An overcast sky awaited me as I began today’s bike ride at 10:06 AM. I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route to get mileage riding 41.26 miles. July biking now totals 676.28 miles leaving 124 miles to reach my goal. YTD stands at 4,766 miles.

Weather during the bike ride: start 86 (81% humidity, 79.3 dew point), overcast, wind W 6 mph. Finish 91 (63% humidity, 76.3 dew point), overcast, wind variable 5 mph. The wind wasn’t a factor during the ride. Mostly it was my legs which determined how much energy I put into the pedals. Later this week it is possible for a July “cool” front to arrive according to Space City Weather. Mainly this will mean lower humidity and more comfortable riding. I look forward to this rare July weather.

As I got ready for today’s ride I looked at my biking gloves and decided it was time to change to a new pair. The gel pads on the old gloves looked worn and hard. The new gloves.

This is the black gloves and the red gloves will be replaced on the next ride. I have used this model of glove for several years and find them to be comfortable and easy to wash after the ride.

Strava graded this ride as harder than my usual effort. I am not sure how they make this assessment but I can go with it. Physical data points:

• average heart rate: 129 bps (74%)
• maximum heart rate: 153 (87%)
• aerobic efficiency: 0.59
• average power out put: 83 watts
• maximum power out put: 344 watts

With the temperature above 90 for most of the ride I stopped twice for water: Shell station on Roman Forest Blvd riding west and the Stripes station on the I-69/US59 frontage road at Northpark Plaza Drive. This is the first time at this Stripes station. The beverage machine gave ice but I went to the restroom for water.

Average speed was 13.7 mph until I started back into Kingwood. I finished the ride at 1:19 PM, moving time: 3:03:41,overall time 3:12:52.

Sunday’s rest day brought 2016 to with 56 miles of 2019. All other years in the chart are much farther behind 2019.