As I was getting ready to ride this evening there were some dark clouds to the west and southwest. I could hear thunder in the distance but when I checked the radar the rain was moving away from my route area. When I first got started I began to wonder if the radar was wrong but after the 4 mile mark I could see the sky clearing to the west and the rain threat went away. I could see the change in the weather with the temperature at IAH airport 10 degrees cooler than my home weather station. My station was at 95 degrees at the start and 88 degrees at the finish. The mostly cloudy skies and cooler temperature was quite different from yesterday’s ride. I check the weather in Wichita Falls again today and it was 108 degrees. There is a tropical storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico and it might hit southeast Texas Friday or Saturday. We can use the rain but it doesn’t have to come at one time.

Today’s ride was mostly routine except for the almost collision on Old Atascocita Road. I was riding along about two feet from the right edge of the road and there was a man walking in the grass up ahead. Two pickup trucks went around me and continued on with no problems. The third pickup started around me and then pulled in front and stopped to pickup the man walking along side the road. The distance between me and the pickup truck was too short to go left so I had to go into the grass in front of the man walking. As I was riding in the grass the man called “Sorry”. I just shook my head at another poor driver. After the man got into the truck they right onto a side street that was just in front of the pickup. The grassy path was rough with some ruts and my braking to stop and then pedaling to go around made for an interesting moment as I tried to maintain my balance and go forward. I made it around with no problem though.

Today I went a little further with 27.64 miles. I decided if I could start 15 minutes earlier I could ride this distance with the daylight and sunset time.My average speed was much better than yesterday at 15.2 mph and my max speed was either 26.2 mph (SportTracks) or 21.0 mph (Garmin Connect). I am not sure how the same data can result in two very different answers. The two agree at that the average cadence is 81.1 RPM. July miles are now up to 570.97 and year to date miles are 3410.05.

7-27-2011 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

7-27-2011 Home Weather Finish

 
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