Wheels down and rolling at 8:26 AM as I rode south and east hoping to see some other cyclists. I rode the usual Saturday route “Atascocita – Huffman – Walden” on my Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike. I only needed 10 miles to make it a 200+ mile week and I exceeded that by riding 30.76 miles. This was a little shorter for this route because I left out biking north on FM 2100 due to the road construction. Today marked the 14th time biking this route in 2020, 13 times on my Canyon bike and once on my Lynskey R300 bike. The total miles for the week came in at 220.82, just .02 more than last week. I now have a two week streak over 200 miles. Below is a summary of the week’s rides.

As I rode towards Huffman I saw a number of fellow cyclists mostly going the other direction and before I got to FM 1960. Normally I see more cyclists once I start across Lake Houston and east but today I saw more on the west side of the lake. At the church on Fairlake Lane only two cars in the parking lot meant not many bikers ahead since they like to park there. I suspect the hot weather may keep some of them home or they finished before I got there. I like the hot weather but starting early (for me at least) today the temperature was about 10 degrees lower than when I started yesterday.

Today and tomorrow the heat index will probably be close to 110 but on Monday a “cool” front could lower it and the temperature a few degrees. I filled the CamelBak with and ice and water for today and some ice remained when I finished at 10:46 AM. Weather conditions: start 81 (94% humidity, 79.6 dew point), a few clouds, wind variable 4 mph. Finish 93 (66% humidity, 79.7 dew point), partly cloudy, wind SW 9 mph. It felt cool at the start but I didn’t realize the humidity was so high. Lots of sun but as I rode east over Lake Houston some clouds dotted the sky ahead.

Biking to the turn around point on Old Atascocita Road I set a good pace lifting my average speed to 14.1 mph. On the return a headwind slowed me some and shrunk my legs power. My average speed dropped to 14.0 mph by the time I reached the west side of the lake. Winding through the side streets into Walden further lowered my legs output. Once the route turned north my pedaling effort got a little help from the tailwind.

I now am up to 472.29 miles for the month. With 16 potential days left to reach my goal it looks like I should make it. Below is a recap of my goal progress showing I am 85 miles ahead.

I will take Sunday off which will reduce my miles ahead some. Tomorrow is my late wife’s birthday. She would be 74.

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