It felt like fall during the bike ride today. Although the temperature was 83 (70% humidity) when i started at 10:50 AM the NE 8 mph breeze had a coolness to it. Bicycling along the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route to the north the wind required extra effort to maintain a 17 to 19 mph speed. The sky was almost blue with some very thin clouds scattered around causing the weather station to call it mostly clear. The bike ride went 41.0 miles increasing the YTD to 6,052 miles and the month to 772 miles. With one riding day left this month I should reach 800+ miles for the third month this year.

Feeling good with the nice weather I rode with strong legs getting the overall average speed up to 14.6 mph and holding it there for a number of miles.

Biking through Roman Forest is a pleasant experience with light traffic and smooth streets though on Appian Way there is a section about 100 feet long where the road is full of potholes. I am not sure why this one section is so beat up. The other two lanes going the opposite direction do not have this problem. The school buses leaving nearby Dogwood Elementary School must rock and roll driving over this section.

Stopping at the Stripes station on FM 1314 and Valley Ranch Parkway I refilled my water bottle, grabbed a Greensheet and another advertisement newspaper and headed to the shade by the pumps. Looking through one of the papers the number of portable buildings for sale struck me by surprise. I didn’t know there was such a market for them. I ate two fruit and grain cereal bars and drank some ice water while resting for about 25 minute. I talked with the Stripes attendant who was emptying the trash containers when he came to the ones near me.

Leaving Stripes I enjoyed the mostly tailwind through Briar Tree, Oakhurst and Kingwood Place before heading east to Kings Manor and then into Kingwood. Riding east the wind wasn’t as friendly. I passed all of the schools before the dismissal traffic arrived finishing the bike ride at 2:14 PM. By then the temperature was 90 (humidity 60%) which felt more like summer.

I think I will start earlier than usual on tomorrow’s bike ride to catch the Bike Barn crowd. The weather should be much like today but the early morning version.

Strava Ride Summary (click on the image to go to Strava.com)