No bike ride yesterday so I lengthened today’s ride by a couple of miles on the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route. The extra distance was at the beginning in Elm Grove Village and while I rode in Roman Forest. I thought about biking what I call the “long loop” in Roman Forest but instead took Appian Way to Galaxy Blvd. and then turned back to Roman Forest Blvd. for the usual route. I ended up cycling 42.2 miles.

I waited for the TdF stage 5 to end on TV before getting ready to ride. They rode up some steep mountains while I rode the flat land of southeast Texas. I punched the start button on the Element computer at 11:02 am to begin the ride. After Monday’s ride I downloaded a number of ride data files from the PowerPod and while it did that a firmware update was offered and I installed it. At the start of the ride the PowerPod would not send power readings to the Elemnt. I pushed the PowerPod start button several times but still no power readings. Then I “forgot” the PowerPod sensor on the Element and repaired it. After pushing the PowerPod start button several times again the power started to show up on the Elemnt. I don’t know if I did something when I connected to the PowerPod software program on Monday or if the firmware update required some action but it now works. To go along with that I noticed the Elemnt added about 3/10 of a mile to the odometer reading for the ride when I stopped to work on the PowerPod sensor pairing. Not sure what happened.

With the slightly later start the weather heated up. During the ride the temperature ranged from 93 to 96 with partly cloudy skies. The wind at the end of the ride from the airport readings showed form the southeast at 13 mph with 21 mph gusts but it did not feel that strong.

I remembered to wear the new Wilson wrist bands during the ride and my gloves were not so wet from perspiration. They are nice and white but over time the spray on sunscreen will build up and change them to ivory.

Finishing the ride at 2:14 pm I was ready for some shade and ice water.

While riding on Roman Forest Blvd. back to US59 I saw some flattened pieces of candy probably from the 4th of July parade. Not much fireworks debris though.

Tomorrow is a no biking day so I plan to be back on the bike on Friday.

Link to RideWithGPS.com

Strava Ride Summary