My first thought was to ride my Atascocita – Walden – Huffman route today but then I remembered today is the Bridgefest on W. Lake Houston Parkway around the YMCA. This is a running event and traffic is re-routed for several hours. Yesterday I almost registered for the Pedaling the Prairie Ride in Hempstead. I hesitated because the last minute registration fee was $45 and the weather looked like it was going to be chilly at the start; maybe 40 degrees. My decision looked good this morning when I checked at 7:45 and the temperature at my house was 38. This is just too cold for me.

I decided to ride north on a route to Splendora and back through Roman Forest. The difference was the return leg home had to be on Loop 494 to get around the Grand Parkway construction. I haven’t biked Loop 494 going south from New Caney so I wasn’t sure what the shoulder would be like. There were some sections without a shoulder when a left turn lane was there. A few other spots had a buildup of gravel and dirt from construction traffic. Overall I think I will not ride south on Loop 494. The north bound shoulder is much better.

Riding north to Splendora was not hard with the tailwind from the south. The sun was out at the start but began to fade as I neared Splendora. I was not looking forward to the ride south without the sun to warm me up and offset the chilly wind. I rode east of Splendora on 2090 to Tram Road without too much trouble from the wind. Turning right onto Tram Road the wind hit me and my speed dropped from 17 to 18 mph to below 15 mph. I put my head down and pedaled toward Roman Forest. I have not had any dog sprints on Tram Road before but today I did. Around the 21 mile point I could a couple of dogs ahead in a yard on the right. From a distance they looked they were tied up but as I got near the driveway one dog wasn’t tied and he set out to me at a fast run. I sped up as much as the headwind would allow but the dog caught up with me and ran along side and then slightly ahead of me. My fear was he would veer in front of me and I would hit him so I shouted at him and surprisingly he stopped and I rode off. That took about all of the extra effort I had and my speed dropped to 11 or 12 mph until I got to Roman forest Blvd and turned to the west. I was able to ride a little faster with the wind hitting my left side all the way to US59.

Riding south on the US59 service road was a bear with the chilly headwind trying to slow me to a crawl. I was able to ride at 12 or 13 mph and I was glad when I reached FM1485 to turn left back to Loop 494. Before going to 494 I stopped at the gas station on the corner to refill my waterbottle and adjust my leg warmers. Other than traffic lights this was my only stop on the 40.67 mile long ride. I was in a hurry to get back home out of the chilly wind and if I stopped too long I would cool off and get chilled.

Fortunately the traffic on Loop 494 southbound was much lighter than when I was going north. This helped me when I rode around the missing shoulder section and the dirt filled ones. I planned to ride 494 to FM1314 but turned onto the street to Walmart to avoid some traffic on FM1314. I stilled had to wait for several traffic light cycles to under US59 and then onto the south service road. Normally I ride the south service road to Kingwood Drive but today I turned left on Northpark Drive to get home a little sooner. I knew I was going to ride 40+ miles which is the longest ride this year. After riding for 2 hour and 48 minutes I got back home at 2:58, ready to get warm.

I tried a new pair of leg warmers on the ride. They are nice and warm but they did not stay up over my shorts. I stopped 3 or 4 times to pull them up. The chilly wind let me know when they got low. Maybe they will do better on another pair of shorts. I wore a long sleeve jersey and jacket but I could’ve used another jersey when I was riding into the wind with the cloudy sky.

My year to date mileage finally got over 200 miles coming in at 212.32 miles. February is up to 70.82 miles.

Sunday’s weather could be in the mid 70’s and overcast. I plan on riding. Monday through Wednesday could be clear and in the low 70’s. More ride opportunities. I may get a chance to reach my 369 mile goal for February. The Humble Lions Club ride is Saturday and I plan on riding if the weather cooperates. The forecast is clear with a high of 64. I may have to ride below my temperature tolerance level.

Link to RideWithGPS map, metrics and charts.

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