Back on May 6th I thought my next bike ride would be on May 11th. That did not happen. My wife and I flew to Washington DC on May 7th for my nephew’s wedding and returned on Sunday May 10th. I think the plane brought rain along with it or it was probably already here. The rain started Monday and didn’t stop until today. During that time my sinus decided to cause a problem and I couldn’t ride even if it didn’t rain. I think the culprit was spraying wasp killer in the house when we got home from Washington DC. My sinus are almost recovered and a ride today was what they needed to speed their return to normal.

I am enjoying bike race overload this week watching the Giro d’ Italia in the morning and the Tour of California in the late afternoon. If I couldn’t ride I at least watched a bunch of bike racers doing it.

With my sinus problem not quite over I took it easy today on the 33.12 mile long “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. It took me to around the 20 mile point to get my average speed to 14.0 mph. Some of the slowness was me but the strong wind didn’t help any. The south wind was 16 mph with 23 mph gusts (Bush Airport weather station numbers) and I could feel it whenever the road turned south. Overall I averaged 14.4 mph with the high being 14.5 mph. The mostly cloudy sky held the sun back some but it is starting to warm up now that we are halfway into May. 87 degrees meant short sleeve jersey time. I wore my Ohio State Buckeye jersey but not for any reason other than it was close to the end of the rotation spot in my closet. It is bad when my jerseys outnumber my other shirts. Bike shorts and denim shorts are about the same number.

The ride started at 11:09 and I got back home at 2:05. I did take a break at the Huffman Chevron. Sitting in the shade eating a snack and drinking Powerade revived me for the 11 mile to home leg. I did struggle with the wind riding over Lake Houston on FM1960. No protection out in the middle of the lake. There was a sign in Huffman alerting drivers that FM1485 was closed at the East Fork of the San Jacinto River. All of the rain has flooded some roads. Lake Houston is very high. The fishing pier at the Lake Houston Marina is almost under water. Another foot and it will be under the water.

Other people were out biking today. I saw 4 recreation bikers along my route and several casual bikers too. Recreation bikers wear helmets and bike clothing, casual bikers do not wear helmets and biking clothes.

I am getting close to the miles I rode in May 2014; I am at 254 miles this year versus 265 miles lat May. With 15 potential biking days left I should surpass May 2014 and gain some of the miles I didn’t ride earlier this year. Tomorrow’s weather looks dry and I plan on biking.

Home weather at the start of the ride

Weather during the Huffman stop

Home weather station at the end of the ride

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