I wasn’t planning on riding the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route when I started the ride this morning at 8:19 am. Instead I planned to ride the “Kingwood to Ramsey Road – Kingwood” route but I changed my mind while on Old Atascocita Road east of FM 2100. I wanted to ride at least 36 miles to hit 200+ miles for the week but I realized to do that I needed to ride longer than to Ramsey Road and back. To get the extra miles why not just ride the “Stroker Road – Huffman” router. I ended up biking 42.11 miles which got me to 206.02 miles for the week and 6% of the 700 mile goal for September. Great start for September. Now I will rest on Sunday and watch stage 9 of the Vuelta a Espana.

Weather was looking iffy at times. It started out overcast and as I bicycled south the clouds on the south horizon were dark in places. In my mind I thought of places to shelter if the rain came but it did not materialize where I rode. Some of the roads showed dampness and puddles but no rain on me. Weather during the ride: 77 (94% humidity), overcast, wind NE 8 mph. Finish 90 (65% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind S 5 mph. I don’t know if the abundance of clouds influenced the feel but the temperature reminded me of an early fall day. That didn’t keep me from sweating heavily though.

Looking for other cyclists during the ride is the main reason I start early (for me anyway) and the first ones appeared at FM 1960 and Atascocita Shores Drive when I pulled up to the traffic light. No time to get my phone out for photos. Cycling east over Lake Houston several other bikers passed going west on the far side but no warning time to take photos. The first opportunity was on Fairlake Drive.

Now I looked for more and they came in groups on Old Atascocita Road. Earlier I wondered if I missed most of them. As some passed me they asked if I was okay. One pair commented that I was taking photos last Saturday too. Some groups were silent as they pedaled by and others talked among them.

In some of the photos the clouds are numerous and sometimes blocked the sun.

After I made the right turn onto Ramsey Road one last cyclist approached, a woman on the aerobars. I waved. At the Peters Road and Ramsey Road intersection I took this selfie.

Maybe the next one I won’t look so serious. The clouds in the background were serious and the roads had moisture on them as I rode to Huffman where I stopped at the Chevron station for a rest and PowerAde drink. The ride summary up to that point.

I stayed at The station about 25 minutes, long enough for the PowerPod to go to sleep. As I left I pushed the PowerPod start button and it came to life ready to send watts to the Elemnt computer. By now the clouds thinned some and the sun came through. Riding west wasn’t too hard and I boosted my overall average speed to 14.4 mph. At the Atascocita Shores traffic light I turned left to begin the loop south back around to FM 1960. At Farmingham Road I saw the last cyclists of the day as they rode west away from me. At this point about 7 miles remained and I rode north with some wind resistance slowing down. My average speed dropped to 14.3 mph and stayed there until I got back to Kingwood. I finished the ride at 12:15 pm. Not too long after that some rain came down but not enough to measure.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary