At the start of May there were two rides I wanted to do, bike south around Lake Houston and ride in Galveston. The weather and my time haven’t cooperated with those wishes until today. I rode South Around Lake Houston today. A new route though I have done parts of it before. I rode the Humble Lions Club Ride 8 times dating back to 2009 and the Ride Like An Eagle event twice. Sadly both of those rides no longer take place. Those rides inspired me to ride around Lake Houston and the recently opened overpass on Timber Forest Drive made it possible to only bike on a short portion of W. Lake Houston Parkway in Summerwood instead of the longer distance from Summerwood to Will Clayton Parkway. The route maps of those rides below show their similarities and differences. The Humble Lions ride started in Humble and the Ride Like An Eagle started at Atascocita High School.

The weather was comfortable as I rolled away at 9:01 AM on my Cervelo Caledonia bike. Because I was starting and finishing from different locations than the inspiration rides I wasn’t sure of the distance. I wanted to ride at least 50 miles. I took the most direct route from the start skipping the usual streets I use when biking to Huffman. It turns out I could’ve added some streets because I ended up riding 49.64 miles. Back in Kingwood I thought about adding a couple of streets to get to 50+ miles but decided not to. The next time I ride this route I will add the streets at the beginning of the ride for continuity. I finished at 12;56 PM. I thought it would be later.

One thing I didn’t expect was the number of other cyclists I would see on the route on a Wednesday morning. I think all of them are in the video.

Traffic wasn’t bad on most roads except for a short time on Garrett Road from Sheldon Road to Aqueduct Road. A number of 18 wheelers passed me and the road didn’t have a shoulder. All of them gave me plenty of room, one even stopped for me to make the turn from Sheldon Road onto Garrett Road. They were noisy though. The worst road title goes to Aqueduct Road with some potholes big enough to swallow a bike wheel whole and rough asphalt patches.

It was the first time to use my new CamelBak. The extra distance and potential lack of convenience stores called for more water than one water bottle can hold. It replaced another one. I was impressed with the lightness even filled with water and the comfort of the straps and back contact. Plus it has a big pocket to hold the snacks I brought.

Weather conditions: Start 77 degrees, 75% humidity, 69.5 dew point, a few clouds, wind W 4 mph; Finish 81 degrees, 62% humidity, 67 dew point, mostly cloudy, wind N 7 mph.

For a new route Strava found a number of segments for medals. Four of them: PR on Timber Forest (2:30), PR on M to the WC (6:02), PR on Northbound Timberlake (16:33), and 2nd fastest time on Crosby Eagleton – SB (16:37). Because I wasn’t sure of the distance I didn’t contest any starred segments. From the AXS.SRAM.com ride report I see that I pedaled the 35×13 gears for 2:52:54 (41.5 miles) with only 27 rear derailleur shifts.