Today’s bike ride could be considered a failure or a success depending on how you look at. The failure view comes from not riding the route I planned (Kingwood – FM1485 – Kingwood) because I turned back at FM 1314 due to rain. This changed the route to “Kingwood – FM1314 – Kingwood” which is part of the success view. Success resulted from earlier today thinking I would not get to ride at all because of the rain in the forecast. I bicycled 18.32 miles when I planned for 0 miles.

I watched the weather and after a very short rain the sky cleared some and the radar showed the rain south of Interstate 10 about 25 miles south and well to the east. Getting ready I pulled of the driveway at 10:58 am thinking my original route was doable. But about 2 miles into the ride I saw dark clouds in the east and then to the south. By the time I got to Loop 494 the rain clouds were in the west as well. I almost turned back then but decided the blue sky peeking through all of the white clouds to the north meant the rain would be there. Wrong! Cycling north on the I-69/US59 service road the closer I got to Porter the rain fell a little harder. I made the u-turn under I-69/US59 at FM 1314 and the rain picked up some when I pulled into the Shipley Donut store and the shelter of their porch. The rain came down and I waited until it slowed down about 25 minutes later.

Still lightly raining I left the porch and headed south on the I-69/US59 service road. The road was wet but no puddles as long as I stayed a couple of feet from the curb. Thinking it might rain harder I thought of possible places for shelter but this wasn’t necessary when I made th next u-turn at Kingwood Drive for the ride through Kings Manor and into Kingwood. The light rain fell all the way to the finish at 12:49 pm. Before putting the Canyon away I hosed off the grit and grim.

I need to lubricate the Canyon’s chain once it dries. I haven’t done that since it arrived 3,058 miles ago.

More rain in the Tuesday forecast and I don’t know if I will bike then. Between the rain and other appointments biking might be spotty until Friday.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary