It has been at least a year since I biked in Roman Forest. I usually ride to Roman Forest Blvd at US59 and then turn around. Recently I tip toed into Roman Forest by riding in Tavola, the new mast planned community just over the railroad track going east on Roman Forest Blvd. Today I went into Roman Forest on what I call the short loop turning around at Appian Way. There is a longer loop going further east on Appian Way to Country Club Drive and then back to Roman Forest Blvd. I decided against the “longer” loop because the last time Appian Way east of Galaxy Blvd. the road was in need of repair. The asphalt had lots of pot holes and was rough. Once upon a time back in the 1970’s Roman Forest had great plans to be a master planned community but the developer ran out of money. Since then it has been recovering slowly. The Grand Parkway will probably help as will Tavola. The streets I was on were smooth with a nice shoulder after crossing over the Peach Creek bridge on Roman Forest Blvd. This used to be two lanes each direction with an esplanade but the city re-striped each direction to a wide lane and wide shoulder. Traffic is light and there are no stop lights, just a few stop signs. Back in the 1980’s when I lived in New Caney I rode to Roman Forest most evenings after work. From my home it was a good 22 to 25 mile ride. Today I biked 39.43 miles.

The weather was friendly today with 88 degrees, mostly cloudy and a light 4 mph breeze from the east. The light breeze allowed me to ride at a nice pace in almost any direction. I left home at 12:05 (I tired to leave before noon but just couldn’t get out the door). I made good time, stopping at the New Caney Chevron just long enough to refill my water bottle before continuing south. I was ahead of the school dismissal time at Briar Tree when I came to FM1314 not stopping at the Stripes station I planned on taking a break at the Oakhurst Community Pool and Park. My Edge 520 screen when I arrived at the pool.

With the added distance from the Roman Forest loop I was 31.2 miles into the ride at the break. I sat on a park bench to eat my snack and drink the ice water from the Chevron station. While I was there I listened to a podcast on my phone and took these weather screen shots.

After yesterday’s ride the Garmin Connect app for my Android phone had an update. Read the changes and didn’t see anything that looked bad nor anything that addressed the phone disconnect problem I seem to have on each ride. The new version is 3.6, upgraded from 3.51. To be safe before leaving on today’s ride I powered off my phone and powered it back on. In the past this seemed to help solve the 520 freezing. I am happy to report that I didn’t get one phone disconnect message while I was riding. The only one was when I went inside the Chevron station to get ice and water but as soon as I got back outside an alert popped up saying the phone was connected (I leave the 520 on the bike). I expect this because I was out of range. Maybe my problem has been fixed!!!

I did get caught in the last bit of Kings Manor school traffic as I rode back home but it wasn’t bad nor did it take much time to get through it. I stopped the ride on the 520 at 3:17 pm and LiveTrack ended when I saved the ride data.

More good biking weather in the forecast for Saturday. I plan on riding. So far I biked each day this week for total of 183.26 miles. May miles total 391.8.

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