No bike ride on Saturday but today I ventured out. I wanted to get enough miles to get close to the 300 mile point for April but starting at 12:55 pm I didn’t have time to ride 30+ miles. I chose the “Atascocita – Walden – E. Lake Houston Parkway” route and biked 29.48 miles. This put April at 297.96 miles, just a couple of miles short. If the rain on Saturday had stopped by noon and the temperature got above 60 degrees before late afternoon I was going to ride but it didn’t happen.

For variety I rode the Blue Norcross AL bike for the first time February 26th. That was the day the Canyon Endurace CF SLX arrived. I didn’t want Blue to feel neglected for too long.

The wind was strong from the NW and the temperature was 66 when I started the ride today. I bundled up with shorts, leg warmers, thermal long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey, wind break jacket and full finger gloves. I hoped it would reach the forecast high of 70 by the time I finished but it feel short by 1 degrees. The weather during the bike ride: start 66 (36% humidity), clear, wind NW 17 mph gusts 23 mph. Finish 69 (35% humidity), clear, wind W 16 mph.

I battled the wind most of the ride. There didn’t seem to be any direction for a tailwind. No other cyclists crossed my route and I don’t blame them. Other than the wind the ride went well until the 22.3 mile point when I had a rear flat. I found a spot on a side street by Atascocita Shores Drive and set up to fix the flat. It didn’t take long to find the piece of glass sticking out of the tire. At least I didn’t have to hunt to find the problem. I loosened one side of the tire and pulled the tube out. As I worked on finding the exact spot a lady in a SUV stopped and asked if I was okay. She said she wanted to be sure I hadn’t crashed. I told her I was okay, just fixing a flat. I thanked her and she turned around and drove back to Atascocita Shores Drive.

Opening the patch kit I looked for the sheetrock screw I usually have to put in the hole so I don’t lose it but no screw was there. I roughed up the tube with the sandpaper and found the hole again.. Putting glue on the tube I thought I had the hole located and waited for the glue to dry. I think because of the coolness and wind the glue wasn’t fully dry when I put the patch on where I thought the hole was. The patch looked good and I stuffed the tube in the tire and remounted it after pumping the tube up some and letting the air out. I pumped the tire up to what felt to be a good pressure and put the wheel back on Blue. After putting the patch kit and levers back in the saddle bag I got on the bike and rode on. Surprisingly this was quicker than my usual flat tire repairs. Some photos of the Elment when I stopped and resumed.

Stop to fix the flat

After the repair

Riding west on Atascocita Shores Drive and then Kings River Drive I made it back to W. Lake Houston Parkway. So far no problem from the rear tire. Riding north on W. Lake Houston Parkway I glanced at the rear tire to see how it was doing. I could see it was not as firm and knew my patch job was not good. At Kingwood Drive I started standing up and riding to keep the weight off the rear tire some. The rear tire was slowly losing air. I kept riding and standing up until I reached the Hunters Ridge pool where i decided to walk from there to home. As I rode up the sidewalk a couple walked across the pool entrance with their dog. The dog was afraid of my bike and cowered behind the man until I stopped and told the man I was going left and they were going right. The lady said their dog was very scared of bikes and I said maybe he had been hit by one. She agreed that might be the cause. After they got to the right of me the dog moved to the end of the leash and seemed to be calmer.

Walking home was not to far. Stopping the Elemnt at the pool the ride finished at 3:33 pm.

At home I removed the wheel and checked my patch job. The patch just barely covered the hole which was why the air leaked out. I removed the patch, put a screw in the hole (later added to the patch kit), sanded the tube, applied the glue which dried much quicker, and applied the patch. Thanks to the screw I think this patch covered the hole. I will check later. I put the wheel back on Blue but noticed the rim moved side to side. Looking at the axle one of the nuts was not tight and after turning it a half turn the wheel wobble was gone. So much for my patching skills on the road.

No power readings for this ride. I didn’t take time to move the PowerPod from the Canyon to Blue.

Warmer weather on Monday and I plan to bike but Blue will stay home while I ride the Canyon Endurace Cf SLX.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary