After Sunday’s rest day I had renewed energy for today’s bike ride. Strava recognized this by commenting: This was harder than your usual effort.

Choosing the SR242 – Old Houston Rd – FM1314 route I biked 46.01 miles to get the week off to a good start. Wheels rolled at 10:05 AM and I finished at 1:43 PM, rolling time of 3:12:55.

Weather during the bike ride: start 89 (73% humidity, 79.6 dew point), partly cloudy, wind W 6 mph. Finish 93 (56% humidity, 75.6 dew point), partly cloudy, wind SW 5 mph. The low humidity (for Houston anyway) meant the cooling effect from the sweat evaporating as I rode helped with the energy and pace.

Altering the route by riding through Tavola added a couple of miles to this route. After leaving Tavola I decided to take Railroad Ave. north to stay in the shade and took these photos. The first looks north and the second looks south.

This was around 16 miles into the ride.

When I got to the SH 242 overpass and turned left I saw the damaged guardrail from the oversize truck hitting it. The truck with the oversize load sat in the Flying J parking lot.

The road surface on SH 242 going west is starting to show its age and what was once smooth asphalt is not far from chip n seal texture. The headwind was strongest along this section. I stopped at the Chevron station at FM 1485 for ice and water and then continued on SH 242.

Old Houston Road cuts through to FM 1314 and I went that way to avoid the construction at FM 1314 and SH 242. When I arrived at FM 1314 two big dirt trucks waited to turn left on FM 1314 into a private road that must lead to a sand pit. The shoulder going east was littered with small rocks, probably from trucks hauling sand and dirt. It would good if TXDot held the trucks accountable for keeping the shoulder clean.

On FM 1314 riding to the southeast the SW wind helped me keep the speed up and my average speed improved to 14.8 mph at times but mostly was 14.7 mph.

At Sorters Road I stopped at the Circle K for ice and water but I also bought a 32 oz PowerAde which I rarely do. Sitting on the water bottles outside I drank the blue PowerAde and ate a blueberry crisp Clif bar. These were to give me energy to keep the strong pace back to Kingwood, about 12 miles away. It worked, helping me keep my average speed at 14.6 mph to the 42 mile point back in Kingwood.

Tuesday weather should repeat today and I plan on riding.