New Longest Bike Ride of The Year
The longest bike ride of the month from yesterday got bumped by today’s 41.48 miles which also is the longest ride of the year by .16 of a mile. I didn’t plan on riding this far on the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route which usually totals less than 40 miles. But today I added a couple streets at the beginning biking through Elm Grove Village and Sherwood Trails Village in Kingwood before getting back to the normal route. Starting at 11:51 am the weather was different from yesterday: start 72 (61% humidity) partly cloudy, finish 74 (58% humidity) mostly cloudy, wind S 15 mph, gusts 23 mph. The wind and clouds were the major difference.
I counted on it being warmer than Wednesday’s bike ride but it wasn’t much warmer. I dressed lighter with shorts, long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey, windbreaker jacket, and half finger gloves. I was okay but sometimes when the sun went away I was cooler than I prefer.
This was the first time biking this route this year. Nothing out of the norm along the route. I stopped at the May Community Center to refill my water bottle but was there only a few minutes before resuming the ride.
When I crossed the railroad tracks on Old Atascocita Road a train was parked not very far to my left. At the time I thought it was a very long train but when I rode over the tracks on FM 2100 at FM 1960 the train was parked way down the tracks. Looking to my right parallel to FM 1960 another train was stopped on the siding which made me wonder why the train on the main tracks was waiting. As I rode east on FM 1960 I watched the tracks to my right to what might be going on. After passing the engines of the train on the siding I saw what was holding things up: a Union Pacific crew was working on the switch and rails. Once they finished I expect the main train would move by.
Wind was a problem until I turned to the west in Huffman and got on FM 1960. From there to the finish the wind was mostly a tailwind. I kept my average speed at 14.6 mph until I crossed the river and turned into Kingwood Greens where I stopped and took a couple of photos. Later I took another in Hunters Ridge before finishing the bike ride at 2:54 pm.
Friday’s bike ride may not happen. 60% chance of rain. UC Bearcats play first game in the NCAA tournament and the Handzame Classic bike race in Belgium is in the morning. It will probably be rest day.
SportTracks Bike Ride Summary (click on the image to enlarge)
