Another fabulous bike ride day with scattered clouds and mid 80’s temperature. The wind was another story though. I guess March wind is supposed to be gusty and today’s bike ride lived it. I knew it was windy while I biked the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route but I didn’t know how windy until I got home and checked the weather: from the south at 21 mph with 30 mph gusts. I flew riding to SH 242 but as I rode over US59/I-69 to return the wind hit me and the speed dropped while the pedaling effort went high. I should’ve shift down one gear but after the initial thought I concentrate so hard pedaling I forgot to shift. My maximum average speed got up to 14.8 mph but riding into the strong headwind took its toll and it started to fall the longer I rode into it.

The weather at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Making a slight alteration to the usual route on this ride I biked through the Azalea District in Valley Ranch back to US59 and then stayed on the service road to Kingwood Drive. Typically I ride through Briar Tree and Oakhurst on the way to Kingwood Drive. MY goal was to skirt around the schools since my timing was close to when they dismiss. I started the ride at 12:38 and finished and 3:13. The total miles came to 34.21 putting me with 126 miles of my goal for March.

Yesterday during my brief rest stop at the Huffman Chevron I checked my wheels for some reason and found the rear one moved side to side about 1/8″ when I pushed on the tire. Today during the ride I stopped at Bike Werks to see if they could diagnose the problem but Jeremy, the mechanic, was not there so I am taking the wheel back later this afternoon when he should be there. I don’t know if the bearings are loose or need to be replaced. The wheel has 20,300 miles on it with no maintenance done. Hopefully it is a quick fix. I have a set a bearings I bought for another wheel but I don’t know if they fit this one.

The beautiful weather is forecast to end tomorrow so I may not be able to ride.

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

SportTracks ride summary (Click on the image to enlarge it).