Tuesday was a no bike ride day because I messed around with tech stuff. Today I got on the bike and rode the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for 33.41 miles boosting February to 229.11 miles, leaving 116 miles to reach my February goal. Before starting at 12:28 PM I watched stage 2 of the Tour de Columbia. It was much warmer there.

Part of the reason for starting later was my waiting for the temperature to warm up a couple of degrees above 60. I dressed for the wind chill with shorts, leg warmers, thermal long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey topped with a windbreaker jacket, and full finger gloves. Even with the blue sky it was chilly for me. Weather during the bike ride: start 63 (39% humidity), a few clouds, wind 5 mph. Finish 65 (48% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind 6 mph gusts 16 mph.

The ride went well until I got on Hikers Trail Drive in Walden. As I passed a car parked on my left I saw a medium size overweight white dog standing at the edge of the street. As soon as he spotted me he ran towards me barking and growling wanting to bite me. I sped up but the dog somehow managed to speed up too getting close to my left foot as I pedaled snapping but he didn’t stay with for long, maybe 50 feet, before he gave up. I think this is the first dog sprint of 2019.

Leaving Walden I back to FM 1960 to continue to the east. I expected the bridge work to be done on Old Atascocita Road and I got an early indication of this when the warning signs at FM 1960 and Fairlake Drive were gone. Rounding the corner at Fairlake and Old Atascocita Road the newly finished bridge was open for traffic. Photos of the new bridge.

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Now my usual routes going this way can return to normal.

At FM 2100 I rode east for a short distance to add to the ride and then turned back to FM 2100 to ride to Huffman. The wind finally wasn’t trying to slow me down and at FM 1960 I went west. The wind generally didn’t slow me down but it was much better when I turned right onto Atascocita Shores Drive. It was still chilly but the wind was blocked some as the street goes up and down plus the house and trees helped too.

The ride north along W. Lake Houston Parkway again put the wind behind me and I made good time to Kingwood Drive. I chose to cross at the traffic light since school traffic was heavy. After crossing I finished the ride at 3:07 PM.

The forecast for Thursday calls for warmer temperatures in the 70’s but no rain. Bike riding looks favorable.