My route rotation pointed to a south route for today’s ride. This meant going on FM1960 over Lake Houston where one east bound lane is closed for road work. My plan put me on the west bound shoulder for about a mile until I got past the barriers. I moved over to the west shoulder and headed east. The light west bound traffic did not present any issues and I switched back to the east bound shoulder as planned. I will repeat this on future rides until the repairs end.

Going south looked like a good idea because the south 8.1 mph wind did not present a problem and should help on the return leg. As I rode I noticed the wind got stronger and when I turned into it my speed slowed. This really came up on southbound FM2100 after turning off Old Atascocita Road. At first I kept biking at 15 to 6 mph but then I looked down at my Garmin Edge and the speed showed 12 or 13 mph and my legs couldn’t give any more speed. This lasted about 2.5 miles until I turned onto Stroker Road going east. Even then the wind did not make it easy to get my speed up but I increased my effort and speed. Once I turned north onto Ramsey Road the wind changed to a tailwind and my speed hit 20+ mph.

The nice tailwind stayed with me until I moved onto Old Atascocita Road headed back to FM2100. The wind presented some resistance but I could keep it in the 17 to 18 mph range. Around the 23 mile point I looked up to see an 18 wheeler going towards me in the other lane. I did not think too much about this but I did grip the handlebar tighter. Good thing. When the truck got almost to me a wall of wind hit me and shoved me to the shoulder. For a second I thought I might go into the grass but just as fast as it arrived the wind wall got blocked by the trailer and I regained control. When I got home I found the wind increased since my leaving to 16.1 mph with 21.9 mph gusts. About 2 hours after my ride I checked the wind again and it increased even more to 31 mph gusts.

With the low humidity (37%), scattered clouds and 93 degrees I rank today as a great day to bike if it wasn’t for the wind battles. The wind can be friendly as well. While I stopped in Huffman at the Chevron station sitting under the fuel island cover the wind blowing through felt great. I almost did not want to get back on the bike but I did. I covered the 37.12 mile route in 2:22:02 at an average speed of 15.7 mph. At some point my max speed got up to 26.1 mph, I guess when I rode with the tailwind. Average cadence was 80.8 RPM. This week’s miles now total an even 100.00 while now shows 642.58 miles and YTD is 2578.35 miles. Links to Garmin Connect data and RideWithGPS.com data views.

5-23-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map