The weather resembled the forecast for today’s bike ride. When I started the bike ride at 11:18 am the sun tried to break through the thin clouds and brighten the day. I chose the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route after seeing the weather over a shorter route. I need miles to reach my goal for October and biked 42.1 miles moving my total for the month to 503.39 miles, 197 miles short of the goal. Since last Sunday the weather has not been kind or helpful to reach this goal.

Weather during today’s bike ride: start 75 (73% humidity), overcast, wind E 9 mph. Finish (80 (81% humidity), light rain/overcast, wind SE 5 mph.

I wasn’t the only cyclist out today. I saw several vehicles with bikes on racks as well as three cyclists along the route. The first was around 13.7 miles in Atascocita. The second approached me on Fairlake Drive (17.5 miles) and the last was on W. Lake Houston Parkway (39 miles).

With the light wind once I got past the winding residential streets and on the longer stretches of road I set a good pace at 16 to 17 mph improving my overall average speed to 14 mph and up. The ride east of FM 2100 in the open fields wasn’t to bad for a change with the wind not slowing me down. With the fewer miles lately my legs recovered some and headwind was not a problem.

On Wednesday without biking weather I cleaned the chain and lubricated it with WD40 Bike Lube Dry conditions. The chain ran smoothly and quite during the ride though some residue collected on the chain stay because I didn’t wipe the chain before the ride. This is the original chain with 6454 miles on it and does not have a removal link. I cleaned the chain on the bike with a toothbrush and Simple Green cleaner. Previously I used Chain-L 5 lube which is sticky. I prefer a waxed chain and when I replace this chain that will be the lube. I don’t like the mess from oil lubes.

At 30.1 miles I pulled into the Huffman Chevron for a 20 minute rest break. When I went inside the shelves and fountain area moved and the nice bright lighting installed. It looked new. While I rested I ate a Clif Bar and drank water. Leaving I hoped to beat the high school traffic on Kingwood Drive but when I got there the cars lined up. After a few minutes a couple of kind drivers let me cross.

Before getting there while I rode across Lake Houston going west I felt a few rain drops. The sky didn’t look threatening but every so often a rain drop or three came down. This continued all the way to Kingwood Drive. I saw the drops on the Elemnt computer screen. Wanting to get home without rain I sped up some and finished the ride at 2:39 pm dry except for the sweat I generated.

Because the temperature at the start and the clouds I chose to wear a long sleeve jersey under a short sleeve University of Cincinnati jersey. Generally this was a comfortable setup once I warmed up.

I want to ride on Saturday but the weather forecast is mixed with a chance of rain and cooler 72 degrees. Another front could arrive late afternoon to Sunday morning.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary