I wanted to ride at least 40 miles today so I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route and went 42.09 miles. May now totals 516.74 miles, 78% of the way to my 660 mile goal for the month.

Starting the ride at 10:47 AM the weather had warmed up and I dressed accordingly: shorts, short sleeve jersey, and arm sleeves. Weather during the bike ride: start 87 (73% humidity), partly cloudy, wind SE 22 mph. Finish 87 (70% humidity), partly cloudy, wind S 16 mph gusts 29 mph. The wind was a killer though.

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I knew the ride to Roman Forest wouldn’t be too difficult with the wind at my right rear quarter but on the way back I figured the headwind would be tough. While it was hard biking south I was able to keep my speed high enough to improve my average speed to 14.5 mph but I didn’t keep it there. Sometimes the wind and road direction were square in my face and when that happened the average speed dropped to 14.4 mph. I managed to keep that until mile 37 when I approached Kings Manor and it dropped to 14.3 mph and settled at 13.9 mph when I finished at 1:56 PM. The starts and stops in Kingwood eat away at my average speed.

Some physical data points:

• average heart rate: 131 bps
• max heart rate: 159 bps
• average power: 140 watts
• max power: 651 watts

Tuesday the Giro d’Italia resumes so my start time may be later. Weather looks to repeat today.

2019 is 41 miles behind 2018, 189 miles ahead of 2017, and 9 miles behind 2016.