Two levels of excitement during today’s bike ride as I followed the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for a total of 31.89 miles. Actually maybe three levels of excitement.

First one happened not quite 1 mile into the ride as I pulled over to the curb on Sweet Gum Trail in Sherwood Trail because the PowerPod was not reporting watts to the Elemnt computer. As I put my foot on the curb the first of four Harris County Sheriff SUV’s raced around the corner from Meandering Trail onto Sweet Gum past me turning left onto Sherwood Hollow lane. Lights were flashing but no sirens. I looked down Sherwood Hollow but couldn’t see where they were headed. My first thought was Kingwood Park High School. I finished messing with the PowerPod and decided to go west on Meandering Trail. When I got to Bassingham Drive I looked to the right and saw several cars stopped with one pointing into Sherwood Hollow Lane. I rode down to see what was going on and as I reached the stopped cars I saw a deputy walking a man away from the house to a Sherrif’s SUV with handcuffs on. Circling back to Meandering Trail I stopped and talked to a couple who had been watching and told them what I saw. They said earlier they had a loud voice telling the people in the house to come out because they had a search warrant. I guess the deputies got to finish that.

From there I continued on the route without much happening except enjoying the first day of spring weather. It was a little cooler than yesterday, well a lot cooler: start 69 (44% humidity), clear, wind NW 8 mph gusts 18 mph. Finish 71 (38% humidity), clear, wind NW 15 mph, gusts 21 mph. The wind was punishing whenever I rode into it which seemed to be mist of the time. But I know it will get warmer as we move towards summer. That was excitement number two.

To combat the cooler weather and strong wind I wore shorts, leg warmers, long sleeve thermal jersey, and an older jacket with a heavier fabric. I was comfortable as far as temperature goes the whole ride.

Excitement three was stopping at the Dairy Queen in Huffman for the free ice cream cone. I don’t eat ice cream very often but it brought back memories from when I was growing up in Zanesville, OH, and the DQ re-opening after being closed for the winter and getting the first cone of the season. Back then most people didn’t eat ice cream year round. I sat in the sun in Huffman licking the ice cream and resting to do battle with the wind for the 10+ miles to the end of the ride. Earlier while riding over Lake Houston going to the east the wind tried numerous times to push the wheels to the right but I held my line. riding west I was close to the concrete guard rail and the wind wasn’t able to push me around as much. Just a big bully!

Back in Kingwood I wondered how traffic would be crossing Kingwood Drive. Kingwood High School started classes again yesterday after being closed for 6 months of repairs from Hurricane Harvey flooding. There were lots of cars but after a few minutes it backed up and stopped with two cars letting cross to the median. The next two lanes were not as busy and I rode on to finish the ride at 3:3 pm. I started late waiting for the weather warm up some leaving at 12:55 pm. I also watched the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya which was running a little longer than expected.

Forecast for Wednesday shows a high of 73 but maybe the wind will die down some. I plan on biking.

I am 15 miles away from my March goal of 585 miles after today’s ride so it looks like I should get there with 11 days left.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary (click the image to enlarge it)