With a strange ending to stage 19 of the Tour de France I started getting ready to start my ride with wheels rolling at 11:12 AM. I chose the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route to the north anticipating a tailwind on the return from SH 242 to Kingwood. Only needing 18 miles to reach my July goal this route provided more than enough with 36.45 miles today. July now totals 817.9 miles (800 miles was my goal) and the week totals 182.88 miles. With 4 potential biking days left I will add to those totals (Sunday will be a rest day).

Weather for the bike ride: start 89 (55% humidity, 71.1 dew point), a few clouds, wind NE 9 mph. Finish 92 (48% humidity, 69.3 dew point), partly cloudy, wind E 8 mph. The cool front is starting to lose its punch as the humidity, dew point, temperature rise, and more clouds appear.

AS I approached FM 1314 on the way north I saw that The Hot Biscuit restaurant is going away, replaced by a Denny’s. The Hot Biscuit has been there more than 30 years but flooded in May. It looked old from the outside. Until the Denny’s sign appeared today I thought they remodeling building to reopen.

Once I reached SH 242 that tailwind came into play and I increased my speed for the ride back to Kingwood. At FM 1485 while waiting for the traffic light to change I was behind a man on a motorcycle. A white East Montgomery Count Fire Department SUV pulled up beside me and the driver called out to the motorcycle driver and me that he thought I could take the motorcycle when the light changed. We all laughed. Before that a car pulled up beside me with two young men and the driver asked me how fast I could ride and I answered 19 to 20 mph. He accepted that and drove up to wait on the light.

I must’ve used up more energy than usual so I decided to stop at the Circle K at Northpark Drive and I-69/US59. I thought about what I could buy to go along with the blue PowerAde and ended up with 2 bananas. This provided the power to finish the ride at 2:22 PM.