Friday rolled around quickly this week it seemed. Good biking weather hung around too. To position me to reach 200+ miles for the week I chose the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route and biked 36.33 miles bumping the week’s total to 182.27 and May to 442.08 miles. I started biking at 10:40 am. Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia ended a little early allowing me to start sooner than I expected.

Speaking of the weather the clouds increased some as the wind from the gulf brought some moisture. What I faced while biking: Start 85 (72% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind S 9 mph. Finish 86 (70% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind SE 15 mph. My clothing choice: shorts, sunscreen, arm sleeves, and a short sleeve jersey. Weather at the end of the ride.

The 15 mph wind didn’t pose a problem on the way north but riding south when I was out in the open the legs were taxed heavily. In spite of the headwind I managed to improve my overall average speed to 14.2 mph and held it there until I was at the 31 mile point.

When I arrived at the Grand Parkway on Valley Ranch Parkway these pretty flowers and the fountains in the background caught my eye.

One of the hard parts of the ride came just south of the Grand Parkway where an incline into the wind required me to get out of the saddle to get up to the top.

Near the end of the ride in South Woodland Hills another cyclist approached and I waved but he didn’t respond even though we passed just a few feet from each other. I went on to finish the ride at 1:31 pm.

My plan is to bike tomorrow (Saturday) to put the week over 200 miles. The weather looks good until late afternoon or evening when rain might arrive.

2019 leads 2016, 2017 but trails 2018 by 51 miles.