It was a dark and stormy night. Well not the case for today’s bike ride on the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route. At the 11:48 am start the sun was breaking through what was left of the early morning fog. The temperature was 76 degrees and the wind was from the south 8 mph. Much better than yesterday’s bike ride. I dressed appropriately with a short sleeve jersey over a long sleeve jersey topping bike shorts. Maybe I was a little too optimistic?

I knew this route should be over 40 miles as I work towards my 360 mile November goal. It came in at 41.67 miles and bumping my November total to 339.3 miles, leaving 20.7 miles to hit the goal. Sunday maybe the last ride day until late next week due to the weather changing and a minor surgery. So I better ride at least 21 miles.

The ride went well but as I made my way south I saw clouds moving to the north blocking out the sun as they came. By the time I got to Walden the sun was gone and the warmth it provided left too. That was when I wanted a warmer outfit; maybe the thermal jersey would have been okay without the short sleeve jersey over it? As long as I rode with the wind the chill wasn’t so bad but turning into the wind accentuated the chill. Surprisingly riding east over Lake Houston wasn’t so chilly with the wind not picking up any coolness from the water. It was different on the ride west back over the lake. I don’t know if it was the absence of the sun or slightly stronger wind but I couldn’t wait to get to the west side where I hoped it would be warmer.

Before that I met the first of four cyclists on Atascocita Shores Drive south of FM 1960. We exchanged waves as we passed riding opposite directions. I thought that would be the only cyclist today with my late start. But after I got on FM 1960 riding east over the Lake Houston another biker passed me on the left riding a white Orbea. I watched as he slowly moved farther in front of me util I saw him swerve and then stop, moving his bike to the concrete guardrail and then flip it upside down. By then I came to where he was and stopped. I asked if he had supplies to fix the flat and if the broken concrete on the shoulder caused him to swerve. He said yes, but he didn’t see the concrete in time to avoid it, probably causing a pinch flat. His tires looked like 23mm or 25mm which might not be able to absorb the hit. I rode through the same concrete but avoided the big pieces plus my Continental Gatorskins seem to handle debris. After a couple of minutes and he starting to work on the flat I said goodbye and continued riding.

When I made the turn onto Old Atascocita Road I noticed the sign about the road closure for the bridge repair had a different date. At first I rode by making a mental note but then I circled back to take a photo.; one to remind me and second to include  here.

After taking the photo anther cyclist came up from the east asking if I was okay. I told him about the bridge closing and he said he wasn’t aware of it and took a photo too. I told him the sign previously had 11/21/18 to 1/30/19 but changed to the new dates. We chatted for a minute or so and then we both rode our way, he to the west and me to the east.

Biking east on Old Atascocita Road wasn’t too difficult with the wind and I built my average speed to 14 mph but making the right turn onto Ramsey Road the headwind hit full force. For about a mile I maintained my speed but then my speed started to go down as the legs couldn’t put out anymore power. I noticed the watts were above 300, almost at 400 sometimes as I rode into the wind. Finally when I turned right again onto Stroker Road the headwind became a left rear quarter tailwind and my speed went back up while the watts dropped down. I regain the lost average speed and by the time I got to FM 2100 I was at 14.3 mph. Riding north on FM 2100 I increased the average speed to 14.6 mph where I kept it until I got back to W. Lake Houston Parkway and it fell to 14.5 mph.

The fourth cyclist I saw was on FM 2100 as I rode north of Old Atascocita Road. He was going south. I almost missed him because of passing traffic but I caught sight of him between cars and we exchanged waves. Later at the corner of Kings River Drive and W. Lake Houston Parkway a woman biker was standing on the greenbelt drinking water as I made the turn onto WLHP. From there I made my way home and finished the ride at 2:48 pm glad to get inside where I could shed the wet jerseys and get out of the chilly wind.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary