After not being on the bike Thursday and Friday due to heavy rain in our area I was able to to ride today. I chose a longer route, “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood”, to make up some of the miles I missed finishing with 46.19 miles. I left home at 12:06 and returned at 4:04. While I was gone I rode three places with water over the road. The first spot had the highest water moving me to the sidewalk to avoid the flooded Kingwood Green Drive. Another biker chose to ride in the middle of the street where the water was about 8″ to 10″ deep. The San Jacinto River was over its bank and flooding the golf course between the street and the river. I have talked to the other biker when we met on previous rides. After we got through the water and rode to W. lake Houston Parkway our paths parted.

Later as I rode on Vantage View Lane in Walden I could see Lake Houston had intruded into the backyards of the houses on the lake but no street flooding. The next flooded road was on Old Atascocita Road about 1/4 mile west of the Ramsey Road intersection. The fields were flooded and the cattle were hugging the fences to get out of the water. The road had about 4″ of water but I didn’t have a problem riding on the center stripe for about 100 feet. I thought this would be the last water crossing but after turning right onto Ramsey Road I could see water over the road ahead. This spot was about 6″ deep and about 150 feet long. The grass fields were lakes on both sides of the road. From that point I saw places where the water was on the road but receded.

With the rain hanging around the last two days today was a great change with partly cloudy sky, lots of sun and a 10 mph wind. It felt great and the humidity was not too high (52%). The wind was a problem whenever I rode south or west. The best part was when I was riding north on FM210 to Huffman with the tailwind. I made great time arriving at the Huffman Chevron at 2:28. As I was approaching the station I saw the biker I was with in Kingwood Greens and the water crossing. He had went east on FM1960 while I had went south and east. He stopped at the Chevron station and we talked about the water, routes we took and riding in general. He was riding his titanium Lightspeed. I believe his name is Eric and he lives in South Woodland Hills Village in Kingwood. I have seen in a few times this year but this is this time we talked. My Edge 520 screen when I arrived at the Chevron station.

The weather while I was at the station was comfortable. After the other biker resumed his ride back home I sat down on the curb under the pump canopy to eat, drink and rest before starting the return leg to home. About 3:07 I got back on the bike and rode west on FM1960. The wind was somewhat troublesome coming from my left but whenever traffic passed I got some relief. At the Atascocita Shores Drive signal I turned right and from then on the wind was at my back. I did not ride on Kingwood Greens Drive like I usually do on the return home to avoid the high water. To compensate I took the longer way through Atascocita and in Bear Branch I took Maple Park Drive and Wildwood Ridge Drive to Deerbrook Drive way.

My Garmin Edge 520 performed well today with only one phone disconnect message followed by a phone connected message a few seconds later. This was early in the ride. As a backup I turned on the Ride With GPS app on my phone at the start of the ride. I did not need it though because the 520 recorded the whole ride, LiveTrack worked and the ride uploaded at the end.

I probably will ride tomorrow, Sunday, but I am not sure how long a route I will take.

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