My thigh muscles heaved a sign of relief when I rode into the Stripes station on FM1314 west of Porter. I chose a northerly route, “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch”,  to alternate with the southeast route from yesterday. All went well as long as I pedaled north. Although the official weather reported a 10 mph south breeze I think it was twice that. I turned back to the south at Roman Forest Blvd. moving to the southbound US 59 service road. Right off the bat this moved into the unprotected side where the wind could come at me almost the entire time to the Valley Ranch turn. The legs moved slowly and the square chainrings jumped onto the bike. Resting at Stripes allowed time for the muscles to regroup for the final 11 miles and I pedaled easier and the open road decreased so the wind did not hit so hard.

I did not plan on riding Roman Forest Blvd into Roman Forest which is good because it is being resurfaced. The inbound lanes were handling the outbound traffic as well while the road crews worked on the outbound side. I suspect this is part of the new community being built just east of the railroad tracks. It is called Tavola and the website says the homes will be available in spring 2015. This area was the site of a much discussed dinosaur park that never reach fruition.

There is some other construction on the west side of US59 in the same area that is somewhat of a mystery. The sign beside the service road is so faded that I cannot read the name or information. The picture depicts some buildings curved around some waterway. The construction equipment is digging and moving a lot of dirt to build the waterway. At some point the faded sign will be replaced, I hope.

Between the construction on the west and east of US59 at Roman Forest and the Grand Parkway work at Community Drive my riding routes are getting jostled around. 2014 will require some route ingenuity.

Overcast sky did not keep the temperature from getting to 79 degrees. The wind that tired to do in my legs was constant. My wardrobe today was summer attire: short sleeve jersey and shorts. This was the first ride without double jerseys in several weeks. Tomorrow the weather will begin to change and my riding will go into hibernation. Rumor has it getting into the upper 20’s Tuesday and Wednesday. This is well below my 60 degree threshold!

I biked 35.02 miles today and even with the wind averaged 15.2 mph. December miles moved up to 146.11 and year to date now totals 6132 miles. Link to RideWithGPS.com metrics and map.

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