Almost Momentary Muscle Failure
It was a struggle to ride on FM1960 east from Huffman. The wind was trying to push me back to Huffman and my legs were about to let it happen. Building up to that point every direction I rode seemed to be into the wind. On FM1960 the trees were in the distance just before my turning point at Huffman – Eastgate Road. As I was trying to get there my legs approached momentary muscle failure. My speed starting to drop below 15 mph then 14 and a couple of times when I glanced at the Edge 510 I saw 13 mph. Crossing the west bound lane of FM1960 onto Huffman – Eastgate I stopped to give my legs a rest and to take a drink.
On Huffman – Eastgate the wind was finally not in my face. The legs regained some power and I was able to ride around 20 mph. The planned stop at the Huffman Chevron was not far and I looked forward to sitting and resting before riding the 11 miles home.
I don’t ride this often (5 times out of 176 rides this year) but it is on good roads. Huffman – Eastgate used to have some big cracks in the asphalt from the heat and the pavement wanting slide into the ditch. Last year, maybe, it was re-surfaced and the cracks are few. Someday I want to ride FM1960 all the way east to Dayton but there is a section of chip’n seal from the Liberty County line to the railroad overpass. It’s about 2 miles long but I don’t relish it. On the other side of the overpass FM1960 is smooth asphalt.
Today I biked 35.15 miles averaging 15.6 mph. It took almost 16 miles to get my average speed to 15 mph thanks to the wind. I didn’t really get it above there until riding on Huffman – Eastgate. Once I was there I built it up to 15.5 mph when I stopped at the Chevron. After a 20 minute break I headed home and added to my average speed. The peak was at 31.8 miles at 15.8 mph. By then I was stopping and starting in Kingwood.
Another day of fabulous biking weather: scattered clouds, 80 degrees. The wind was from the east at 10 mph with 16 mph gusts. The gusts are what got to me on FM1960 where the cover is not thick enough to slow it down.
Some numbers:
- 576.89 miles for the month
- 103.73 miles this week
- 6108 miles for the year
- 16 biking days out of 22 this month (retirement helps)
I may not bike tomorrow but the weather is supposed to continue like today.
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