I went to Splendora today on my ride. The route was slightly reversed going to Splendora and then looping back through Roman Forest. Usually I go through Roman Forest and then to Splendora. Variety was the main reason but it turns out the light breeze was coming from northwest enacting my “ride into the wind at the start” guideline. This helped my speed once I turned east on FM2090 to get to Tram Road and then back to Roman Forest. Starting at 10:58 (I waited for stage 14 of the TDF to finish) meant the temperature had a head start at 89 degrees. As I rode east on FM2090 a church sign was flashing 101 degrees and I couldn’t argue with it. When I got home my weather station showed 96.6 degrees. The sky was scattered clouds which didn’t provide much relief from the sun except as I was going south on the US59 service road between FM1485 and Community Drive. A cloud was over top and it moved south as I did. I appreciated the slight cooling. I don’t know if it left or I outran it once I got to Community Drive. with the heat and sun I used three water bottles of water and plenty of ice.

Overall the route came in at 40.54 miles. I added 2 miles or so to the normal route when I rode through the Forest Colony subdivision so I could stop at the Stripes station on FM1314. I don’t remember riding or driving through Forest Colony so I guessed which street to turn on and was right to connect to Valley Ranch Parkway on the west side. From there it was a short ride to FM1314 and Stripes.

No flat problem today but I did find that my seat bag is falling apart. A seam is coming loose and a zipper on an outside pocket would not open until I sprayed a WD40 type solvent on it. Then the cloth grip strip on the zipper broke off. I think it is time to replace it. I have a seat bag that I haven’t used but it is not big enough to hold a tube, tire tools, patch kit, money pouch and a multi-tool. I will check at Bike Werks in Kingwood to see if they have one.

No biking tomorrow due to a church meeting. A rest day while I watch the TDF go mountain climbing. The slides below recap the week, month and year standings.

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