Today was the first ride since we got back from our 16 day vacation to Ohio and the UCI World Championship Road Races in Richmond, VA. It was good to get back on the bike but before I could ride I had to fix a flat that was waiting on me when we got home. I walked by the bike last night and did my tire check and the rear tire was soft. I didn’t have time to fix it last night and waited until this morning. I found a piece of wire sticking through the tire into the tube. It was about 3/8″ long and made a tiny hole that was hard to find. I patched it and double checked my work before putting the tire and tube back on the rim. The bike was ready to ride. I ran a couple of errands and double checked the tire when I got back home; it was still firm.

While we were gone I found a good deal on a Garmin Edge 520. Last night I read through the setup instructions quickly but waited until this morning to actually go through the setup process. I made a few mistakes but I corrected them and the 520 was ready to go for the ride. To be safe I uploaded the User Manual to my Google Drive in case I needed to fix something while I was biking. I could download it on my phone if needed. No problems during the ride thankfully. Once while riding my Garmin 510 decided to act up and I couldn’t figure how to fix it. I didn’t think to have the Owner Manual where I could pull it up on my phone. The Edge 520 performed perfectly and I am pleased. I wish I could say the same for my sit bones. The time off made them soft. I will have to get them back in shape. At least I didn’t gain the usual 10 to 12 pounds while we were away.

The route today was “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” for a total of 34.66 miles. I started the ride so that if I had any issues with the Edge 520 I wasn’t too far from home but that was necessary. Not much changed while I was gone but the weather changed to a cooler mode. When I checked the temperature this morning after getting up it was 57 degrees. That is why I decided to run my errands before riding to give the sun time to warm it up. By the time I left home at 12:39 it was it the upper 70’s and during my usual stop at the Huffman Chevron the screenshots showed this:

As I rode east over the Lake Houston Causeway on FM1960 I spotted a Google Map car going west. Maybe I will show up on a street view of FM1960.

While I was at the Chevron station another biker pulled in. He told me he lived in Kingwood Greens and was on his way back from Crosby where he stopped to eat BBQ. We chatted about the weather, the Saturday and Sunday rides, and where the Bike Werks shop moved in Kingwood. He said before he moved to London he bought the bike he was riding from them. I asked how it was to ride in London and he told me about the bike lanes and stuff. I thought it would hard to ride in London but he said it was easy and rode to work frequently. We both rolled out to leave at the same time but I rode onto FM1960 to ride back home first. Later I could see him behind me in my mirror. He caught up to me on Kings River Drive and across the river on W. Lake Houston Parkway. He rode on the greenbelt while I rode on the main lane shoulder. Once I was in Kingwood Greens I did not see him for long.

I didn’t expect my average speed would reach 15.0 mph since I was off for vacation but I managed to get it up to 15.1 mph for a brief time before it settled at 15.0 mph and dropped to 14.7 mph through Kingwood to home. I finished at 3:45. When iwas waiting to cross Kingwood Drive I saw another biker on the other side come to the center esplanade waiting to cross too. After a few minutes he gave up and headed to the traffic light. Not too long after that I was able to get across and continue home.

Now that I am back the quest to reach my goal for the year is on. The goal is 6500 mile and I am at 5552 miles as of today’s ride. The weather for next several days looks like biking weather.

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