Saturday I said Monday would be a longer ride. Well it was, 62.28 miles long. The route came to together in part as I rode. I started out biking to Splendora up US59. My plan was to see how I was doing when I got to FM1485 and FM2090 west of Splendora at Caney Creek High School. At that point I had the option to stay on FM2090 or take FM1485 south for a shorter route. I was feeling good at the option intersection so I stayed on FM2090 to Grangerland and FM3083. FM3083 took me to what is called 4 Corners. I think it gets that name from the four roads that intersect there: FM3083, Creighton Road, Rocky Road and Jefferson Chemical Road. This was at the 32.40 mile point.

I stopped at the Valero Country Store for water and ice. By now I was starting to get hungry. Before I sat on the concrete by the front door the clerk inside motioned for me to come inside where it was cool. I thanked her but said that would cause a problem when I went back out to ride. As I drank the cold water I decided to eat the Kashi Trail mix bar and cookies I had. I was thinking about saving them for the stop at the Stripes station but my stomach won the argument. After about 1/2 hour of resting and eating I resumed the ride.

The last time I rode what I call the “Splendora – Creighton Road – FM1314” route was July 20, 2013. Since then a big new Chevron station went up across FM3083 which I did not notice until I came out of the Valero with a refilled bottle and sat down. As big as it was I should have seen it earlier. From the Valero station I took Creighton Road which now has a smooth coat of asphalt all the way to FM1314. Previously it had some rough sections and I dodged some low spots. The first 1/4 mile still has some washboard in the surface but not as bad as before.

FM1314 northwest of SR242 is asphalt and not as wide as east of SR242. The traffic is lighter too since most people turn onto SR242 to get to I-45. The road is smooth and I made good time to SR242 and then onto the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway and FM1314. From the Valero station to Stripes was almost 20 miles and I was ready for another break. This time I got a 32 oz Gatorade and sat out by a pump since the shade was gone by the store building. I thought I would get a breakfast taco but they were sold out and I didn’t bring any more snacks. I should have doubled the trail mix bar and cookies. While I was sitting by the pump a man drove up in a Dodge pickup. I am not sure why he drove to the pump I was at since there were a number of others open. He pulled close so I drew my feet up. As he got out he said it was caliente and I agreed adding it wasn’t as hot when I was riding. He said he would only be a few minutes while he got some gas. He walked to the store and several minutes later came back with a package of beer and then put some gas in the Dodge. While he was pumping the gas he offered me a cold can of beer but I said no thanks since I don’t drink. He said he was going to enjoy it. After he left I got up and refilled my water bottle for the 11 mile ride back home.

The weather was hot. The sky only had a very few small clouds and the sun was beating down. When I left home at 10:31 it was 92 degrees. By the time I got home at 3:45 it was 97 and the heat index showed 112 on my home weather center. I sweat a lot when I stopped at the Valero station but after that I did not notice it as much. With the heat and sun I drank at least 4 water bottles of water plus the 32 oz Gatorade.

Saturday I was looking around the Garmin Connect website and saw a feature that I have wanted for sometime. Since my ride route are fluid my wife does not the exact route I am biking. I use the Garmin Edge 510 and it has Bluetooth but I never turned it on since I didn’t know what value it would add. If I would install the Gamin Connect app on my Nexus 5 phone and connected via Bluetooth to the 510 the feature called Live Tracking can be activated. This way I email my wife a secure link to a Connect website and she can she where I am biking. With the Hotter’N Hell Hundred coming up on August 23rd I wanted to try this out before to see how it works. At first I couldn’t get the email to send but about a mile into the ride I got the app to email the link to my wife. When I got home I asked her if she looked at the link and she saw me as I rode across Woodland Hills Drive on the way home. So it works. It does increase the battery drain but my phone lasted the 5 hours and 13 minutes I was gone. I will continue to use this to learn more about how it works.

Where I stand with miles:

• 62.28 miles this week
• 387.40 miles so far for August (458 miles left to reach my August goal)
• 4600 miles for the year

Tomorrow the weather looks favorable to riding with 95 degrees with a chance of rain.

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/562919612 465px 550px]

Link to RideWithGPS

[wppa type=”slide” album=”389″ size=”auto”]Any comment[/wppa]