The ride today went south and east on what I label the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route. The goal was 37 + miles and I ended up with 39.03 miles at a 15.4 mph average speed. This route runs on FM2100 so I wasn’t sure what road surface I would find. It turned out much better than I expected. FM2100 south of Old Atascocita road sports a new smooth shoulder except for two places where they installed turn lanes several months ago. Since I turned east at Stroker Road I did not see if this went all the way to Crosby. Stroker Road,  Ramsey Road and Old Atascocita Road are not affected by the resurfacing. These roads took me back to FM2100 for the ride north to FM1960. The northbound lane and shoulder have the first layer of new asphalt while the southbound lane and shoulder have the finish layer. No chewed up shoulder like Sunday’s ride.

When I rode on Ramsey Road I exchanged hello with another bicyclist riding south. He was going into the stiff headwind I endured on FM2100 and I enjoyed the tailwind. He was an older person, rather tall in a nice kit with matching shorts and jersey.

My legs complained a lot whenever I rode into the SW 9 mph wind and 20 mph gusts so I was glad when I finally made it to the Huffman Chevron for a break. That is where the Greensheet delivery lady busted me for taking a Greensheet paper to sit on. She was delivering new editions and was going to give me one to read until she saw me position the paper to sit on. We joked about how she caught me. She stopped before taking the new papers into the store to tell me about a 4 state bike ride she did back in the 1980’s and we talked about equipment changes since then. She asked if my bike had Campy components and said no, Shimano. I was surprised she knew about Campy. She wished me a good ride when she left. I thought now she will tell the circulation manager that all of those Greensheet papers he thought were being read instead went for seating. (Ha Ha) Greensheet papers are at almost every place I stop for breaks and they are free so I always take one to sit on rather than the concrete.

After I left the Huffman Chevron riding west on FM1960 I was passed by another bicyclist at E. Lake Houston Parkway. I stopped for the red traffic light and he rode through it. He wore an orange and blue kit with the letters “HTFU” on the back. Not sure what that means.

December mileage is off to a good start totaling 111.09. Year to date now totals 6097 miles. Tomorrow may be the last good weather day for biking for awhile. Thursday a cold front comes in and another could roll in on next Tuesday. Today it was 79 when I got back home but I did see 80 degrees on my phone. We probably won’t hit 80 again this year.

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