When I started today’s ride at 2:30 I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen. The weather was beautiful with a blue sky, 73 degrees and a stout 13 mph wind with 16 mph gusts. I rode the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route with the wind from the west the pedaling wasn’t too hard until I reached Huffman.

On FM2100 as I approached Huffman the ride changed from ordinary to unusual. There were flashing lights as I rode toward the railroad crossing. Three Harris County Precinct 3 cruisers were there along with the Acadian Ambulance Service and a Huffman VFD truck. Two vehicles crashed with a SUV into the side of a pickup truck. As I made my through the backed up traffic I could see people gathered on the driver’s side of the pickup truck. Later at the Huffman Chevron across the railroad tracks one of the clerks said a driver was drunk.

Pulling into the station I leaned my bike up against the store window and walked out to the pumps to get a couple of paper towels. As I stepped up on sidewalk at the front of the store I noticed a biker with a loaded Fuji mountain bike getting ready to lift it down onto the driveway. I started talking with him. I learned he was on his way to Buenos Aires in Argentina. I asked if he was going to the Olympics and he said no. He started in New York City, riding through Philadelphia, Baltimore, South Carolina. He talked about the roads in Louisiana and Texas. He averages 40 to 50 miles per day but today he was not going that far because of two long conversations. Today he was riding from Liberty to Humble, about 35 miles. His next destination was Austin asking me if there were many bike shops there. I said yes saying he should go see Lance’s Mellow Johnny shop. I handed him a Texbiker.net business card but when I tried to take his picture he asked me to not do that. He didn’t want to be on Twitter or Facebook. I wished a safe trip and he pedaled off to Humble. He preferred roads with shoulders. He said there was a 5 mile long bridge in Louisian he crossed without much room which was why he had two spare tires on the back rack. He did not want to have a flat on that bridge with no place to fix it. He talked more about Spain and living there, one year in Barcelona. I told him my wife and I were going to Spain later this year.

After this I took a rest break to eat a couple of trailmix bars before riding to home. Today was the first ride since last Saturday’s Bulldog Ride in Waller. The weather screenshots at the Chevron station. By the time I got home at 4:51 the wind had picked up to 14 mph from the NNW with 20 mph gusts. The temperature had dropped to 69. I was glad I wore a short sleeve jersey over my long sleeve one.

With today’s 31.73 miles I surpassed my February goal of 346 miles with the total now 371 for the month. I plan biking tomorrow (Friday) so I should increase the miles even more. The weather should be repeat of today.

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A comparison of the last 4 rides on today’s route.