One of the best bike rides just happened. Nice, but cool weather, strong legs, solid average speed all came together as I rode my Canyon Endurace bike on what I call the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route. I biked 37.54 miles starting off the week in a good position to hit 200 miles for the week if the weather forecast holds. 14 times I biked this route in 2020, 9 on my Canyon Endurace and 5 on my Lynskey R300.

Speaking of the weather, it was cool enough for me to wear a long sleeve jersey (not a thermal one) under a short sleeve one. Whenever I rode in the shade it felt chilly (for me anyway) in the early part of the bike ride. Lots of sun helped warm it up by the time I finished at 2:15 PM. Weather conditions: start 74 (68% humidity, 63 dew point), a few clouds, wind E 7 mph. Finish 82 (60% humidity, 66.4 dew point), a few clouds, wind NE 5 mph. The light breeze contribute to my steady pace no matter which direction I rode.

For the first time in many bike rides my average speed got to 15.1 mph and I held it there from FM 1314 until entering Kingwood near the end of the bike ride. On FM 1314 pedaling into the light wind my speed stayed around 16 to 17 mph. I looked at the power reading a few times and saw 160+ watts. At the end of the ride my average speed came in at 14.7 mph.

I stopped at the Circle K store on FM 1314 and Sorters Road long enough to eat a Clif Bar. My legs were ready when I resumed the ride.

Here is how I stand on my month’s mileage goal. A nice cushion so far but October weather changes.

Looking at the Golden Cheetah ride data. Laps 4 and 5 went significantly faster than the other ones.

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Link to the Strava ride pages.