Yesterday I wasn’t motivated to ride and did some chores around home. It was a good thing because I would’ve got caught in the rain. Today I decided to try riding the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route again. The last time I tried I turned back when a rain storm moved in from the north. The sky was mostly cloudy when I rolled down the driveway at 12:09 but no threat from rain except by the coast at Baytown. I figured it would stay there or drift to the northeast.

The clouds were broken enough to allow the sun to get through but the temperature was 90 degrees at the start, significantly lower than last week. I think fall weather is reducing the heat effect. I set a good pace as I rode north to new Caney and headed northwest on FM1485. The light wind was not slowing me down too much. I built up the average speed to 15.4 mph while riding on Gene Campbell Road. Once I reached FM1314 and turned to the southeast the wind resistance picked up and the average speed dropped to 15.3 by the time I stopped at the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway. The stop at Stripes was at 26.2 miles into the ride. As I got near Stripes I could see the dark sky to the southeast. I stopped and ate my snacks and drank some Gatorade. When I check the weather on my phone I saw a patch of rain over Kingwood and beyond. I checked back later and it had moved closer to me and the cars on FM1314 coming from US59 had their windshield wipers on. I decided to wait at Stripes to see if the rain would pass over. After about 10 minutes the rain seemed to stop and the wipers stopped on the cars.

As I thought about leaving the parade of New Caney ISD school buses came west on FM1314 to turn into Briar Tree for the school there. To avoid the traffic I waited additional 10 minutes thinking this would give the buses time to pick up the children and leave. Earlier before the rain arrived I almost rode north into Valley Ranch and then down the US59 service road. This would add a couple of miles to the ride and avoid the schools in Briar Tree. With the rain I cancelled that but when I got close to the schools in Briar Tree the cars were lined up and not moving. To add to the scene it was drizzling rain as I stood in line to get past the schools. I finally got to a point in the line that I rode around the cars and on to Oakhurst. The streets were damp but the drizzle let up some and the streets were dry just north of Northpark Drive.

I rode through Kingwood Place heading to Kingwood proper. the streets were still dry until I got to South Woodland Hills when the rain started again. It rained lightly all the way home from that point. I ended up biking 37.44 miles and got home at 3:42.

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