Today’s ride was a rare point to point route. I cannot remember the last time I rode a point to point route. One that comes to mind was back in the 1990’s when I biked from Kingwood to Corrigan to visit my in-laws. My wife drove there and I drove back. Today the route from was Cleveland, TX to Kingwood. Our 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee is part of the a factory recall. I drove to the dealer in Cleveland, left the Jeep and rode back to Kingwood. I guessed the route would be around 29 to 30 miles and I biked 30.72 miles. The ride put me over my 765 mile goal for July!!

I wore my bike clothes and once the car was checked in I unloaded the bike and started riding at 8:54. I didn’t know there was a back road from the dealer to SH 105 so I rode the shoulder of the service road north to the Burger King and cut through to SH 105. As I did that I saw a UPS truck turn onto the back road to the dealer. If I do this again I hope to remember that. Many years ago I biked on SH 105 and the shoulder was not very wide across the east fork of the San Jacinto River west of I-69/US59. Now the shoulder is wide but not very smooth. Until the 3.8 mile point the shoulder was a rough chip’n seal. It changed when I entered Montgomery County. My body appreciated the smoother ride. I turned left onto Fostoria Road headed to I-69/US59. Again I haven’t biked this road for several years. Many new houses line the road which could mean dogs. I kept a watchful eye as I rode by but no dogs, thankfully.

The wind was coming from my back to right rear quarter helping me up the speed. Riding south on the service road I built my average speed up to 16.2 mph. Riding through Splendora the road was now more familiar. The ride was going well until I crossed over Roman Forest Blvd. I heard a clicking sound as a wheel turned and quickly stopped to check. I looked at the rear tire first and found a nail sticking out. I pulled it out to keep it from going through the tire/tube twice. I looked for a shady place to fix the flat and walked back a couple of hundred feet to sit under the I-69/US59 overpass. There was a place to sit by the traffic light control box. This was 16.2 miles into the ride and around 9:58. Removing the tube I found the hole and applied the patch. I aired the tire up and it looked good. Putting it back in the tire I pumped it up but the air would not stay. My technique is to patch a flat at least twice and this was no exception today. I pulled the tube out, removed the patch (no problem finding it), sanded the area, applied new glue and after it dried another patch. Checking my work it appeared it was fixed this time. The tube went back in the tire and the tire bead back on the rim. Pumping the tire to a hard condition the air stayed this time. I put the wheel back on the bike and was off again at 10:34. I count this as a 36 minute rest stop. I was able to cool down some and quick pouring sweat. I drank all my ice water.

In New Caney I made a quick stop at the Mobil station to refill my water bottle and wash my hands. the soap dispenser didn’t work so I rinsed my hands and headed off again. I was making good progress when a phone call alert popped up on the Elemnt from my wife. She was going to drive the Jeep Wrangler to her hair appointment but ti wouldn’t start. As she described what was happening I remember the same symptoms when my key wouldn’t work from the WCM module failure last year. I told her to use my key and it worked. I forgot about reprogramming her key.

Back on the bike again I rode south to Kingwood Drive and then made my way home. About 2 miles from home it started to rain lightly. I was wet already so it didn’t really matter. Once I was on Woodbridge Drive the rain stopped and I finished the ride at 11:44. I was wet but okay. I aired up the rear tire to 110 psi, replaced the patch kit and went inside to cooler and drier air.

Hopefully getting the Grand Cherokee from the dealer goes smoother.

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Weather at the end of the ride

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