It’s been awhile since the temperature was in the 80’s at the start of a ride. It looks like the 97 to 100+ degree days are taking a rest. When I left home on today’s ride at 10:26 it was 88 degrees. I could feel the difference riding on the streets in Kingwood as I headed to Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road to get on Loop 494. Leaving home I had one route in mind (New Caney – Gene Campbell Road) but as I rode west on Ford Road I changed to the “SR242 – Old Houston Rd – FM1314” route to get more miles (45.13 miles today) and a change of scenery. I only rode this route 2 times this year but a large chunk of the roads are part of other routes. I went past the Grand Texas site but still do not see much activity. The work is on the south side of SR 242 opposite the Grand Texas site. The Valero station at SR 242 and US59 construction continues too.

I avoided Loop 494 over the weekend due to the Grand Parkway construction closing the service road and parts of US59. I didn’t ride yesterday (Sunday) to take a rest day. It was a great day off with some rain in the late afternoon.

Except for Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road the roads include shoulders for biking on. The residential streets do not have shoulders but traffic is sparse on them since school will not start until the 24th. Most of this ride was in Montgomery County after leaving Kingwood.

With the cooler temperature and airing up the tires to 110 PSI I rode at a good pace building my average speed up to 15.5 mph at one point and the drifting down to 15.4 mph. I stopped at the Valero station at FM1485 and FM3083 for a few minutes to refill my water bottle before heading south on Old Houston Road to FM1314. That was at 24.4 miles into the ride. The rest stop came at 33.9 miles when I pulled into the Stripes station on FM1314. I got some Gatorade and sat under the gas pump canopy in the shade to eat my snacks and drink. I stayed there about 35 minutes before leaving for the 11+ miles to home. The weather screenshots at the Stripes station.

Look at the temperature! 88 degrees at 1:00 in the afternoon. For late July and all of August so far it has been 95+ degrees with a bunch of days over 100.

The ride went well until the 42 mile point when I ran into some light rain in Kingwood. The streets were wet with a few rain drops falling. Riding under tree limbs blocked the rain. As I got closer to home the streets weren’t as wet and the rain stopped. I took this opportunity to wash my bike after I got home at 2:09. The home weather when I came inside.

Not enough rain to register. Tuesday the rain probability drops and the temperature forecast goes up to 94. More biking.

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