Before I started my ride this morning I thought a northerly route would be the direction but after looking at the weather I saw a wind advisory. Sometimes these do not mean much but today it changed my ride direction to the southeast. Not because there would be a tailwind at the start but one on the return leg. My guideline wants me to start the ride into the wind and finish with the wind. Of course if I only followed this guideline I would almost never ride to the north with the southeast prevailing wind we have.

Wind Advisory in effect from 9 am this morning to 9 PM this evening…
The National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston has issued a Wind Advisory… which is in effect from 9 am this morning to 9 PM this evening.
* Event… south to southeast winds up to 20 to 30 mph with gust to 40 mph possible.

The revised route included the back roads to Crosby through the open grass fields. I thought the wind might not reach the upper limit on the advisory until after I headed back to the north and west. This 49 to 51 mile route sticks to the side roads except for a section on FM2100 and FM1960. On Saturdays I usually see other bikers who started earlier headed back as I ride to Crosby. I am not sure what route they take before our paths cross. They must start several hours before I do. Today I saw about 25 bikers spread along the route probably because of the high wind. When I left at 10:38 AM the wind already showed 23 mph with 27.6 mph gusts from the SSE. When I got home the wind shifted to the southeast at 25 mph and 31 mph gusts. Except for the wind good biking weather prevailed: 79 to 84 degrees, mostly cloudy, 54% humidity.

After biking yesterday I thought of today as a recovery ride day but with the wind it soon became apparent a full effort day was on tap. For the first 22 miles I biked into or had the wind coming at my right side. The hardest stretches were east of FM2100 on Old Atascocita Road and southbound on Ramsey Road when Atascocita Road intersected it. At one point along Old Atascocita Road one of the bikers going the opposite direction said there was no tailwind ahead. I nodded and yelled in agreement. Until I tuned onto Ramsey Road I stayed in my usual gearing for the open road but then I went up one gear on my rear cassette to ease my pedaling effort into the stiff headwind. Looking at my Garmin Edge the speed dropped into the 12 to 13 mph range and when a gust hit I went even slower.

There was a brief respite when I turned west on Ramsey Road and the wind kind of became a tailwind from my left rear quarter side but this did not last long as the road turned back south until I hit Stroker Road. Because of the wind I changed my route to a shorter one not going as far south to Crosby. Instead of 50 miles I opted for the 37.69 miles I ended up with. When Stoker Road came to FM2100 and I headed north the wind seemed to disappear because my speed going north almost matched the wind speed. After the effort I put out up to this point the tailwind came in handy. Battling the wind I did not drink as much water as I should so I stopped at an Exxon convenience store to refill my waterbottle. The cold water tasted great.

Back on the bike I headed to Huffman where I planned to take a break, drink a Diet Pepsi and eat my Kashi Trail Mix bars. It did not take long to get there with the tailwind. While I ate a man got out of a pickup truck wearing a BP MS150 T-shirt. As he went into the Chevron store he said the wind was really a strong one today. I agreed wholeheartedly with him. After getting refreshed I got back on the bike to head home. I expected the wind to be tough going over Lake Houston with no wind break and I was not disappointed. Where the below the  causeway openings allowed the wind to blow through the extra power buffeted me. I had to hold on tight to avoid getting blown over. The parallel traffic helped to shield me from the wind at times. With the wind behind me I biked home at a better pace than heading out.

My legs were not strong with all of the wind and my desire for a recovery ride from yesterday’s 35.77 mile ride. Even though yesterday’s ride was a little shorter I rode faster. At the beginning of the ride I new my average speed would be low. It ended up at 14.4 mph which is higher than I thought it would be. With all of the tailwind on northbound FM2100 I thought my max speed would be higher than the 21.7 mph from SportTracks. RideWithGPS.com calculated 26.2 mph max speed. Below is the Garmin Connect numbers. The 75.4 RPM average cadence affirms the slow riding into the wind.

Tomorrow will be a true rest day since I will not be able to bike due to a church meeting. Rain could dampen Monday’s ride chance as well. Some of today’s numbers and mileage recap:

• 2:37:31 biking time today
• 4:11 average minutes per mile
• 36:02 resting time today
• 10:46:54 riding time this week
• 163.42 miles this week (5 biking days)
• 342.82 miles in April
• 1562.18 miles YTD
• RideWithGPS.com data link (Click on the route at any point to see my speed and cadence. Going to the south will be slow.)

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4-14-2012 Home Weather Station End