Perfect timing. During the night we got some much needed rain and by the time I was ready to ride the streets and roads were dry. This is what bicyclists want but I suppose there are a few who don’t mind riding on wet streets. The down side is the humidity increased to 55% at Bush Intercontinental Airport. This makes me sweat a lot. The wrist bands absorbed about as much as they could hold. My arms perspired heavily whenever I stopped for stop signs and traffic lights.

I rode the “Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch” route with a variation in the beginning adding some streets in Kingwood. This was for a couple of additional miles but with all of the residential streets it didn’t help my average speed. The came in at 35.15 miles at a 14.4 mph average speed. The maximum average speed was 14.9 mph for a brief time dropping back to 14.8 mph once I was on FM1314 headed to Cumberland. From that point the interruptions were much less and I rode for long stretches at 16 to 18 mph. The wind wasn’t a factor at 4 mph or so. I reached the Stripes store just before 1:00 with 23.5 miles under my tires. I stayed about 40 minutes allowing enough time for the paper towels and the breeze to dry off some of the sweat. The weather screen shots while I was a Stripes.

From the Stripes rest stop it was about 12 miles to the south. Riding through Valley Ranch to US59 to the southbound service road. The Grand Parkway construction is to the north. Beside the Texaco station where I turned onto the service road construction workers are building something but I couldn’t see a sign telling me what it is. Once the Grand Parkway construction finishes in Valley Ranch construction will probably begin on a new Sam’s Club and Kroger store according to an article in the Houston Chronicle this morning. This will be part of 1 million square feet of retail space. Not sure what the other stores will be.

I rode what I call the “back way” into Kingwood through Woodbridge Forest and then Sherwood Trails and Elm Grove to get home at 2:25. According to my home weather station it was hotter than what I captured in Porter. This is the 18th consecutive day biking. A new record thanks to the cooperative weather.

Reading the Houston Chronicle weather by Eric Berger with the shorter daylight as summer moves to fall the 100 degree temperatures will become less frequent. He mentioned a cool front could arrive in 4 to 6 weeks. I can remember one year riding the Hotter’n Hell 100 with the temperature around 50 degrees at the start and the high around 85 degrees. That year was the fastest time I rode the 100 mile route. I don’t think that will happen this year. Our forecast doesn’t have any 100 degree days for now.

The ride today was the 11th time on this route in 2015 out of 132 rides. A comparison is below the Garmin Connect and Strava graphics.

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/864569268 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/368286488/embed/b50b0272b4fc030b3da8f2325e3cd756774b6d01 590px 500px]