I altered the “New Caney – FM1485 E – Huffman” route to be the “Roman Forest – FM1485 E – Huffman” on today’s ride. Instead of turning east on FM1485 at Loop 494 I continued biking to Roman Forest Blvd. and then turned right going on Roman Forest Blvd to Appian Way and then Galaxy Blvd to Coach Light Lane and on to FM1485 east. I figured this would add about 2 to 3 miles to the other route which it did for a total of 45.52 miles today. I was surprised to see another biker on FM1485 at Casey Ridge going the opposite way; we waved at each other.

The weather continued hot (97 degrees and 110 heat index at my home weather station) with a strong south 17 mph wind with 21 mph gusts (KIAH weather station data). The wind was nice drying up sweat quickly but when I turned south on Galaxy Blvd it was a head wind almost all the way to Huffman, about 16 miles. I had build my average speed up to 15.5 mph riding through Roman forest and thought the headwind would slow me down and lower it but I actually got it up to 15.6 mph by keeping a steady 16 mph or more pace into the wind. It did drop as I exited The Commons at Lake Houston onto old FM2100 and then the new FM2100 where there was no protection going south. By the time I got to the Huffman Chevron it was down to 15.4 mph.

Huffman weather

The break at the Chevron was longer than I planned. My wife left me a message that my old manager had called me and asked me to call him back which I did. We talked 10 or so minutes while I cooled down in the shade. The strong wind felt great and the sweat dried up quickly. At that point I was at the 33.3 mile point with about 12 miles left to get home.

Tuesday weather forecast looks like a repeat of today with less wind. I plan on another 40+ mile ride.

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/825592726 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/340530240/embed/c951c4a389a6c052380d61ba95525862498fc463 590px 500px]