After last weekend’s indoor excursion to the hospital I wanted to get an early start on the ride today. I did make it out the door at 6:59 AM and the cooler temperature was greatly appreciated. With this early start I thought I might see some other riders but I did not see anyone until I was within 2 miles of home.

The ride got off to a good start until I ran over a rock on the US59 service road Caney Creek bridge just north of New Caney. I got a pinch flat so I pulled over to patch the hole. I have to admit my patching credentials are not what they should be since I have been known to miss the hole with the patch. This was not a problem today but while I was fixing the flat the perspiration was pouring from my brow, arms and about anywhere it could. Where does all of this liquid come from?

After the flat things went well. The skies were populated by the little puffy white clouds that have been around most of the week. Temperature was 78 degrees when I passed New Caney High School and was 94 degrees when I got home. Wind was not really a factor being around 9 mph or less from variable directions.

When I got home I decided it was time to perform several maintenance things: rotate tires, replace the Wipperman chain with a SRAM PC-1050 I have had for awhile. All went well until I tired to install the removable link in the chain. As much as I tired I could not get it to lock in place. I ended up reusing the Wipperman removable link.

Today’s ride statistics:

• miles = 53.03
• Riding time = 3:39:38
• average pace = 4:08 min/mile
• average speed = 14.5 mph
• max speed = 21.6 mph
• average cadence = 77 rpm
• max cadence = 112 rpm
• climb 218 ft., descend 222 ft., max elevation 141 ft.
• June miles 322.85
• YTD miles 2363.60

Today I brought my Flip camera along and recorded some places I rode through.

Click on any of thumbnails to bring up a larger view.

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