Winter weather changes quickly. Before I started today’s ride I looked at the weather conditions. The 13 SE wind and some scattered rain pockets south of FM1960 suggested I should ride one of my northerly routes. The rain that direction appeared to be a long distance to the north and west. So I set out at 2:16 PM with the intent of riding to Community Drive and then through Valley Ranch. Lately I have thinking about the route I leave Kingwood and decided to go west on Northpark Drive and then turn left onto Russel Palmer Road. I rode this route before but only on my mountain bike because there is a 200 yard section where I ride on grass and dirt to get into Kings Manor subdivision. I went this way and thankfully the grass was mowed on the section I needed to ride on.

As I went through Kings Manor I started to look at the sky and it seemed to get a little darker. Riding on Loop 494 I thought maybe I should shorten this ride from 25 miles to around 20 so when I got to FM1314 I turned left with the hope of riding through Briar Tree and Oakhurst and then back home. All went as planned but I needed to stop at the Stripes Store at Valley Ranch Drive for a restroom visit. When I exited the store I rode south over FM1314 and down Old Sorters Road but I didn’t get far before rain drops starting hitting my windbreaker jacket. This prompted a quick turn to the other store on the south side of FM1314 and under the gas island cover. I waited a few minutes and ventured out but the rain was still falling lightly. Back under the cover I waited another 5 minutes or so and then decided to head back east to US59. Riding along the rain picked up and by the time I reached the Shell station at US59 the rain was steady. Looking at the sky I could see the rain probably would around for awhile so I called my wife for ride back home. So my 20 mile ride ended at 12.8 miles in Porter. No rain in the forecast tomorrow so maybe I can get some riding in then.

There is a radar screen in the slides below to show what it looked like when I got back home. The February and year to date summaries are in the slides as well.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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