Recently James Webster sent me a video link of his ride in Patton Village and Roman Forest. This reminded me of a route I haven’t rode since August 18th 2014. My route travels on Tram Road near the east end of Roman Forest. The last time I rode that street I had a problem with dogs so I crossed it off my list for awhile. James said he didn’t have any dog chases on Tram Road though he did run into that problem on side streets in Patton Village. I checked the route map in SportTracks and laid it out in my mind as I was getting ready to leave. I changed a couple of streets but stuck to the majority of the route. Back in 2014 the Grand Parkway construction meant riding north and south of Community Drive required some detours. Now that the construction no causes that problem I could ride the I-69/US59 south bound service road all the way from Splendora to Kingwood Drive without detouring.

I was out the door and started riding at 10:30. The weather was hot, the sky was partly cloudy and the wind was light from the NE. My home weather station just before I started.

After leaving Kingwood through Woodridge Forest I stayed on Loop 494 to Roman Forest Blvd. I stayed on Roman Forest Blvd. until I took the loop through Tavola and then followed Roman Forest Blvd. to Tram Road. I stopped at Tram Road and took these photos as an excuse to rest for a couple of minuted before riding north on Tram Road.

From the faded sign and the signs nailed to the tree you can deduce that this is not a high rent district. In the second photo in the upper left is a tiny portion of the front tire of a Ford dually pickup that pulled over when I stopped to take these pictures. I am not sure why they stopped but when I got back on my bike they drove on. Tram Road was not without dogs. As I neared the entrance to Rio Vista, the faded big sign’s subject, 3 very large Great Danes spotted and came running from the house to the road barking furiously. Fortunately for me there was a strong chainlink fence between me and them. They continued to bark and run the fence line until I was out of sight. That was the only dogs on Tram Road.

FM2090 west to Splendora curves several times with tree limbs stretching out over the road. I appreciated the shade to cool off. In Splendora I stopped at the Chevron station to refill my water bottle for the ride south. I stayed a few minutes to enjoy the shade and mop up the sweat with some paper towels. Back on the bike the NE wind helped me ride south improving my average speed. The long stretches of road without stop lights helped. At FM1314 I stopped at the Star Express Exxon to refill my water bottle again. I was feeling strong enough to not take my usual rest break and I was inspired more when I looked to the north and saw the dark sky. The rain in the forecast was coming my way. I quickly ate a Clif bar for energy to ride fast for the 9 miles home. For the first couple of miles I was in the shade from the coming dark clouds but by the time I reached Northpark Drive I was back in the sun. This didn’t last long though. At Kingwood Drive I made the u-turn and rode north to go through Kings Manor into Kingwood. The dark clouds gained on me as I rode east. About a mile from home I felt the first rain drops after hearing some distant thunder. I stopped the ride at 1:26 with rain falling on me. I walked the bike to the garage, wiped it off and went inside as a light rain fell. Maybe if I had skipped the Clif bar in Porter I might have made it home before the rain caught me.

The ride totaled 39.49 miles. This brought my YTD miles to 4001. I am still going to be short of my June mileage goal but I am up 856 miles.

Tomorrow’s weather has a low chance of rain so I should ride.

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