I debated about riding this ride because of my aversion to cold temperatures. Cold to me is anything below 60 degrees. After eating breakfast I decided to ride and got dressed. I had loaded my Stradalli in the Jeep last night knowing if it was too cold I could take it out and ride later from home. I backed out of the garage a few minutes after 7 AM for the 10 mile trip to Atascocita High School. I got there with a bright sky but it was a few degrees cooler than at my house. Here is the weather screen shots from my phone.

Making my way to the registration area I took some pictures. (click on the photo to enlarge it)

After I signed in I asked a lady how many registered and she said 44 preregistered and about 10 walkup ones so far. I think a few more people signed up after me. I estimate 70 people would ride.

We started the ride at 7:58 and rode through the school parking lot to exit onto W. Lake Houston Parkway north. The shadows and wind made for a chilly ride but I was dressed for it: shorts, leg warmers, long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey, wind breaker jacket and full finger gloves. Riding through a short section of Walden we made our way to FM1960 and crossed Lake Houston turning right onto Fairlake Drive, roads I am very familiar with. The first rest stop was at the end of Old Atascocita Road and Ramsey Road. I didn’t need to stop and turned right onto Ramsey Road. The next turn was left onto Louis Road. So far no problems and the wind was riding with me instead of against. I made the right turn onto Crosby Eastgate Road. After passing the Harris County Cemetery up ahead I could see a biker coming towards me with three dogs chasing him. He got past them without getting caught and warned me as he passed. He wasn’t with our ride since these roads are popular to ride. I got to the dogs and they chased me but I was able to outrun them. Not too far from there three bikers were approaching and I warned them of the dogs. Again they were not with this ride. I could not see how they fared with the dogs since I turned onto another road.

I was making good progress with my average speed 16+ mph up to this point. I rode on making several turns but staying on Ramsey Road. At the railroad crossing I could see red flashing lights up ahead and I was afraid a bike rider was in trouble but a lady on the side of the road said it was a parade coming toward us. I made my way down the road stopping at  driveway as the parade neared. I waited there for several minutes. I asked one of the men driving a pickup pulling a float trailer what the parade was for and he said baseball season opens today. I didn’t count the floats but there were many. After waiting a couple of other bikers stopped beside me and then decided to ride on since there was space. After a few minutes I did the same thing until I got to the stop sign where I had to wait for the traffic to let me turn left. Not to far from there was rest stop #2. I made a short stop to wipe my nose and talk with a man there about the parade.

Leaving the rest stop I rode east and south to FM1942. This is where I usually miss the turn and get lost. riding west on FM1942 I kept looking for the sign an arrows to turn. At Cliff Drive I saw the sign laying on the ground and the arrows on the road so I turned right and headed to rest stop #3. I stopped there for awhile to use the port-a-pottie, eat some cookies and drink some sport drink (not lemon-lime thank goodness). I would have liked to refill my water bottle but they didn’t have any water.

Back on the bike I was off to find rest stop #4. It was almost 19 miles to it. I rode on US90 Business Route before turning right onto Pineland Drive and straight into the wind. From that point to the finish I battled the wind. I knew rest stop #4 was in Eisenhower Park and I was glad when I turned into the park entrance to get among the trees and hopefully out of the wind. Stopping at #4 I drank some water, ate some cookies and my trail mix bar before riding off for the last 6 miles of the ride. The road with the most traffic without a shoulder is W. Lake Houston Parkway. I turned right onto W. Lake Houston Parkway from Deussen Parkway and rode into the wind. The major obstacle was the railroad track overpass. Riding up and over it into the wind slowed me down but the ride down the other side was much easier. I made the left turn into the school and headed to my Jeep finishing at 11:59. I was tired but doing good. As I was standing beside my Jeep another rider walked to his pickup truck beside me and we talked about the ride. He said he had a close call from a truck passing too close on W. Lake Houston Parkway. We also talked about the BP MS150 coming up which he is riding in for the first time. It was a good visit. I then took these weather screenshots.

This is the first ride for April. My goal for April will be the average for April from 2013 (778 miles), 2014 (878 miles) and 2015 (660 miles). The goal will be 772 miles for April 2016.

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