After a day off when my wife and I went to the Astros game I was back bicycling today on the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route for a total of 40.59 miles. I started at 11:42 with the temperature around 82, mostly cloud sky and a 10 mph breeze. By the time I finished at 2:52 the temperature bumped up to 85, the sky was still mostly cloudy but the wind was a killer: from the south at 13 mph with 22 mph gusts. This explained why I rode so easily to Roman Forest Blvd. and into Roman Forest.

The return leg from Roman Forest Blvd. to Kingwood wasn’t as easy or quick. The wind slowed the speed down and the pedaling effort up. For a time after a quick stop at the New Caney Mobil station to wipe the screen of my Elemnt computer I shifted down a gear to help me on the south bound service road while biking by the closed shoulder in front of the new Walmart under construction. Once I was beyond that area I shifted back to the 34 x 13 gearing. I could see the watts go up some with the increased effort pedaling.

I took a short stop at the Stripes store to refill my water bottle and eat a trail mix bar before doing battle with the wind again.

Once I was back in Kingwood I thought I might get caught in the rain again when a few drops starting falling while I was about 2 miles from the finish but the drops ended and I made it without getting wet again. I hosed the Stradalli at home since I didn’t take time to do that after Wednesday’s wet ride.

With today’s bike ride I am at 536.34 miles for April, 236 miles to reach my goal. With 9 possible biking days left I will need to average 26.2 miles per day if I ride each day.

Links to Strava.com and RideWithGPS.com for today’s ride.

Strava Extended Statistics

Airport weather at the end of the bike ride