A rather late start on today’s bike ride at 1:54 PM due to watching my UC Bearcats play the Iowa Hawkeyes and losing in the NCAA tournament. Sadly I began the ride on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. Weather during the bike ride was gorgeous: start 79 (27% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 9 mph. Finish 81 (29% humidity), partly cloudy SE 12 mph.

With that beautiful weather I dressed accordingly: shorts, long sleeve jersey, and a short sleeve jersey on top. This comfortable choice was just right and the wind was low enough to not create any wind chill.

The blue sky looked great when I stopped in Kingwood Greens before crossing the San Jacinto River and took these photos.

The golf course is behind the azaleas and beyond that is the river. When Hurricane Harvey hit this place there was 8 feet or more of water.

Back on the bike I rode south along the ride slowly building up my average speed. At FM 2100 and Old Atascocita Road I went north putting the wind behind me. That enabled me to increase my speed from that point improving my average speed to 14.4 mph and holding that until the 29 mile point back in Kingwood.

I got caught in the Creekwood Middle School traffic at Sandy Forks Drive which caused my average speed to drop to 14.1 mph and by the time I finished at 4:21 PM with all of the stops and starts the average speed was 14.0 mph.

Some ride data points:

• average heart rate: 131 (75% of my max)
• max heart rate: 154 (88% of my max)
• average watts: 138
• max power: 494 watts

Saturday weather forecast shows a high of 75, 40% chance of rain in the AM. I should be able to ride after watching the Milano-Sanremo race in Italy.

Still trailing 2016, 2017 and 2018 YTD miles. 2016 and 2018 are around 60 miles ahead but 2017 is 130 miles ahead. I really rode in 2017.