After a sweet treat on yesterday’s bike ride I thought that might be hard to top but the weather for today’s ride was superb with a clear blue sky and temperatures in the mid 70’s. I chose the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route riding to the north and biked 34.49 miles improving my March total to 481.20 miles, 104 miles away from my 585 mile goal.

Starting at 11:56 AM I dressed for the 71 degrees and chilly wind with shorts, long sleeve thermal jersey, and wind jacket. Weather during the bike ride: start 71 (32% humidity), clear, wind 4 mph. Finish 75 (28% humidity), clear, wind NE 5 mph. The light wind didn’t impact my speed too much but it was strong enough for some wind chill whenever I rode in the shade.

Normally on this route I take Community Drive east from the I-69/US59 service road but the last time the construction along Loop 494 where the Grand Parkway crosses filled the shoulder forcing me into the main lane riding north. I took these photos today to show some of the construction at Community Drive and I-69/US59 for the Grand Parkway east section.

To avoid the construction on Loop 494 I continued north on the service road to Eagle Drive which goes from the service road to Loop 494 beside New Caney High School. There is a traffic light at Loop 494 but it doesn’t trip for bicycles so I waited for a car to pull up behind me to change the light. This put me a couple hundred yards north of the construction.

From that point the ride followed the route and nothing out of the ordinary. In Tavola I rode through two areas where houses are under construction. I am not sure where the buyers come from but several had “bought” or “sold” signs out front.

Reaching Roman Forest Blvd. I rode west to I-69/US59 to head back to Kingwood. I expected the wind to provide some resistance but instead it helped me up my speed and improve my average speed to 14.0 which I held until mile 31.5 when I was in Kingwood on the trail along side Kingwood Drive. I finished the ride at 2:35 PM.

More great biking weather on Friday but I will start when the basketball NCAA game is over between UC Bearcats and Iowa in Columbus, OH.

I am trailing 2016, 2017 and 2018 by about 60 miles each year.