It was July 2014 the last time I rode the “New Caney – FM1485 E – Huffman” route. I shortened it about 5 miles from the usual ride coming in at 39.63 miles. I used some different streets to get out of Kingwood which probably was the reason for most of the difference. I rode past the spot where the dog chased me on FM1485 east of the San Jacinto river but he wasn’t there today which is okay.

The weather was ideal for biking: 87 degrees, scattered clouds with a strong wind. When I left home at 11:29 the IAH weather station had a SE wind at 14 mph with 20 mph gusts. By the time I got back home at 2:28 the dropped a little from the ESE at 9 mph with 18 mph gusts. The hardest part of the route was going east on FM1485 and then south on FM2100. The headwind required extra effort. My average speed fluctuated on those roads around 15.6 mph but I was able to hold it there and when I finally got a tailwind from Huffman to home I upped it 16.0 mph and held it there until I got into Kingwood where the residential streets and stops dragged it down to 15.6 mph at the end of the ride.

I was glad I wore a long sleeve jersey for a couple of reasons. There is a section of FM1485 south of the Huffman – Cleveland Road intersection where there is no shoulder and the road has some rough places in it. The florescent orange jersey made me highly visible I think and the traffic gave me plenty of room when the few cars passed. The long sleeves meant no sunscreen on my arms and warm when riding in the shade.

At the 27.7 mile point I made it to the Huffman Chevron for a rest stop. I got a Powerade drink and ate the snacks I brought with me. I sat down at my usual spot and leaned back against the gas pump canopy post. Unbeknownst to me they painted the canopy posts with aluminum paint which wasn’t completely dry. For some reason I started to lean forward and couldn’t . I was stuck to the post with my jersey. With some extra effort I finally got loose. I couldn’t see my back but I guessed the sticky spot was about 10″ in diameter. I moved over to the store front where there was a sign. No paint there but the sticky paint on my jersey grabbed the plastic sign promising $.30 per gal back if you sign up for a Chevron credit card. I wasn’t as stuck as the post but I didn’t have to worry about falling over. When I got home I showed my wife and when I took the jersey off the spot was solid paint with some cracks in it about 10″ in diameter. I tried washing the paint off with not much success. Maybe the washing machine will do better. By the way, there were no wet paint signs. I showed my jersey back to one of the clerks and she chuckled.

From Huffman to home the wind was at my back and I kept a good pace. The week is off to a good start biking wise.

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