Today’s bike ride was along the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Extended” route for 33.96 miles moving my month’s total to 511.97 miles. This leaves 288 miles to reach the 800 mile goal for August. Start time was 10:20 am as I was slow getting out the door. Watching stage 4 of the Binck Bank Tour from Belgium contributed to the delay.

Weather during the bike ride: start 90 (66% humidity), partly cloudy, wind SW 8 mph. Finish 94 (59% humidity), partly cloudy, wind S 6 mph. While I was riding I got an alert of a heat advisory for most of the afternoon which is not unheard of around Houston this time of the year. Good thing I finished the ride at 1:18 pm.

This route is hard to build up my average speed with all of the stops. There aren’t many long stretches of uninterrupted road. The longest section is on FM 1960 over Lake Houston at around 2 miles long in both directions.

When I rode past the RV park on Old Atascocita Road just west of FM 2100 I waved at the man sitting in the lawn chair by an RV. He is sitting there many times when I go by. He usually waves back if he sees me. This reminds me of when I sat on the porch swing at my Grandmother’s house overlooking US40 in Hopewell, OH. I watched the traffic go by and waved to people but I think I was too far away for them to see me. This was maybe 60 years ago.

Stopping at the Huffman Chevron I stayed longer than I planned. The shade was inviting and the comfort of the Dean Food milk crate kept me there about half an hour. I went inside and attempted to buy a Blue Bunny ice cream treat but the cost was almost $3.40 and it was more than I wanted to spend so I refilled my water bottle with plenty of ice and water. Back outside I resumed my resting on the milk crate. The breeze could’ve been stronger but I cooled down some after using many paper towels to soak up some of the sweat. The ride summary when I stopped at the Chevron station.

About 30 minutes after stopping I got back on the Canyon after refilling my water bottle again, rode over to FM 2100 and waited for an opening to cross and begin the ride north to Smith Road. This is the “extended” part of the route. When I got to Smith Road I had to wait several minutes for traffic to clear enough for me to move from the right shoulder across two lanes and onto Smith Road. Smith Road needs some attention with several places where the asphalt has slipped on the subsurface leaving cracks in the asphalt. If I was not careful a bike tire could get stuck in a crack. At other places liquid tar was poured into splits causing lumps in the road.

Getting back to FM 1960 I bicycled west over Lake Houston and then on to Atascocita side street to the north. The heat was noticeable making the occasional shade welcomed but brief.

More of the same weather for the next few days. More bicycling planned.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary