Mid-morning the sun broke through the clouds and confirmed my hopes the temperature would get to the 71 degrees in the forecast. When getting dressed to ride I left the leg warmers off, above the shorts I put on a heavy long sleeve jersey (not quite a thermal one) and added the wind proof jacket. Wheels rolled at 11:45 AM and I was concerned that maybe I dressed anticipating warmer weather than what was there. Every time I ducked into the shade the wind chill made it through the jacket and jersey but after 15 minutes or so I warmed up enough to mostly forget about the chill.

Wanting to get an extra mile or two I biked the “Atascocita South – Walden – Huffman” route riding 33.89 miles. I now only need 171.1 miles to reach my goal for March with 413.9 miles ridden so far.

I didn’t expect to see any other cyclists but when I stopped for the traffic light at Atascocita Shore Drive at FM 1960 two lady cyclists rode up from the east on FM 1960 and stopped in the left turn lane waiting for the light to change. I waved as I turned right on red onto FM 1960. Sometimes I see a group of women cyclists on Tuesdays and I guess these two were willing to brave the chill. Since they started earlier they were dressed for chilly temperature. Not thinking of seeing another cyclist I noticed a bright flashing white light in the distance as I rode east on Old Atascocita Road and not to far west of FM 2100 he passed me going west. We exchange waves.

Earlier when I rode on Cross Country Drive in Walden a very unusual dog “sprint” took place. To my left I saw a medium size chocolate brown and white dog o running towards me from a driveway on my left. The dog was missing his right rear leg but that didn’t slow him down too much. I dodged to the left as he went to the right side curb pedaling faster. He ran after me with more speed than I expected but after a couple of hundred feet he was no longer in view. Never had a 3 legged dog chase me.

Although the wind wasn’t that strong I guess my legs were not recovered from Monday’s ride. I battled the 10 mph SE wind all the way to FM 2100 where I turned north and the wind was no longer in my face. Weather during the bike ride: start 69 (38% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind E 9 mph. Finish 72 (36% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind SE 10 mph.

From that point the tailwind helped me build up my average speed from 13.1 mph to 13.9 mph by the time I got back into Kingwood. It fell back to 13.7 by the time I rode through Kingwood and finished the ride at 2:21 PM.

More of the same weather tomorrow. I plan on biking and may stop by the Dairy Queen at E. Lake Houston Parkway for a free ice cream cone they offer on the first day of spring.

I am still trailing years 2016, 2017 and 2018 but not losing any ground for YTD miles.