Even Eating a Clif Bar Didn’t Stop Mr. Bonk Grabbing My Legs
Today I felt like a 40+ mile bike ride. Starting at 10:02 AM, the Lynskey R300 and I began biking north on the “Kingwood – Splendora – Kingwood” route. It was headed towards a hot and dry day. Humidity showed at 82% on my home weather station meaning it could be a hot and muggy ride. To offset that a little the wind was out of the south at 12 mph. This helped me get to Splendora with modest energy output. The return trip into the headwind wasn’t as generous but at least the wind slowed to 10 mph from the south.
For some reason I decided to take a Clif Bar along on the ride. Around the 30 mile point I stopped under the Grand Parkway overpass on Valley Ranch Parkway for some rest, eat the Clif Bar, and drink some water. Later I learned how important the rest, water, and food would be. The headwind tested my legs and by the 1:39 PM I think Mr. Bonk grabbed them. Usually my CamelBak has water left at the end of a ride but today when I turned it upside down to empty it just a trickle came out. I tried to stop at the New Caney Mobil station but I forgot a mask and a sign on the door said masks required to enter. No chance to add some ice and water to the CamelBak. I looked at the McDonald’s drive through but it was backed up so I figured I could make it home.
With today’s bike ride I have done this route 4 times this year. The 42.98 miles today is about average for the route. My week total now stands at 109.78 miles and July is up to 268.8 miles, 34% of the way to my goal. Below is a summary of the rides YTD on this route.
Strava reports that the ride “was harder than your usual effort.” I think this reflects the effort riding back to Kingwood from Splendora.
Since I rode the Lynskey R300 the PowerPod recorded ride data. As usual the wind chart (red arrow) is very interesting. The blue moves above the white line when I make the turn at Splendora back to the south at the 21 mile point. Most of the remaining ride was into the wind. My legs paid the price.
I like SportTracks because it shows the gear I used on the bike ride and records the mileage of each item.
