effort was producing perspiration and about every 2 minutes or so I dipped my chin to the right to let it run off.
No waiting for a service man today so I pulled out 9:34 under a partly cloudy sky, 79 degrees, and 76% humidity. The wind didn’t seem that strong but there was no pace I got out of it until the Huffman-Eastgate Road turn. I reached the Huffman Chevron at 24.4 miles and took a break to enjoy the breeze since I wasn’t fighting it sitting still. While I was resting a young man walked through the station pump area with a backpack and I didn’t really pay too much attention as he walked west along FM1960 but not too long after he walked by he returned and then just walked around the station. I am not sure what was going on with him.
The ride was 36.18 miles at 14.6 mph average speed. I rode this general direction two days in a row to set up tomorrow’s ride to the north. I thought I might be in Huffman today when the Amtrak train went through but I was an hour or more early so I didn’t wait around. I did see two other riders while I was going east on the Lake Houston causeway. They were riding to the west.
Arriving back home at 12:43 the sky had a couple of dark gray areas. About 30 minutes after I got home it rained for about 3 or 4 minutes. The temperature was 87 with 56% humidity at the conclusion of the ride.
Mileage standings after today’s ride: this week 70.23 miles, June 99.35 miles, year to date 2499 miles. Link to RideWithGPS.
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