A Day to Remember 13 Years Ago
Three rides in a row to Huffman is rather unusual for me. The road construction at Community Drive to the north has put a crimp on my route selection. Also I did not start riding until 12:57. I wanted to give the weather time to heat up again and it did. It was a balmy 94 degrees at home when I left and it stayed there until I returned at 3:45. The air was a little drier than normal so the heat did not feel quite as intense as July or August. We are only 10 days from fall but the weather has not really let up that much. The Houston Chronicle weather guy thinks today was the last chance for 100 degrees until next June. Tomorrow a “cool” front could pass through and it could mark the end of temperatures this high for the year. Time will tell.
To add some variety riding to Huffman I went north on E. Lake Houston Parkway rather than south on Fairlake Drive. Google maps likes to show E. Lake Houston going north a couple of miles further than it really does. I turned on Smith Road to ride to FM2100 and enter Huffman from the north. FM2100 from this direction is still a nice smooth asphalt from the recent resurfacing work. With the route variation I biked 32.85 miles, slightly more than yesterday. Due to the late start there were lots of school buses out but I managed to pass all of the schools before or after dismissal.
It took me 16 miles to build my average speed up to 15.0 mph. From there I added another .8 mph to top out at 15.8 mph. Keeping it at 15.8 was not easy as I slowed some across Lake Houston. But I got it back up and held it there until about 29.9 miles into the route. By then I was on W. Lake Houston Parkway amongst traffic and frequent stops. The final number was 15.5 mph. My legs are complaining about all the effort it takes on the quest for 16+ mph averages speeds. I may have an over training problem. Riding to Huffman does not have as many long stretches of open road where I can build up the average speed like biking to the north.
Miles:
- 148.05 for the week
- 350.22 for September
- 5531 for the year
Today marks the 47th ride to Huffman this year out of 160 rides.
During the ride I thought about what I was doing on September 11th, 2001. I was at work when my manager yelled from his office to come look at the TV news report as the twin towers burned from the planes hitting them. We could not believe what we were seeing. What a tragedy. I wore a red, white and blue jersey with a single star on it today to honor and remember those who died.
Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS. Click on an image to enlarge it.
