No need for a long sleeve jersey on today’s bike ride. Summer is back, baby! I can tell when my gloves are wet at the end of the ride. Leaving at 11:26 AM with 81 degrees (83% humidity added to the heat) the sky was mostly cloudy but it got better as the ride progressed on the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route to the north. The 8 mph SW wind helped ride strongly to Tavola. I shifted to the 34 x 13 gear combination as soon as I got on the north service road along I-69/US59 to get up to 18 to 20 mph. Watts did not increase since the wind was pushing me along. I noticed arriving at Tavola the average watts was 85 and average speed was 15.0 mph.

This changed when I made the loop in Tavola and got back to Roman Forest Blvd. where the wind was waiting for me. Now the average watts started increasing to above 100 with the extra pedaling effort into the wind. Since I didn’t ride yesterday my legs were up to the task. Sometimes the wind seemed to gust but I don’t know if that is true. The I-69/US59 south service road did not offer much of a wind break and Valley Ranch Parkway put me directly into the wind until the Grand Parkway. Riding under that the road began to offer some relief with the trees to the right.

The only stop was a quick one at the New Caney Mobil station at FM 1485 to refill my water bottle for the rest of the ride, about 15 miles to the finish.

Making my way through Briar Tree, Oakhurst and Kings Manor put me into Kingwood. I completed the ride at 2:06 PM. By then the temperature was 87 and humidity dropped to 69%. It felt good to ride in warm weather again. This will last a few more days. Nice start to November. My goal this month is 275 miles. As the weather cools and holidays arrive biking sometimes takes a backseat.