Normally when I ride the Stroker Road – Huffman route the wind is coming at me from the start and then the return legs are easier. Today I enjoyed a tailwind until I turned onto Stroker Road from FM2100. For the first 2 miles on Stroker Road I was still able to ride at 17+ mph but when I turned north onto Ramsey Road that dropped down to 11 mph real quick. I struggled riding into the wind on Ramsey Road until I made a left onto Old Atascocita Road. The wind was still a problem but at least it wasn’t coming straight at me. I think tired legs made the pedaling harder as well. This is the third day in a row biking and I am out condition to say the least.

I passed 4 other riders today along the route. 3 of the 4 waved. It was a great day to ride except for the wind. The temperature was 82 when I got back home. The blue sky was beautiful. The wind was not. It was from the NNW at 15 mph with 24 mph gusts. This was what caused the pain and slow speed. I had built my average speed up to 15.5 mph at the 21.5 mile point and that is when I turned into the wind. It started to drop and at the Huffman Chevron rest break it was at 15.0 mph.

Today the stop at the Chevron was necessary to let my legs recover for the 11+ miles home. I ate a trail mix bar, whole grain fruit bar and drank a SunKist 10 drink. Sitting in the sun felt so nice I had to force myself to get back on the bike and get home. The last 11+ miles home on this 39.56 mile long ride was not too bad. I recovered some of my lost average speed getting back up to 15.1 mph. Once I reached Kingwood Drive it fell back to 14.7 mph.

Riding across Lake Houston today was not as chilly as yesterday thanks to the warmer temperature and strong wind. I was able tot get across quicker too.

Now that I am back home my wife says I have to get a hair cut. It has been at least two months since the last one. I keep telling her I am attached to my hair but she isn’t listening. Today I told her it has been around so long that I named each hair (I don’t have that many anyway). She is still not buying it.

It looks my body is starting to get some conditioning if the weather will cooperate I may be able to continue. Tomorrow I plan on taking up an invitation from James Webster to drive to his house west of the Grand parkway construction on FM1314 and begin riding from there. If the weather holds to the forecast it will be a good day to bike. I need to figure out a route but it will be going west for sure to stay away from the construction.

February miles now are 143.44. A good start to my goal of 360 miles. YTD is 284.95.

RideWithGPS map, metrics and charts.

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/693910431 470px 510px]