Slow Start on the May Park Community Center – Huffman Bike Ride
The first 5 miles of today’ ride was slow compared to my usual pace. It took me 24:30 to cover those 5 miles while I usually ride it around 22:50. After I saw the time I tried to think of what slowed me down and couldn’t remember anything in particular. Riding south is slower at the start due to all of the residential streets and stops before I get to a more open road. The route today was the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” one which has some long stretches of uninterrupted highway and I was able to make most of the slower lap time. I added a few extra streets to get the ride distance to 42.90 miles today.
Weather was slightly cooler than yesterday at the start with the overcast sky holding the temperature to the mid 70’s when I started at 11:28. By the time I got back home at 2:55 the temperature advanced to 82 degrees and the sky was still overcast. Wind was from the NE at 7 mph for most of the ride.
I biked through the spot where I had my flat last week without any issues. I tried to keep my eyes on the road to spot any more nails but the road surface color makes that almost impossible. The asphalt is not one color but more of a salt and pepper color hiding any nails. The front tire is holding air pressure so tightening the valve core was the correct fix for the air leak.
With today’s mileage I am only 27 miles away from reaching my 540 mile goal for May. It looks like I was too conservative with my goal.
At 30.48 miles I stopped at the Huffman Chevron for a short break. It was 1:36 pm and if I timed it right I could beat the Kingwood High School traffic if I left around 2:00 pm. The Edge 520 screen when I arrived at the Chevron station and the weather screen shot while I was taking the break.
I rolled away fro the station at 2:03 pm. Riding west on FM1960 the wind helped me keep a good pace. I took the slightly long streets through Atascocita Shores to help get to 42+ miles but this didn’t keep me from beating the high school traffic at Kingwood Drive. I was able to ride across without waiting for any traffic to pass. Earlier I noticed the elementary schools I passed must have dismissed early. Not sure why though.
The Edge 520 is working well with only one phone disconnect message at .63 miles and reconnect at .65 miles. I guess it has to disconnect once during a ride for some reason.
Today’s splits.
[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/9021579/embed 600px 600px]
[iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/580443556/embed/7da11e7b7d8a967d3a6cffeac244dff71b7203a1 590px 405px]