I started today’s ride in good shape but by the time I got to around the 12 mile point my legs just did not want to put out much power so I rode slowly from there to home. The start at 9:51 AM was not so late but the heat at 84 degrees soon rising to 92 did not help my efforts. As usual the sweat poured off my body with the gloves showing the most with water dripping all of the time. Squeezing them and rubbing against my shorts provided temporary relief only. My average speed dropped to 14.0 mph by the time I finished with a max speed 0f 20.4 mph and 73.1 RPM average cadence. The cadence shows how slow the legs wanted to turn. Another pointer to my slow motion is the 1:59:35 riding time. I usually ride 5 or 10 minutes longer and cover 5 more miles.

With this reduced effort I shortened the route to 27.83 miles from my typical 30 or more. Miles for the week increased to 125.51 at an overall 15.1 mph average speed. For July miles total 291.68 at 15.0 mph average speed. YTD miles reached 3605.10 at 14.9 mph average speed. The YTD speed includes my mountain bike rides which are slower.

Weather besides the temperature: scattered clouds with 8.1 mph west wind. Humidity does not help with the sweat. It was 76% falling to 57% when I finished riding. Tomorrow should be a repeat. Mosquitoes are getting to be a problem if you stop moving for very long. The plentiful rain is the cause.

The last week or so I have noticed my right brake lever not returning to the correct position. At first I thought maybe the brake caliper was the cause but last evening I pulled the brake cable out of the housing to find the real reason: rust on the cable. So I added some oil and removed most of the rust. This is only a temporary fix though; I will replace the cable. I think I have one in toolbox but I did not check yet. This is a common problem with moisture getting inside the cable housing from rain and washing.

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