Sometimes I explore different streets to add variety to a route. I did that today for the first 3 miles. Recently I have changed the first 2 miles when I ride to the south. I learned where one of the village pools was located. Today before I left home I looked at a map of the nearby streets and saw where one would connect to the recent one I have used. I biked around the streets but not on them.

Huffman was today’s destination. I varied the route a little riding W. Lake Houston Parkway south of FM1960. I remember the reasons I stopped going this way: too much traffic and the long time it takes to get through the traffic light at FM1960. I rode through a different part of Walden, exited and then rode through the usual Walden area. Along the way several people were getting ready for the 4th packing cars and getting the boat ready.

All of the variety increased the route distance slightly to 33.44 miles.

When I reached the railroad crossing on Old Atascocita Road the crossing arms were down with the last car of a very long train sitting just to the left of the crossing. The train must’ve been over 1 1/2 miles long. Since the train frequently stops at the FM2100 crossing in Huffman for awhile I decided to ride around the crossing arms. When I got to Huffman the train was still stopped. If they had moved forward 20 or 30 feet the last car probably would have been far enough past the crossing arms to let them go up. It took me about 8 minutes to get to Huffman and the train sat there another 15 minutes or so. Any cars at the Old Atascocita Road crossing had a long wait.

At the Huffman Chevron I tried to soak up the river of sweat pouring from about everywhere on my body. Early in the ride a stream of sweat ran down my glasses and I didn’t stop to clean it until Huffman. The weather was mostly cloudy and 89 degrees at Huffman and when I got home at 1:07. The only wind moving was when I rode. I left home at 10:00 so the full heat had not arrived: 83 degrees and 79% humidity. Thankfully the humidity dropped to 55% by the end of the ride. I did not seem to perspire so much after the stop at the Huffman Chevron.

Mileage markers:

• 150.06 miles this week
• 100.79 miles in July (616 miles left to reach my goal)
• 3476 miles year to date

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