A few days ago I thought reaching my mileage goal for April was out of reach. The weather was not really cooperating and yesterday the forecast for today looked bleak. What a difference 24 hours make. The weather forecast was wrong. Although it rained 1.31″ at my house around 8 am by the time I was able to ride this afternoon the streets were dry and the sky was blue. I started the ride at 1:59 and since I needed 21 miles to reach my goal I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” which is around 31 miles. I ended up biking 31.14 miles which put my April miles at 782 miles, 10 miles more than my goal. A recap of my April biking is below.

The weather was perfect with the temperature around 86 degrees and the light breeze was 2 mph, just enough to evaporate the sweat I generated. It was so good I only took a short break just before I exited Auburn Trails. I stopped long enough to eat a couple of snack bars and drink some water. It was fitting that I had just rode 21.91 miles when I stopped putting me at my April goal.

The weather screenshots while I stopped in Auburn Trails.

I saw another biker just after I started on the first street I turned onto. I was surprised but managed to wave and say hi. He replied back too. I have seen him on other rides but not this close to home.

To be different I modified the route some today by exiting Kingwood by what I call the back way. This takes me through Elm Grove Village to North Kingwood Estates and on Mills Branch Drive and then Ford Road. Usually when I get to Loop 494 I turn right but today I stayed on Ford Road all the way to the US59 north bound service road. This route is a little shorter than the one I normally take but I figured the overall ride distance would reach my goal. I compensated some by riding east on Roman Forest Blvd. and back to US59 before riding south.

Another milestone with today’s ride: my Stradalli has 14017 miles on it. I like this bike.

I finished the ride at 4:26 when I stopped at the mailbox to check the mail. One of the envelopes in the mail was four new tube scarfs for biking; 2 red and 2 black, my color scheme to coordinate with my bike.

My Edge 520 worked great today. I got two “phone disconnected” messages but the “phone connected” message came up in a few seconds after each one.. It reconnected when I went inside the Stripes store to refill my water bottle too. Firmware version 6.0 is doing good. I will continue to use the Ride With GPS app for a few more days as a backup.

Last year at the end of April my year to date miles were 1669, this year I am at 2304 miles. Better weather this year and exceeding my monthly goals are the main reasons.

The goal for May is 675 540 miles. May is lower because in the past we take vacations and I do not ride as much.

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Recap of April biking. Click on the image to enlarge it.