I watched stage 1 of the Tour de France live today and it delayed starting my ride until 11:41. Tomorrow I will record the stage and ride after church but before I watch it. This requires avoiding any news which can difficult but not impossible. Sometimes the coverage on NBCSports Network can be  BORING. The commercials can go on for ever it seems, the sidebar stuff can be maddening simple or nothing to do with the Tour and the commentators say some strange things. At one point I switch to my laptop to watch Eurosport on the internet. One thing I noticed is the NBCSports feed is about 4 seconds behind the Eurosport feed.

With the later start I thought I would be in the heat of the day but it didn’t feel that hot. I don’t know if the rain in the area (we didn’t get any) helped or what. It was 86 degrees (59% humidity) when I began and 90 degrees (50% humidity) at the end. The wind was from the East or NE about 10 mph. This direction tends to be cooler than from the SW. The sky was scattered clouds.

Mixing the route up a little I left Kingwood on Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road. I don’t ride these as often as my other exits from Kingwood. The traffic was not very heavy while I was riding the 3 miles from where I got on Mills Branch until I turned onto Loop 494 to ride north. I set a good pace with the help of the wind most of the time. When I reached New Caney I turned west on FM1485. Normally I only stay on FM145 until Gene Campbell Road but today I went all the way to SR242. FM1485 is a good road with only two places where the shoulder goes away thanks to adding a left turn lane in the middle of the road. These sections are short and the few cars that pass always partly move over into the left turn lane area.

At SR242 and FM1485 I made a quick stop to refill my water bottle. My sweat output was much lighter today. I appreciated the sweat not running down onto my glasses. The ride on SR242 from FM1485 to FM1314 is a smooth and rather straight with a shoulder all the way. There are places where the added left turn lane reduces the shoulder but does not take it away entirely. Traffic can be heavy but I have not had any problems. I did have an encounter while I was on FM1485 about a miles before SR242. A gold color Chevy or GMC pickup with a white refrigerator standing up in the back passed me and decided to blow his horn, one of those very loud train or 18-wheeler types. It startled me but I didn’t swerve or anything.

I wanted this route to be 40+ miles to help make up for not biking on July 4th and I was jazzed from watching the Tour too. It ended up at 42.06 miles so I accomplished my objective. I was pleasantly surprised as I was riding on the speed I was able to go and the average speed for the ride was 16.4 mph. I knew from the riding time I should be over 16 mph but not sure how much. Sometimes my average speed comes down when I ride back into Kingwood due to the many stops and residential traffic.

Mile markers

• 192.12 miles this week
• 142.85 miles this month (573 miles to reach my goal of 716 miles)
• 3518 miles this year

Tomorrow’s weather: clear, 91 degrees and 10 mph wind. I plan on biking after church and Sunday School. Could be warmer then than today’s ride.

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