I took a chance on the route for today’s bike ride by going the usual way past Kingwood High School. I ran into the sidewalk construction as soon as I turned off Valley Manor Drive onto Kingwood Drive. The sidewalk was gone with dirt, concrete forms and rebar remaining so I made a loop back around the esplanade to cross Kingwood Drive and try the east bound sidewalk. It took forever for the traffic light since it doesn’t recognize a bike, especially a carbon fiber one. Finally a big pickup pulled up and eventually the light tripped for us to go. Riding on the new east bound sidewalk/greenbelt it was obvious that there is some work to be done. At one street crossing a crew was sweeping dirt off the sidewalk. Not long after that I caught up with a crew installing street lights and had to move to the street to get around them. Another crew was working on something and then I made the right turn into Town Center finally free of the work.

All of this to ride the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route. Once I got past the work areas the ride went smoothly. Hopefully with school starting next week the sidewalks will be done. As I rode south traffic on W. Lake Houston was biker friendly and I exited onto January Drive to make my way to FM 1960 and through Walden before riding back to FM 1960 to cross Lake Houston. No problems doing that. I stopped at the Chevron station on the west side of the lake to top off my water bottle and then onto FM 1960 east bound. Within a couple of hundred yards the “love bug” swarms appeared. I could feel them hitting my arms and hear them hitting my helmet. I kept my mouth closed to avoid eating or inhaling any but it was hard. I am not sure why they are thick at that point but not west of Atascocita Shores Drive. Off of the causeway they thinned out some and stayed that way on Fairlake Drive and Old Atascocita Road until I crossed FM 2100 where they increased again but not as heavy as when I rode over Lake Houston. I began to wish for vehicles to drive to collect the bugs on their bumpers and grills. Thin the herd. I stopped just before the Ramsey Road intersection with Old Atascocita Road and took these pictures with the bugs flying around.

Except for the pesky “love bugs” the loop on Ramsey Road and Stroker Road was good with the light NE 7 mph breeze at my back or left rear quarter. At the 11:02 am start the temperature was 90 degrees under a mostly cloudy sky. Making good time thanks to the tailwind I came back to FM 2100 and turned right to ride to Huffman. Now the wind was coming at me from the right front quarter and I had to pedal harder but thanks to the number of trees on the fence lines the wind was not too bad. A quick stop at the Exxon station at Saddleback and I was back on the road to Huffman where I stopped at the Chevron station. This was 30.8 miles into the ride at 1:27 pm. I bought a 32 oz blue PowerAde fountain drink and came back outside to drink it and eat the two fruit & grain cereal bars I had. When I leaned the Stradalli against the glass store front the pile of “love bugs” on the concrete and clinging to the glass made me think I would be pestered but it wasn’t too bad. After I finished eating a strange car pulled up for gas and I couldn’t identify what make it was. While the driver filled it up with gas I walked over for a closer look and eyed the new car license tag which answered my question: an Aston Martin. I chatted with the driver, an older man, and asked if he was James Bond. He said know and I replied at least he had the car. This time I remembered to take a picture unlike the time I saw the cobalt blue Jeep JKU at Stripes.

He was filling it up with Chevron Supreme which the sign shows at $2.779 per gallon and he spent several minutes doing it.

After resting about 30 minutes I got back on the Stradalli for the ride back to Kingwood. With the wind behind I made good time to the Lake Houston causeway expecting the same “love bug” swarms I experienced riding east but they weren’t there. A few bugs hit me as I rode across the lake but I wondered why the difference from only a hundred feet away. After the lake I rode through Atascocita and onto W. Lake Houston Parkway. I had a hard time crossing Kingwood Drive by Fuddruckers because the sidewalk construction crews had the traffic moved to one lane. Eventually a pickup stopped to let a car and me cross and I waved a thanks. I finished the ride at 2:50 pm. The temperature had increased to 94 but the humidity had dropped to 55% and it didn’t feel quite so hot.

Hurricane Harvey is moving around the Gulf of Mexico and might come ashore below Corpus Christi late Friday or early Saturday. I don’t know what our weather will be but it could keep me at home. I am 95 miles away from my 800 miles for August. I hope to get a 20 to 25 mile ride in Friday morning before the rain arrives. Depending on how long any rain sticks around I might have trouble hitting my goal.

Strava.com Ride Summary