Cruel wind! I hurried to start the bike ride today because a “cool” front is supposed to arrive sometime this afternoon or early evening. Leaving at 11:25 bicycling to the north the cruel wind greeted me challenging my tired legs to push the pedals hard enough to maintain 14+ mph and average just over 13 mph. Route selection played the major part with “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” going north for 16 miles before I turned back to enjoy the tailwind side of the 17 mph NW wind. The bike ride totaled 35.16 miles when I finished at 1:57 but even the last 7/10 of mile was into the wind slowing me to less than 15 mph as a goodbye. This probably signals the “in like a lion, out like a lamb” weather cliche people use. At least comic strip used in today’s Houston Chronicle.

The wind increased during the ride from 12 mph to 17 mph at the end. No wonder it was hard pedaling into it.

It was warm enough at 82 degrees that I opted for only a short sleeve jersey atop my bike shorts. My lower back muscles are still recovering from the ceiling fan installation on Monday which hampered my power biking into that strong wind. At least the weather wasn’t like the cold rain the racers experienced at the Le Samyn road race I watched on Cycling.tv this morning.

My mileage goal for March is 586 miles so I will not be able to miss too many days bicycling. I am approaching 1,000 miles for the year at 942.9 miles to date. Thursday, Friday and Saturday weather will probably be cooler than I prefer with rain possible late Saturday.

Links to RideWithGPS.com and Stava.com metrics.

Weather at the start and finish of the ride.

SportTracks Ride Summary