At first I thought my long sleeve jersey and short sleeve jersey were going to be too much clothing but once the sun start going in and out of the scattered clouds I was glad I had them on. It was 75 degrees at the beginning and after riding for almost two hours the temperature had risen to 79. However the wind did not change much from the 15 mph at the start. This helped to make the shadows cooler and the riding harder when I was headed back after turning south at Roman Forest Blvd. Tomorrow it is supposed to be a few more degrees warmer and then Thursday it will go the opposite direction. Being the first ride of November the warm temperature in southeast Texas is not unheard of. According to Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle, October was the first month since April where the monthly average temperature was below normal.

Normally I would be limited to riding in the dark by now but my circumstances (retired) do not require that . My mountain bike would be getting the miles (though reduced) and the road bike would be resting. I can’t say I miss riding in the dark but I did see somethings I would not see during the day. So I will have to be more inclined to ride the mountain bike if that is going to happen. With daylight savings time ending this Sunday this might be the thing that moves me to the mountain bike sans lights though.

I did manage to ride 29.69 miles today so November is off to a good start. In spite of the wind I was riding a solid average speed of 15.7 mph until I turned south and the wind slowed me down. There was a 6 or 7 mile stretch when I was riding northerly that I was able to crank the 50 x 15 gears for a 20 to 23 mph pace. Overall the average speed was 15.2 mph and max speed was 22.9 mph (from the 50 x 15 and 50 x 14 gears). Average cadence held up at 80.0 RPM even with the larger gears. Year to date miles passed over the 5,000 mile mark at 5013.19.

11-1-2011 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

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Link to the route map and ride data at RidewithGPS.com

11-1-2011 Home Weather End

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