The weather dominated today’s bike ride. I delayed the ride because of some chores and watching some of the University of Cincinnati vs. Syracuse football game. The Bearcats seemed to score but not without giving up the football on mistakes. I was only going to watch the first quarter but when I started to get dressed to go riding I thought I heard some raindrops hitting the skylight in our bathroom. Indeed the raindrops came down but not much nor for very long. In the meantime I went back to the football game waiting for the rain to move on by. Before I knew it halftime arrived. Checking the clock I thought if I am going biking I better start now. So I pulled out of the driveway at 1:40 PM.

I checked the weather radar before I left and the rain was west of Harris county. The rain cloud dropping water on our house did not even show up on the radar. The sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was 82 degrees. I headed out on my usual route to Huffman and back. I decided to change the beginning by going the way I start when I ride to the north. This was to vary the route plus add a mile or so to the distance. As I turned south I could some dark clouds in the distant southwest sky but since I would be going southeast I thought I would ride away from them.

All went well until about the 6.2 mile point when I started feeling some raindrops but they did not last that long. The dark clouds now covered the south sky in the distance but to the southeast and east the sky was still partly cloudy. I picked up the pace a little to get further east on the route. Winding through Atascocita and Farmington Road the wind started to pickup some from the west and the clouds looked even darker. I began to think about altering the route so I could get back home before the rain caught me. My wife could not come and get me if I got stopped. I wanted to ride 30 miles today but I doubted if I could go that far and stay dry. As I reached the decision point east of Lake Houston on FM1960 a loud clap of thunder came from the northeast so I decided to ride to E. Lake Houston Parkway and then turn back to home.

As I rode over Lake Houston on FM1960 the dark sky in front of me looked threatening. Getting home dry looked doubtful but I turned right onto Atascocita Shores Drive and hoped I rode fast enough to beat the rain. I made it to W. Lake Houston Parkway and still no rain but the wind turned cooler and I thought the rain must be near. I was now on residential streets so my speed dropped down with the stops and starts. With about 2 miles to go I felt good that I would beat the rain. As I rolled into the driveway I felt a couple of drops and by the time I walked from the garage to the house I could hear rain hitting the patio cover fabric. Close call. The slide in the gallery of the radar shows how close the rain came when I got home. A light steady rain is falling as I write this.

With the route change I ended up riding 26.09 miles at 15.4 mph average speed, a 21.5 mph max speed and 79.9 RPM average cadence. No stops today other than for traffic lights. Riding time totaled 1:41:26 and only 4:13 time stopped. Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com agree with SportTracks pretty closely on the ride activity. Mileage for the week now totals 109.7, 59.02 miles so far for November and 5999.25 miles YTD. If I knew I was that close to 6000 I would have rode around the block or something.

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