Today’s bike ride is the longest one for March coming in at 41.54 miles. It has several months since I biked the “FM1960 to FM686 – Back” route and I had to look it up to see the distance and route. The last time I rode this route was July 19th last year. Two later bike rides follow a similar route but were longer distance when I added the Fairlake Drive and Old Atascocita Road portion.

With the route running mostly east and west the SW wind wasn’t too much of a problem. Checking the wind at the end of the bike ride I saw it was stronger than I expected 8 mph with 18 mph gusts. One place where I really noticed the wind was the riding over the railroad overpass on FM 1960 east of Huffman. Once I topped out the ride back down allowed me to get back up to speed. About a mile later I needed that speed when a dog spotted me from my ride and raced from the front porch to the open gate barking but by then I was beyond his territory and he didn’t pursue me.

At FM 686 I stopped a few minutes at the Dayton Food and Fuel store in the shade before bicycling back to the west. I expected the wind to be more of a problem but it wasn’t too bad. Cycling past one house two big dogs saw me and raced to the wood fence but the gate was closed and they stood barking on the other side while I rode by. Once I was out of sight they stopped barking. This was the first time these dogs had come to the gate in the times I rode this route.

A 20 minute rest stop at the Huffman Chevron was needed for my legs to recover some while I drank ice water and ate a Kashi trail mix bar. The breeze felt good as I sat in the shade. Back on the bike I rode the 11+ miles to finish the ride at 3:24. I started earlier today (12:02) than yesterday which allowed me to bike farther.

I am at 426.64 miles for the month leaving 160 miles to reach my goal. With more favorable weather in the forecast for tomorrow (Thursday) I plan on bicycling to get closer to my goal.

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

Home weather station at the start of the ride and airport weather at the end.

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