No bike ride yesterday (Friday). Around noon it started to rain lightly and the weather radar showed more rain on the way. Around 4 PM a strong storm moved through Kingwood with high winds and heavy rain. Our street flooded and traffic washed debris up into our yard. Once the rain stopped and a helpful neighbor unstopped the storm drain the water drained quickly.

Jumping to early this morning more came but not as much as Friday. By the time I was ready to ride the streets dried off so I left at 11:07 AM riding the “Kingwood to Ramsey Road – Huffman” route. I biked 37.75 miles putting the week at 177.39 miles and May’s total at 107.89 miles, 16% of the way to my 660 mile goal.

Weather during the bike ride: start 77 (81% humidity), partly cloudy, wind 5 mph. Finish 82 (60%), partly cloudy, wind W 10 mph gusts 18 mph. It felt cooler outside so I wore shorts, a long sleeve jersey and a short sleeve jersey. The long sleeves were as much as sun protection as warmth. I am not a fan of rubbing sunscreen on my arms because I don’t seem to get enough or way too much.

As I rode around Kingwood on my way south I saw signs of the wind damage with fallen branches, a leaning tree and debris in the streets. I had to detour around a couple of fallen tree limbs along Kingwood Drive. In Town Center a palm tree broke in half with the top laying on the ground. Riding south across the San Jacinto River the signs of the storm disappeared with only some water in low spots along the curbs.

While I rode through Atascocita south of FM 1960 I spotted pink route arrow tags on the road. I thought about rides that might be taking place but none came to mind until I saw the back of a rest stop sign on Fairlake Drive that had the Red Cross logo. Then I knew the route markers were for the Tour de Rouge, a ride from Houston to New Orleans that starts in Humble. This was confirmed when I made the turn onto Ramsey Road and the arrows went to the left when other rides go right.

I expected Lake Houston to be higher as a result of the rain from the storm and while it was higher it wasn’t that much higher. Ben’s Branch which goes under Kingwood Drive showed signs of high water with the grass on the banks washed down from the water flow and the water was moving quickly.

The wind was moderate today for a change helping me to ride around 16 to 17 mph most of the time. With the late start I didn’t expect to other cyclists but I saw two on Old Atascocita Road west of FM 2100.

Not long after seeing them I passed two more and after making the turn around at Ramsey road another cyclists followed when I stopped at FM 2100 before riding north on FM 2100.

Biking east on Old Atascocita Road I pass a small cemetery. Today there was a blue tent with some chairs sitting under it. A car parked near the cemetery and a group of people walked toward the grassy entrance area. On the way back from Ramsey Road the number of cars increased to more than the road could handle and I stopped to wait for space to pass. As I rode by the parked cars another cyclist passed going to the east. Not too long after than another biker approached from the west too. Normally this road sees few cars but the funeral changed that today.

By the time I rode to Huffman and FM 1960 the wind increased to make riding west harder than it was going east. I was able to keep a good pace and increased my average speed to 14. 0 mph which I held until I was back to W. Lake Houston Parkway. I biked the 5+ miles from there to finish the ride at 2:01 PM.

Sunday’s weather forecast calls for 87 degrees and 10% chance of rain. This is good for biking and I will ride to get the week’s total to 200+ miles.

2019 YTD trails 2017 by 15 miles, the closest I have been this year. 2016 and 2018 trail 2019 YTD miles.