Another nice weather day for bike riding. To give the decaying bugs more time to do their thing I went north today through New Caney to Roman Forest Blvd and then going south to Valley Ranch then to Oakhurst. The partly cloudy sky, 94 degrees and a variable 6 mph breeze made for a pleasant ride. Yesterday while I stopped at the Huffman Chevron I talked with a man who said he grew up in Brownsville and thought he liked it until he went to Alaska. After living in Alaska he said he couldn’t handle the Texas heat. I don’t claim to handle the Texas heat all of the time but so far this year I like the weather.

The ride went as expected until I ran into some dried dirt on the US59 north bound service road above Kingwood Drive. Around the 29.3 mile mark I ran over a large dirt clod on the pavement and I knew from the sound I had a pinch flat on my rear tire. This is the first flat in a long time and I can’t remember the last time I had a pinch flat. Usually my flats are from the fine wire picked up on the road. Since the flat too place on the service road the noise from the US59 traffic meant finding the leak would be impossible. So I walked about 1/2 mile to North Park Plaza Drive and picked out a spot in the shade on the esplanade. Pulling the tube out of the tire it took several tries to find the snake bite but I did. I was concerned that the patch might be a little too small to cover them but I think it did. I pumped up the tire and remounted the wheel. Squeezing the tire it felt like the patch might be leaking and riding the 5 miles to home might not succeed but I made it. I rode slower than normal and tried to avoid and bumps. This probably accounts for my average speed of 14.8 mph over the 34.55 mile route.

When I got home I aired up the tire to my normal 105 psi. After I finish this report I will check on the patch. Reworking at home is easier than on the road.

June mileage crossed the 100 mile mark to 111.22 and 2551 miles year to date.

Tomorrow’s weather should repeat today’s. Maybe I can get started earlier than 11:37 today. The patch episode delayed getting home until 2:56.

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