The last time I biked outside was February 9th until today. As many people know a severe winter storm hit Texas and I stayed inside. I rode in the Zwift world on the 15th and that was the last riding until today. What a change in the weather today. The temperature was 68 to 70 under a cloudy sky. Starting at 1:14 PM and uncertain if the temperature would stay put I decided to ride the Kingwood streets on my Lynskey R300 bike. Fortunately the temperature did fall and I finished at 3:05 PM covering 23.16 miles. My road miles for February total 192.7 miles. My goal is 400 but with only 7 days left getting there is not a certainty. My goal for Zwift riding is 100 miles and I am passed that with 155.8 miles for a total of 348.49 miles for the month. February weather has not been kind to my biking.

During the idle time I replaced the handlebar stem on my Lynskey R300. I kept the same manufacturer model but shortened from 100 mm to 90 mm. Today was the first ride with the new stem and I think the shorter distance was more comfortable. One measure I use for fitting is when I am on the brake hoods the handlebar should block my seeing the front axle and this is now the result. Before with the 100 mm stem I could see the front axle.

Another result of not biking for so many days is I fell behind last year’s year to date mileage. After today’s ride I am at 999 miles versus 2020’s 1,044 miles. This is a total of road miles and Zwift miles.

I wasn’t thinking about earning a medal in Strava but a bronze one showed up for 8th overall on Crit Sprint (from a stop, 1 foot clipped in) (53s). If I knew that segment was there I could’ve rode faster. Today’s route included some streets I don’t usually ride as part of the “Kingwood Streets” route to add a couple of miles. I noticed the wind seemed strong but when I finished it was 9 mph, not that strong. Maybe the idle days softened me up.