I rode south and east on today’s bike ride as I have on all outside rides this week. I’ll use the route name Atascocita – Huffman – Walden but I left some streets out and added some in. Elm Grove, Sherwood Trails and North Woodland Hills didn’t see me at the start but at the end I rode through Elm Grove Village. On the way back I took side streets from Pinehurst Trail Drive to get to the Atascocita Hike & Bike Trail biking east to west getting a Strava 2nd fastest time on Amateur Hour (2:31). Not too long ago I rode west to east on the trail. After reclaiming the Strava Local Legend on Kings Crossing North (1:49) I biked north along W. Lake Houston Parkway to Northpark Drive which I haven’t done in many months or more. I started at 11:36 AM after watching the Volta a Catalunya and Settimana Coppi e Bartali races while waiting for it to warm up a little more. I finished at 2:45 PM.

I might’ve finished sooner but at 24.6 miles on Pinehurst Trail Drive I stopped to fix a rear tire flat. This is the same tire that has had flat problems over the last month or so. A few days ago I installed a new tube and all was well until today. The culprit was a very tiny piece of wire stuck in the tire piercing the tube about 8 inches from the valve stem. For some reason I spotted the hole in the tube quickly, applied and adhesive patch, put the tube back in the tire. This took about 35 minutes, not an Indy 500 pit stop time. The path held all the way home. I’ll check the tire to see if the patch holds. Two people in cars stopped to ask if I needed help and I thanked them. A cyclist dressed in an LSU kit stopped too. We chatted about flat tires and he told me he was riding the Tour de Rouge in May. He rode it last year.

Weather: Start 68 degrees, humidity 68%, dew point 57.5, a few clouds, wind NE 8 mph; Finish 76 degrees, humidity 51%, dew point 56.6, partly cloudy, wind NE 5 mph.