A couple of days can make a difference in march weather. Last bike ride I bundled up but today shorts, long sleeve jersey (non-thermal one) and a short sleeve jersey were all I needed. Setting out on the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route at 12:34 under a mostly cloudy sky the light wind was friendly since it was from the south. The speed was good bicycling north along US59/I-69 helped by the wind. I knew I would pay a price once the route turned back to the south so I built up my average speed to 15.2 mph but once I was cycling on FM 1314 to the southeast the average speed was tougher to hold there. Slowly it dropped and ended up at 14.4 mph at the end of the 37.34 mile long ride.

As I got ready to to ride I noticed my red gloves were showing the effect of the sun with some of the red now a shade of pink. I retired those gloves and opened the gloves that my daughter and son-in-law gave me for Christmas. The new gloves don’t have as much red on them plus it is silk screened instead dyed fabric. Maybe these will survive the Texas summer sun and heat.

I made progress on reaching my March mileage goal with 244.49 miles or 42% of the 586 mile goal.

The late ride start was because I watched the Handzame Classic on EuroSport and it didn’t finish until after 11 AM. The winner was 1/3 my age or less.

No rest stop during the bike ride since it wasn’t too hot and I had the energy if not the power to bicycle into the 8 mph head wind. I planned on watching the NCAA tournament game between SMU and USC thinking it didn’t start until 3:10 but when I finished the ride at 3:13 and turned on the TV they were into the second half. I watched it until the end when SMU missed a shot with a few seconds left and lost 66 to 65. Tomorrow the Milano-Sanremo race is on and I will wait to ride after it is over.

Links to RideWithGPS.com and Strava.com metrics and maps.

Home weather at the start and airport weather at the finish of the bike ride.

SportTracks Ride Summary (click on the image to enlarge it)