The ride did start early today (early for me that is) but I was delayed by a stopped up toilet that I had to repair. The Elemnt’s start button was pushed at 8:57 am as I headed out on the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route. I selected this ride to the north because the Lake Houston 5K/10K run was going on around the YMCA on W. Lake Houston parkway and traffic would be a nightmare. With this start time the temperature was 85 with 80% humidity so the lower degrees was offset by all of the moisture in the air. It didn’t take long for me to produce lots of sweat but moving helped cool me. Later when I finished at 11:35 am the temperature was 94 but the humidity dropped to 68%, not great but better. A partly cloudy sky and light 6 mph breeze from the west completed the weather scene.

I passed another cyclist around Elm Grove Elementary School around 1.7 miles into the ride. Later I saw another bicyclist sitting on the curb fixing a tire on Avalon Park Drive and Briar Berry Lane. A Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff was parked a few feet away with the amber flashers on alerting the surprisingly heavy traffic on  Avalon Park. Normally this little section is void of traffic and I never saw a bicyclist there before. I would’ve stopped but he looked like he was okay and all of the traffic made it difficult for me to ride to where he sat.

Riding on Valley Ranch Parkway the many yellow wildflowers in the grass caught my eye.

No rest stops today because I was trying to finish the ride in time to watch some of the Vuelta a Espana TTT live but I didn’t make it. I stopped at the New Caney Mobil station at FM 1485 and I-69/US59 for ice and water to carry me home. I will watch the TTT replay instead.

I am making progress in the National Bike Challenge rankings.

As of today I am at 168 miles for the week, 551 miles for the month and 5126 miles for the year. I am not biking tomorrow to rest but will resume on Monday. This will be the fewest miles biked in a week since the week of June 19th when I rode 148.8 miles. I am 249 miles away from my goal for August and 1674 miles away from my goal for the year. My legs feel like they need some time off.

Strava Ride Summary