Out for today’s bike ride on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route the air felt lighter and cooler though there is a heat advisory alert starting at 9 am. I started at 10:06 am so I thought it would feel hot. Weather during the bike ride: start 87 (60% humidity), partly cloudy, wind SE 6 mph. Finish 93 (55% humidity), s few clouds, wind 6 mph. Maybe the humidity was the reason for not feeling so hot?

The 32.16 miles from the bike ride put my Canyon bike at 5,021.5 miles since I got it in late February. Only 83 miles left to reach my August goal of 800 miles.

I think I experienced a cascading technology effect at the beginning of the ride. On Monday I received my replacement TickrFit heart rate monitor. It paired with my Elemnt computer with no problem but not with the PowerPod power meter. On Tuesday I got a new phone (Pixel 2 XL) which then loaded all of my apps but when I opened the Wahoo Companion app to connect to the Elemnt computer I had to go through the setup process. So far so good but yesterday after the ride I checked the PowerPod to see if it was connected the TickrFit and it wasn’t. The speed sensor and cadence were connected to the PowerPod. So I made some “adjustments” using the Isaac program on the PowerPod hoping to fix the TickrFit pairing. At the start of today’s ride I went through the pairing process with the PowerPod to pair to the TickrFit. Not successful. Not remembering what the different LED colors meant on the PowerPod I tried several times and ended up forcing the “Out & Back Calibration” starting not once but several times. Somehow I managed to press the PowerPod button the right way and it started sending power readings to the Elemnt computer. This was about 4 miles into the bike ride. Later I will check the PowerPod with Isaac to see what the wireless settings are. I wish there was a phone app that would configure the PowerPod like the Elemnt computer.

The bike ride went normally though with all of the stops to work on the PowerPod impacted my average speed keeping it below 13 mph until about 16 miles into the ride. I stopped at the Huffman Chevron long enough to refill my water bottle, wipe some sweat off me and some dirt off the Canyon bike. This took about 8 to 10 minutes and then I was back on the Canyon riding west on FM 1960. I decided to try the large chainring since the wind wasn’t in my face. As long as I was shielded by the trees south of the road and east of the lake I turned the pedals at 19 to 20 mph but once I was over the lake the wind got the better of me. I stayed in the large gear but the speed dropped to 16 mph.

On the west side of Lake Houston I changed back to my normal gearing and kept my average speed just below 14 mph until I was in Kingwood. I finished the ride at 12:41 pm while the heat wasn’t near the the advisory level.

Hot weather will continue for a few more days. I should start earlier.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary