I thought today’s ride was going to be over 50 miles but it ended up at 45.15 miles. I think I looked at a route that goes to Crosby and returns home through Summerwood. I rode the “Kingwood – Crosby – Kingwood” route extending the Kingwood – Hare Cook – Kingwood from a week ago. That one was 43.54 miles not quite getting south enough to be in Crosby.

Starting slightly earlier than normal (9:47) and getting home before 2:00 (1:47) I saw 6 other bicyclists along the route, all before the 18 mile point. The first one was at the west end of the FM1960 causeway over Lake Houston. The rest came as I rode toward Crosby and they biked the opposite direction.

The weather was hot but while I was moving the wind kept the sweat somewhat dried up. After yesterday’s rain the humidity bumped up to 57%. I perspired freely during the ride. The wrist bands continue to keep most of the sweat away from my gloves. The past few rides I wore two headbands to combat the sweat but today I only wore one. It didn’t seem to be worse than the two. I also wore a new pair of shorts. I am trying a new (to me) model from Bellwether, the Newton. The padding is good but the inseam is about a 1/2″ shorter than I prefer. My preferred shorts are the Bellwether Forma. The Forma are a compression type short with a one piece pad and the inseam length is where I want it to be. I also wear Voler Signature shorts. The pad is not quite as heavy as the Forma but the inseam matches the Forma. Biking almost every day I use 6 different pair of shorts to rotate each ride. My wife says I have biking clothes than regular clothes. I say it is about even. Based on today’s ride I will keep the Newton shorts in the rotation but I will not buy any more pairs. I will phase in new pairs of Forma shorts to replace older pairs that have rubbed the left side of the saddle bag Velcro strap below the saddle. This wears away the fabric after awhile.

The Forma shorts are hard to find. Nashbar.com had them on sale 2 weeks ago and I bought 4 pair.

Average speed was doing good up to 24.5 miles into the ride. I stopped at the county park in Crosby to rest and get some water. I made the mistake of walking twice around the building by the ball field rolling my bike and this dropped my average speed from 15.6 mph to 15.1 mph when I started riding again. Up to that point the wind had been in my favor allowing me to ride at a good pace. The ride from the park to Huffman I battled the wind all the way and could not get my legs to pedal fast enough to improve my average speed. Stopping in Huffman for a break I hoped my legs would do better riding west on FM1960 into the 6 mph west wind but they were tired. Even though I turned to the north at Atascocita Shores Drive and the wind was not a headwind I still could recover the lost average speed. Next time I will not walk around the building with my bike.

I am making progress on reaching my 968 mile goal for June. With today’s ride I am at 877.54 miles, leaving 91 miles to go. The weather forecast for Sunday and Monday shows a 50% chance of rain late afternoon to evening. I will need to ride earlier to avoid that. Tuesday is much worse with 70% to 90% rain from 8AM to 6PM. Maybe these will change as it gets closer. I have no problem when it rains during the night. This week I have biked 218.62 miles. I don’t see any weather issue to stop me from biking tomorrow (Sunday) to help get closer to the goal. It will be after church.

Huffman weather during the stop

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