As predicted I biked today. I wanted another route over 40 miles with a northerly direction. I biked this route before but not for several months. The change from my typical north route added Roman Forest and then up Tram Road to Splendora. Tram Road is a paved road but not a smooth one in many places. Today I got a surprise because Tram Road has been resurfaced. It was so recent that the workers were putting down the center stripe when I started on it today. The ride to FM2090 even going into the wind had a new feel to it. I worked a little harder headed into the wind but once I turned west on FM2090 and then onto the southbound service road along side US59 my speed increased. I rolled along so well that I went to a smaller rear cog (12 x 34) to keep the speed at 20 mph or more.

The weather improved from yesterday with the rain clouds leaving and scattered clouds ruling the sky. A favorable NE wind at 10 mph and gusts to 16 mph kept everything very comfortable. Temperature ranged from 77 at the start to 84 at the end. When I rode in the shadows the coolness helped. With 45% humidity I did not perspire enough to get my jersey very damp.

With the wind assist from the 23 mile point until Kingwood Drive my average speed end up at a nice 16.4 mph while my max speed topped out at 22.9 mph. I don’t believe I reached this average speed for quite some time. The previous ride averaged 16.1 mph for two in a row. The route today came in at 42.46 miles. Average cadence moved up to 84.1 RPM even with the higher gear. It took 2:35:25 to bike this route with 30:37 stopped for a refill and snack in Porter. Mileage now stands at 90.58 for this week, 449.75 for May and 2385.42 year to date. So far my average speed for all of May stands at 15.7 versus 15.1 for April. Link to another data view at RideWithGPS.com.

[nggallery id=447]
[iframe http://connect.garmin.com/activity/178898969 98% 725]