After yesterday’s long ride I wasn’t sure how my legs would do today. My plan was to ride at least 30 miles but as I was riding the legs were doing good so I lengthened the ride changing to the “Atascocita South – Walden – Huffman” route instead of the shorter “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman”. I ended up biking 35.52 miles which is about what I need to average each of the remaining days in April if I am to reach my 772 mile goal. My shorter route would have required me to make up the shortage on another day but now I am at least even. April miles are up to 598 leaving 174 miles to go. I was looking at my rides this month on a calendar to see if I had biked one or two more days I would much closer to my goal but who knew we were going to have the rain. Maybe a couple of days I took off for no real reason would have helped. Moral of the story, don’t count on riding later in the month to make up.

Weather was a concern on today’s ride. The blue sky of yesterday was replaced with an overcast sky. Looking in the distance to the west it looked like rain and the forecast showed a possibility of rain. It also was cooler too; 78 when I left home at 12:32 and 74 when I got back at 3:18.

With the longer route I needed to keep a steady pace to try to avoid getting caught in the rain. The plan went well and I took a break when I got to the Huffman Chevron. My 520 screen when I got there.

Looking at the western sky I knew the stop better be short. No Powerade today. I sat down on the curb under the canopy to eat a trail mix bar and a granola bar to power me back home. I checked the weather on my phone and could rain approaching.

The orange dot in the right picture is the Chevron station. I will ride west through the green areas to Atascocita and then north. It was going to be race. I left the station around 2:30 riding west on FM1960. About 1/2 mile after leaving the station I start feeling an occasional small drizzle drop. I watched the approaching cars from the west to see if their wipers were on but I didn’t see any. The last thing I wanted was get over Lake Houston and the rain catch me. The last refuge was the Exxon station before getting on the causeway, still no wipers. So I rode across the causeway. I could feel very light rain but the road wasn’t getting wet, just me. It stayed this way as I rode to Pinehurst Trails and turned right. The drizzle slowed at times but was with me as I made my way to W. lake Houston Parkway. I thought maybe getting north of the river the drizzle would stop but that didn’t happen until I reached the YMCA when it stopped. But north of Kingwood Drive it began again all the way home. After putting my bike away I went into the house and while putting my shoes and helmet away I could hear the rain start to hit the skylight. As I write this now it is raining more and I would have been very wet. For a change I beat the rain home.

I almost forgot about the boy on a BMX bike taking a header in Town Center. I was coming down the street towards Fuddruckers and at the intersection I saw the boy ride up over the curb and then lean forward pulling the rear tire up off the ground. This went well for about 10 feet and then he went to far forward and flipped over the handle bars landing on the pavement. I rode up to him and asked if he was okay and he said he was. His two friends rode offer and were helping him up. No helmet but that would not look cool.

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for overcast sky, a high of 86 and a 25% or less chance of rain. I should be able to ride.

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/8666180/embed 48% 600px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/555846276/embed/52ccff39867c1d484e5678b5cb6eacc498bbdccc 48% 405px]