Great Bike Ride to End November
The Houston Chronicle weather guy, Eric Berger, wrote that today would probably be the last chance of reaching 80 degrees this year. I am not sure if it got there officially but in Huffman the sign company’s banner said 82 degrees. This sign has been known to show some fictitious temperature but maybe today it was close. At my home weather station the high was 80 degrees.
Wind was back again today. It is a big difference starting the ride with a tailwind versus a headwind. Riding the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for the 57th time this year the wind present lots of resistance riding south. When I left home at 11:47 it was from the SSW at 12 mph with 20 mph gusts. Checking when I got home at 2:15 it was from the S at 9 mph but the 20 mph gusts were still there. My legs were not as powerful as yesterday over the 31.31 mile route. While I was able to get close to a 16 mph average speed the best I could do today was 15.3 mph and it took me 15 miles to get up to 15.0 mph.
This route has some places where the wind is blocked with houses and trees. I was able to ride strongly during those times but riding across Lake Houston on FM1960 there is nothing to shield me except the concrete guardrails and I sit above them on the bike. East bound traffic is not much help but I had the wind at my right rear quarter and I stepped up my pace then. Riding west was into the wind and the traffic sometimes helped though sometimes the gaps between vehicles setup a big gust when they moved past. I managed to keep the average speed at 15.3 mph from Huffman to Kingwood Drive. At that point all of the stops and starts took their toll and it dropped down to 15.2 mph which was the final value.
The clouds moved across the sky frequently blocking out the sun. I was glad I wore a long sleeve jersey even with the warmer conditions. Riding over Lake Houston was chilly with the wind picking up the cold water temperature like a radiator. I could tell the difference when I reached the west side of the lake and the wind was off the warmer land.
Stopping at the Chevron station in Huffman I sat in the sun. At first I thought this might not be warm enough but after I dried off some the wind was not so chilly. This is where the sun went behind the clouds several times removing the warmth. I didn’t want to stay there too long and cool off too much. I knew the ride over the lake would be chilly. Just west of the station I saw a glimpse of another rider going east on FM1960. I didn’t see him in time to wave. FM1960 is 6 lanes wide at that point.
The body was able to put out so strong effort when I called on it. Surprisingly not riding as much as not erased all of my fitness.
Now that November is almost over ride wise I biked 224.94 miles for the month. I expected I would ride 200 miles. The up and down weather did not put too big of a crimp in riding. I might have done better if I would have rode the Spirit Ride in Livingston but the weather was too cold and wet. The total for this week is 82.95 miles and for the year it is 6396, 104 miles away from my goal of 6500 miles.
I was thinking I would need to change the tires on my Stradalli road bike before the end of the year but with 5310 miles on it I should be able to wait until January at least. I don’t want to try to ride too far on them though. I had a problem a few years back on another bike when I didn’t notice the threads showing on the Baytown YMCA Gator Ride and I had a flat during the ride. I improvised with duct tape (that stuff fixes about any problem) and got to the finish line barely. The front tire on the Stradalli has 5310 miles and the rear has 4310 miles. No flats for a long time but I don’t want to push that.
The weather is supposed to get wet and cooler the next few days and biking will not happen then. Thursday through Saturday could warm up to the 70’s and I will be back on the bike then. This is why I live here. In my hometown in Ohio I would not even think about riding; way too cold and snowy.
Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS maps, charts and metrics. For a change those two and my local programs all agree within a very small difference on the metrics today.
