With the approaching cold front and the wind switching from the SW and W I wanted to get an earlier start on today’s ride so I pulled out of the driveway at 12:14 under a nice sunny sky, 71 degrees and a stiff 13 mph W wind with 26 mph gusts. My riding guidelines say ride into the wind at the start of the ride and with the wind on the way back home. Following this guideline I paid the price because the headwind stayed that way almost the whole time until around mile 21 I turned left onto FM1314 headed back to Porter and then home. I thought the wind was getting stronger and when I got home and checked the wunderground.com website I saw a 22 mph NNW wind with 28 mph gusts. To add to the effort the temperature dropped a few degrees as I rode ending up at 68 when I finished at 3:09.

I rode my New Caney – Gene Campbell Road route in order to get enough miles to reach my February goal of 369 miles. I tweaked the route a little and ended up riding 38.07 miles at a surprising 15.2 mph average speed. If you look at the average speed for the 5 mile intervals most of them are below 15 mph but two are 17.5 mph and 17.8 mph which offset the slower ones enough. The 71 degrees dictated a lighter wardrobe today so I had on shorts, a long sleeve and short sleeve jersey and windbreaker jacket with half finger gloves. I was comfortable most of the ride but after I stopped at Stripes for a rest and Diet Pepsi it took several miles to get warmed up again since the wind felt chilly from the change in direction and increased shadows.

I did reach February’s goal with the miles totaling 372.2 after today’s ride. The weather is supposed to be cooler tomorrow at 61 degrees for the high. Saturday is still looking very cool for the Gator Ride in Baytown.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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