Today’s bike ride started at 10:59 AM and went south and east on what I call the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route covering 34.11 miles, a mile or two longer than usual because I wanted to the week’s total to reach at least 140 miles. Thanks to the 34.11 miles the week now totals 140.79 miles setting up a 200+ mile week with three potential biking days left. Those miles also put me past my 660 mile goal for May at 666.63 miles. Speaking of miles the Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike (what I rode today) clicked to 16,713 miles. 18 times this year I biked this route, probably this most frequently used route. Golden Cheetah shows year to date rides by total distance and bike.

With the south and east direction a headwind greet me and my tired legs. My legs didn’t have much kick in them today to fight the SE 13 mph wind which increased to 15 mph during the ride. The best I could do on my average speed was 13.3 mph for short time on the way back from Huffman. Even with a tailwind I didn’t have strong pedaling from Huffman to the 1:58 PM finish. Weather during the bike ride: 88 (68% humidity, 75.7 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 13 mph. Finish 88 (66% humidity, 75.0 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 15 mph. I wore shorts and a short sleeve jersey. With the clouds the temperature didn’t get as hot as the earlier days in the week. Biking west over Lake Houston I kept my speed above 15 mph with tailwind help but once I left FM 1960 it was harder to keep that pace the closer I got to Kingwood. Back in Kingwood I settled into 13 to 14 mph to the finish. Over training crossed my mind as I thought of my lack of power for much of the bike ride.

The video covers the ride in about 2 and a half minutes with stops for two ghost bikes, rest break, and some flags blowing in the wind plus other clips. Yesterday was the Ride of Silence which made me think of the ghost bikes.

Construction crews worked on both ends of the West Lake Houston Parkway bridges replanting the median grass removed for the lane crossovers. This reduced traffic to one lane. Biking south I rode in the shoulder but the return trip I rode the walkway/bikeway avoiding the lanes closure.