Clouds of gnats replaced the love bugs from a few weeks ago. Fortunately I kept my mouth closed enough to not inhale too many. The sunscreen on my arms captured many of the pesky gnats as evidence since they are so small. I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest Loop – Valley Ranch” route today in order to ride 40.65 miles in my quest of 600 miles during the month of October. Combined with Saturday’s ride I am up to 74 miles, 12% of the way there.

Weather continues in the early fall mode with 82 degrees at the start (10:56) and 86 at the finish (2:09). The partly cloudy sky let enough sun through to offset any coolness in the NE 8 mph breeze. I wore a short sleeve jersey and was comfortable even when I stopped at the Porter Stripes at FM1314 and Valley Ranch Parkway.

Light traffic greeted me as I rode through Roman Forest. I took the streets to go by the new school under construction and saw the beginnings of the steel skeleton jutting up from the ground. The last time I rode by the site only dirt was there.

Rolling into the Stripes station 28.7 miles into the ride I stopped for a short rest break. I didn’t get any Gatorade since the summer sale price left and drank water while sitting in the shade at the pumps. The two packages of snack crackers were going to fuel the ride from there to the finish about 11+ miles away. My Elemnt screen and weather while I rested at Stripes.

I left the Stripes station about 1:10 after conversing with a man in a pickup who stopped for gas. We talked about drivers and how some people do strange things while they drive. Today’s ride time put me ahead of the school traffic in Briar Tree, Kings Manor and Kingwood for the first time in quite a while.

With today’s ride I moved to 6,006 miles for the year to date.

Tomorrow’s weather looks like a repeat of today and I plan on riding.

[iframe http://rwgps-embeds.com/trips/11360580/embed 700px 700px]

[iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/733381046/embed/621c61324bbee551b39a74c134e2dc818b62d5d1 590px 405px]