I have been on vacation since September 8th and today was my first ride after returning home. The weather was picture perfect: clear blue sky, 78 to 80 degrees, 8 mph NE breeze and low humidity. I wanted to ride about 47 miles and ended up biking 48.52 miles on the “SR242 – FM1314” route. I wondered if much changed while I was gone and looked for things while riding but I didn’t see any changes. The Academy Sports + Outdoors store opened in the Valley Ranch shopping district north of Porter. My route didn’t take near there but I could see the store from the north bound service road when I was on the high section at Community Drive.

The ride started at 11:18 because I waited for the temperature to warm up some and I finished at 3:14.

SH 242 resurfacing west of FM1485 is complete except for some of the striping. There was a crew working on that when I was going west; they were on the other side of the road. The new asphalt was very smooth but the shoulder seems to be narrower when there is a center turn lane. On the right edge of the new asphalt is a pile of old asphalt pieces in a low mound which might be what makes the shoulder appear smaller. Traffic gave me plenty of room as they passed and I stayed near the mound of crumbling asphalt. I thought the three weeks should have given the crew time to finish the work.

The first stop was at the Chevron station at FM1485 and SH 242 for a quick water and ice refill. At the beginning of September my water bottle would have been almost empty but with the cooler temperature there was some left. This was 21.7 miles into the ride. The longer rest stop was at the Cumberland Shell station on FM1314. Here is Elemnt screen and weather while I was there.

Sitting in the shade at the pumps was refreshing but when the wind picked up it was a little cooler than I prefer. Keeping an eye on the time I left there around 2:14 to get past the school traffic in Briar Tree. I made it but the school buses where there waiting as well as a few parents but no one was in the street. I wasn’t as fortunate when I got to the Kings Manor school. Parents were lined up but the children were just starting to board the buses and I rode by in the left lane. Later at the Bear Branch Elementary school the traffic was light and I didn’t have to stop too much.

Wrapping up September I biked 266 miles, 34 miles less than my goal. Year to date I am at 5932 miles.

More great weather is forecast for tomorrow (Saturday) and if my legs don’t hurt too much I plan on riding.

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