28 MPH Gusts and Lots Of Wildflowers Bike Ride
It has been a while since I rode the “Kingwood – Splendora – Kingwood” route. The last time was June 22, 2018. I waited for the temperature to go up some and finally set out at 11:55 AM. I chose this route to ride close to 40 miles and ended up biking 44.21 miles because I added a loop through Tavola and rode on Railroad Ave. starting at 19.3 miles, south of Splendora.
As I got ready to leave I checked the NWAA app for the local weather and got a foretaste of what it was going to be like biking to Splendora. Wind was from the NW at 13 mph with 22 mph gusts. Since the temperature at the start barely crossed into the 70’s I chose a long sleeve thermal jersey topped with a short sleeve jersey, and bike shorts. The sun broke through the mostly cloudy sky sometimes but my choice of clothing wasn’t too hot as the ride progressed. At the 3:19 PM finish the wind was stronger at 15 mph from the NW and 28 mph gusts which helped me on the ride back from Splendora.
Yesterday (Sunday) a strong rain storm moved through the area keeping me inside off the bike and without electricity for several hours. It didn’t hurt the wildflowers along the route today. I took these photos south of Creekwood Drive.
Surviving the wind I made the turn around at FM 2090 in Splendora moving to the I-69/US59 south bound frontage road. I didn’t too far and stopped to take these photos of more wildflowers.
The ride south back to Kingwood was easier but there were places where I hit the headwind like Valley Ranch Parkway. I improved my average speed once I rode to the south to 14.3 mph and held it there until the 40 mile point as I entered Kings Manor and then into Kingwood where it dropped down 14.1 mph by the finish.
More great weather on Tuesday but maybe not so windy. I will turning the pedals.
SportTracks Bike Ride Summary
Strava Year Progressions YTD Miles Graph
2019 trails 2016 and 2017 but is ahead of 2018 YTD miles.