I knew the wind was going to be tough today but that is part of a bike ride. I made it to SH 242 pretty easily but making the turn to the south was when the hard pedaling began and it didn’t let up until I made the u-turn under I-69/US59 at Kingwood Drive. All of this took place riding the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route for a total of 34.09 miles. These two screenshots from my phone show the weather around the start of the bike ride (12:14 pm) and the finish (2:49 pm) at the airport to the southwest of Kingwood,

Start

Finish

The weather during the ride: start 81 (57% humidity), partly cloudy, wind S 12 mph gusts 25 mph. Finish 82 (53% humidity), partly cloudy, wind S 15 mph gusts 27 mph.

Riding to SH 242 I could pedal at 19 to 20 mph without too much effort. Watching the power output on the Elemnt computer I was 200 watts or less. I built my average speed up to 15.2 mph but this start blowing away when I turned to the south. My speed dropped to 10 mph at times when a gust would hit and I worked hard to get back up to 14 to 15 mph. Watts now were 200 and up most of the time except when I stopped pedaling because my legs couldn’t turn anymore. I got a little relief when I turned right onto Valley Ranch Parkway and rode west with the wind coming at me from the left. The shopping center buildings blocked the wind some and after I crossed under the Grand Parkway and crawled up the slight incline I had the trees to block some of it.

Any time I was out in the open the wind came at me sometimes pushing me to the side but I held the bars and regained my line. I stopped at the FM 1314 traffic light and needed the rest. After it changed it was a fight to get to the next one at Northpark Drive where I rested again waiting for a green light. At the Kingwood Drive u-turn I stopped long enough for the turning traffic to pause and then was back on the northbound service road with a tailwind. From there I wove my way through Kings Manor and then into Kingwood with the still making it hard.

Finishing the ride I was relieved so that my tired legs could recover. Could be more wind tomorrow too.

For the week I stand at 175.03 miles, 677.79 miles for March and 1512.09 miles year to date.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary