The clouds rolled in thanks to the high wind. I chose biking to the north to take advantage of the tailwind on the way to New Caney. The route labeled “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” travels north to FM 1485 before turning to the NW on FM 1485. Up to that point I enjoyed a tailwind most of the time but with the left turn onto Gene Campbell Road I got the first taste of the headwind waiting for me at FM 1314. Once I began biking on FM 1314 to the SE the headwind slowed me down as my legs struggled to put enough power to the pedals to maintain my overall average speed of 13.5 mph.

Today’s ride totaled 37.29 miles. My February goals: 345 road miles and 100 Zwift miles. I am at 73.4 road miles and 10.4 Zwift miles.

Learning the different gearing on the Lynskey R300 bike I improved my speed going north and used the lower gearing to combat some of the 24 mph wind gusts on the way back to Kingwood. The Lynskey R300 rear cassette includes the 11-34 gears while the Canyon runs an 11-28 cluster accounting for the different speeds for the corresponding gear positions. The Canyon’s crankset rings are 52×36 while the Lynskey has 52×40. It will take a few more rides to figure out which gear combination on the Lynskey gets the speed I want.

The clouds and wind made the 73 degree temperature feel cooler than that and I appreciated my thermal long jersey and wind jacket. Weather during the bike ride: start 74 (74% humidity, 64.8 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 10 mph gusts 21 mph. Finish 72 (75% humidity, 63.9 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 14 mph gusts 23 mph. Tuesday’s forecast calls for warmer temperature but not as windy and lower chance of rain at 20%.

Strava activity link and SportTracks link