I started July bike rides off on the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route riding 35.85 miles. That leaves 765 miles to reach my goal for the month. It all began at 10:19 AM as I rolled the Canyon Endurace CF SLX out the driveway onto the streets. This would be the 13th time to ride this route in 2020. So far I biked 121.49 miles this week putting me in a good position to hit 200+ miles for the week.

July weather arrived too. The wind pushed me along on the way north to Tavola and punished me on the way back to Kingwood. What it was like while I biked: start 88 (75% humidity, 79.5 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 9 mph gusts 18 mph. Finish 93 (64% humidity, 78.7 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SW 8 mph. After finishing at 1:20 PM I sat on my patio cooling off with the breeze blowing through. The ice water in the CamelBak provided relief as the heat built up. Last year I didn’t use a CamelBak hydopack, just bottles. Not the best decision but I wanted to be light and I stopped at stores to refill the bottle with ice and water.

Using the GoPro cameras is still a learning experience. After I finished the ride I saw the first clip was blurry from either a finger print or moisture. Riding with one hand while holding a GoPro can be hard when the road is rough. I don’t want to record me crashing.

Update on yesterday’s rear tire flat on the Lynskey R300. Using the foil from the patch as a boot was just good enough to get me home. When I took the tire bead off the rim pieces of foil fell on the floor. I suspect the cut flexing produced the flat spot as I rode. From this, I think the foil boot lasted 11 miles only. I found an old Continental 4000 tire, cut a section for a boot and put in the tire. The cut appears stable now. The next ride on the Lynskey will tell the story. This photo shows the tire with the proper boot in place.

I want to get more miles on the original Lynskey tires before replacing them.