I rode north on today’s bike ride thinking it would be a shorter version of the New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch route. But it turned out to be a little longer than the 36.5 mile average of the previous 7 rides this year covering 37.39 miles. This was a good start for August bike rides which has an 800 mile goal just like June and July. I rode my Lynskey Helix bike for the first time since the triple saddle switch over a week ago. The Lynskey now has the Fizik saddle. I was a little concerned about the saddle angle since the Lynskey seatpost doesn’t adjust the tilt. It didn’t feel as good as the saddles on my other bikes as far as the angle goes but it was okay. It seemed to tilt down a little more than I prefer and put more pressure on my hands.

To get ahead of another scorching hot day I rolled away at 8:37 AM. I wanted to start a little earlier but that was soon as I could. I managed to finish at 11:54 and the temperature was 96 degrees. Weather: Start 87 degrees, 69% humidity, dew point 75.1, mostly cloudy, wind SW 4 mph; Finish 96 degrees, 47% humidity, dew point 72.5, a few clouds, wind SW 4 mph. As I write this at 2:49 PM it is 97.5 at my home weather station. About half an hour ago it was 100.5.

As I approached FM 1314 on the frontage road two motorcycle constables came from behind me with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Before that a pilot escort truck passed me on the left with a low clearance pole on the front and lights flashing. In my mirror I could see a LARGE LOAD coming and moved to the crosswalk island from the road. Good thing I did because the truck was indeed very wide (check the video) and took up most of the road as it prepared to turn left under the freeway. A huge transformer on the trailer with more wheels than I could count crawled passed with another truck pushing from the back. No idea where it was heading.

After that the rest of the bike ride was pretty normal. I stopped twice to refill my water bottle with ice, first in New Caney and then at the 7 Eleven on FM 1314. Riding through shade was a pleasant feeling from the hot sun. The breeze felt cooling.