Hot is the word for today. I wanted to get an earlier start to get back before the hottest part of the day. I left at 9:50 and finished at 12:32. It was still a hot 95.4 degrees as I pulled into the driveway. Scattered clouds did not blot out the sun much nor did the S 8 mph breeze provide much relief. With all of this sun I wore a long sleeve jersey to protect me from the sun. I used to think long sleeves were only for the cool ride days but it does help keep me cool in the heat too.

My route took me north to New Caney before turning south on the US59 service road and then through Valley Ranch. One of the things I look forward to during my rides is to stop at a store and drink a Diet Pepsi. Sometimes I adjust my route to go by a store that serves Diet Pepsi. Today I stopped at the Stripes store on FM1314 at Valley Ranch Drive. I bought my drink and settled down outside with the light breeze occasionally blowing over me. The atmosphere soon deteriorated when a pickup truck pulled in on the opposite end of the parking slots in front of the store with the “music” loudly blaring from their speakers. I probably could have survived that but over the 15 to 20 minutes I was there the same bass and drums looped over and over. To cap it off about half way through my time there the driver moved closer to me so that I could absorb more of the thumping bass. I decided to leave sooner than I normally would and as I moved my bike out to leave the passenger came out of the store and the driver turned the music off and went inside. All the time he was running the engine too which was not the quietest exhaust either. At least the truck exhaust was not smelly.

I rode 32.13 miles today at a 15.4 mph average speed. Traffic during the morning was light over the route. No surprises or changes in the roads. Schools are closed but a couple of New Caney ISD elementary schools are being expanded with additions for the coming school year. Several subdivisions are building new homes at rapid clip.

The June goal of 524 miles is in my rear view mirror as I biked 762.72 miles in June. With 4 potential riding days left I should get to 800 plus miles. The three riding days this week covered 104.3 miles and 3202 miles for the year to date.

Weather forecasts show hot for the rest of the week with Saturday possibly going to 102. As I write this they lowered Saturday to 100 and Friday up to 100. Sunday cools off to 99.

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