The 8:11 AM start of the bike ride was about 30 minutes later than I planned but it was still early compared to most rides. To helped me get to 200+ miles for the week (not there yet) I biked 43.64 miles today on the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route. The week now totals 173.94 miles and June totals 657.97 miles, 82% of the way to my 800 mile goal.

Weather during the bike ride: start 84 (89% humidity, 80 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 12 mph. Finish 92 (68% humidity, 80 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 14 mph. With the high dew point sweat flowed easily during the ride.

I wasn’t the only biker out along the route today. The first two cyclists rode west over Lake Houston while I headed east. I almost missed seeing as the traffic passed and I had my eyes down concentrating on pedaling and thinking. The last two were waiting at the Old Atascocita Road and FM 2100 intersection when I arrived. When opening came up they crossed heading west and I went east saying hello as we passed.

Biking east on Old Atascocita Road the wind was from my right and not too bad to ride through. When I reached the Ramsey Road intersection I wanted to take a rest so I went left to the bridge and leaned the Canyon against the guardrail where I sat. The shade was cooling as was the wind blowing through the corridor of trees on each side of the road. I thought I would just stay until the first car or truck came by but I was enjoying the breeze and coolness I waited until several more passed before getting back on the Canyon and biking south. While I was there I took these photos.

Riding south on Ramsey Road was much harder due to the headwind and my speed dropped down to 11 mph at times. Once I got to Stroker Rod and changed direction the wind moved to my left and pedaling wasn’t as hard and my speed returned to 15 to 17 mph.

I was getting low on water when I made it back to FM 2100. The Texaco station just north of Stroker Road had been a source of ice and water before but today they only had ice so I filled my bottle with that thinking it would melt some and I could add water when I stopped sat the Huffman Chevron. I did that stopping only long enough to add ice and water in Huffman before riding west on FM 1960.

The wind was a little more problem some going west but I still kept my speed at 15 to 17 mph. Turning right at the Atascocita Shores Drive light shift the wind back to a slight tailwind as I rode among houses and trees. Back in Kingwood I stopped at McDonalds in Town Center more more water and ice. It was about two miles from the finish but I was thirsty. It didn’t take too long from there to finish the ride at 11:44 AM.

Saturday I plan on starting early again and ride far enough to put the week at 200+ miles.

2019 leads all previous years as the gap widens some.