A week or so ago when I was riding my mountain bike I explored a new housing development. Much to my surprise I found a new way to exit Kingwood to get to US59. To validate what I found I drove it once in my Jeep. Today I decided to try the new exit on my road bike. With this new route section I put on my thinking cap to create the route to use this. The goal was to put a route together of 20 miles or more. Biking on Kingwood streets to start the ride I rode 4 miles before getting to Adams St. on the way to Loop 494. The road surface on Adams is not the smoothest with a good helping of patches and dips. No dogs ran loose to chase me like my last ride when a tiny dog chased me near Gene Campbell Road. I will use this route frequently as it gets me around some traffic and does not loop back on my return route into Kingwood.

The chilly weather (63 degrees and strong 12 mph N wind with 20 mph gusts) delayed my start until 1:49. To combat this I wore two long sleeve jerseys, leg warmers, shorts, windbreaker jacket and full finger gloves. For the first 4 miles or so I felt cool but after that I was warm going into or with the wind.

I ended up riding 21.25 miles so I met my objective but my average speed was lower than I wanted, 14.5 mph. Part of the reason was the strong north wind and the chill. I did recover some of the lost speed once I turned south from FM1314 onto Old Sorters Road. The route did not have many uninterrupted sections where I held a higher speed.

January miles total 179.71 leaving 129 miles to reach my 309 mile goal for the month. I looked at riding The Texas Independence Bike Tour in Deer Park tomorrow but the overnight temperature is forecast to be 37 degrees. The 7:30 AM start time doesn’t give the sun much time to warm things up. Also a $45 day of ride registration is more than I like. On the 25th the ride in Coldspring is one I like but the long range forecast does not look good for that either (61 degree high and 40% chance of rain). Tomorrow may hit 68 towards the middle of the day and I can bike then. Sunday I have a church meeting. Monday though could be 75 degrees which will put me on the road.

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