Pleasantly refreshing weather made for fantastic biking today. The “cold” front passing through yesterday lowered the temperature and the humidity today. I started biking at 11:13 at 83 degrees and 48% humidity. I am not sure how long this will last but I enjoyed it while riding the “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route for 44.44 miles. This helped to make up for the shortened ride yesterday when the front chased me back home.

The wind was brutal while I rode to the east but switching to the south I picked up the speed. The 3 1/2 mile stretch riding on Old Atascocita Road from Fairlake Drive to Ramsey Road was a grind. There were places I had some wind break on my right but once I reached the pasture and grass fields it was me against the wind. Making the turn onto Ramsey Road changed the wind effect for the rest of the ride. My legs were grateful. Riding north on FM2100 I stopped at the Shell station to refill my water bottle. Previously this would have been the second stop for water and ice but with the cooler temperature I didn’t need to drink quite as much. I took a big drink and headed for Huffman. With the wind at my left rear I rode at 18 to 19 mph increasing my average speed to 15.4 mph by the time I reached the Chevron station in Huffman for a rest break. The screenshots of the weather while I stopped in Huffman.

It was 32.0 miles into the ride at the Chevron station. I got a Powerade drink and sat in the canopy shade enjoying the cool breeze eating my snacks. I checked email on my phone and read about the new SRAM eTap electronic shifting system. I might check this out. I wasn’t in a big hurry because of the school traffic timing. I rolled out towards home around 2:00 thinking this would put me at Kingwood Drive just as the school traffic hit but I got there at 2:40, 5 minutes before dismissal and Kingwood Drive was empty. I didn’t know that until after I went to the traffic light to cross.

The repair work on the W. Lake Houston Parkway bridge over the river began. The traffic was one lane while they open the median to be able to switch traffic from one bridge to another. I thought the work was going to be at night like the big flashing sign says but I guess that was for something else.

I am now at 896.14 miles for August. My goal is 956, 60 miles away. Saturday’s route at the Hotter’n Hell 100 should get past that goal. I plan on riding the 75 mile Hell’s Gate route.

Today was the 7th time I rode the “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route. A comparison of the last 4 rides is below the Garmin Connect and Strava inserts. By the way you can click on those to see more details of the ride.

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/878589025 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/378107123/embed/6b46e4d9b9dbed791491d995390f25ee8bcc49f2 590px 500px]