A strong storm passed through Houston between 6 and 8 AM this morning. I wasn’t sure the roads would dry off soon enough to go biking. As I waited I watched stage 2 of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Spain on GCN+. At one point a group of 5 riders were going downhill and rounded a corner too fast. 4 of them hit the concrete barrier but a Trek SegoFredo rider went over the barrier and down the incline. He got his bike and carried it back up handing it to a person. When he got back on the road his jersey was torn and bloody from his fall. You cold hear telling the team car he was all right but need a new bike. Amazingly at the finish he was in the group sprint. My bike ride was not that exciting.

The roads dried off quickly considering my home weather station recorded almost 2″ of rain. When I started at 12:06 PM the streets were damp but as I rode only a few puddles remained. The Cervelo Caledonia got to experience some mud when I rode through the construction zone on FM 1960 east of Atascocita Shores Drive. Because Fairlake Lane road surface still needs resurfacing I stayed on FM 1960 until Anderson Street in Huffman. I had to create a new route name for this ride, “Atascocita – Walden – FM 1960 to Huffman” since I haven’t biked this one before. I rode all of the streets just not in this sequence.

I dressed for 63 degrees at first but before I left I took off the leg warmers and changed to a light jacket because it warmed up to 67 before I left. At the 2:36 PM finish it was 71. Wind was a brute today. When I started it was N at 7 mph but at the finish it was from the west at 17 mph with 24 mph gusts. Riding to Huffman I had a tailwind most of the time but biking back to Kingwood it turned into a headwind. My legs suffered as I rode across Lake Houston. I talk about it in the video.

With the wind I used the gears with 37 RD changes. The AXS.SRAM.com ride report has more details. These two images show gear changes and average power per gear combination. I didn’t change the FD during the ride.

Early in the ride I claimed the local legend title in Strava: Local Legend on Rocky Woods Half Loop. I almost didn’t take that loop. Glad I did.