Today’s bike ride started off well at 9:41 AM. I selected the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route for distance which turned out to be 42.23 miles moving June’s total to 116.42 miles, 15% of my 800 mile goal. Strava tells me, This was harder than your usual effort.

The weather heated up but I dressed for it: shorts, short sleeve jersey, and arm sleeves. Weather during the bike ride: start 90 (66% humidity), mostly cloudy wind S 5 mph. Finish 94 (51% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind SE 9 mph.

I looked for changes along the route since the last time I rode this route was April 9th, 2019. The first 21 miles is on roads I ride frequently but once I turned right on FM 1960 from FM 2100 heading east the roads define this route. A went well until about the 23.5 mile point when I felt my rear tire going soft. I slowed, got of the bike and squeezed the rear tire, knowing what to expect, it was soft. I slowly spun the rear tire around looking for the culprit and didn’t see anything. Ahead on the shoulder were three parked trucks blocking the shoulder. The occupants were working under a railroad track bridge beside FM 1960. Watching the east bound traffic I walked around the trucks looking for a spot where I could work on the flat. Not far from the last truck the guardrail ended so I chose that place. I found a discarded washcloth to rest the rear derailleur on, shifted the rear cassette to the third ring, and removed the wheel.

My sunglasses are good for distance vision while riding but up closed I can’t see clearly so I removed them and inspected the rear tire looking for the problem. Starting at the valve stem I rotated the wheel to the left and about 10 inches from the stem I found the potential problem, a piece of glass sticking into the tire. Using my nail I dug it out and thought this must be it. I used the tire tools to get the bead loose from the rim, pulled the tube out around where the glass stuck and found the hole in the tube. Thinking that was easy I got the patch kit from my seat back and got concerned when I saw the glue tube looked like it was punctured making me think it wasn’t any good. Moving ahead I roughed up the tube, removed the lid from glue and was relieved when glue came out. I spread the glue around the puncture, waited for the glue to dry, and made a note to put a new patch kit in my seat bag when I get home. I applied the patch, pressed it on firmly and pushed the tube back in the tire. To be safe I inspected the rest of the tire and found a number of cuts and gashed before coming across a piece of wire buried in the tire. Using the sheetrock screw that I mark puncture holes with I dug out the piece of wire. Pulling the tube out again this time I didin’t find any damage to the tube from the wire. I guess I found it in time. With the tube back in the tire I remounted the bead, pumped up the tire and began putting all the stuff away giving the patch time to tell me if I did a good job or not. The patch held and the tire was firm so I got back on the Canyon and continued the bike ride. After the ride I will install new tires and probably new tubes. The front tire has 7,875 miles on it and the rear has 8,345 miles. I think this is the most miles I biked on a set of tire.

This route is on of the few I ride regularly that is 99.9% in Harris County. The only part not there is the few tenths of a mile into Liberty County before I turn around and ride back to the west. One day soon I need to continue east on FM 1960 to FM 686. I use to ride there frequently but the chip seal shoulder and dogs east of the railroad overpass lessen the appeal of biking there. Maybe the dogs have other things to keep them busy and I will tolerate the chip seal.

On Huffman-Eastgate Road the surface is smooth as is Willy Lane until I got to the Luce Bayou construction project. That doesn’t last but a short distance and then I stopped at the May Community Center to refill my waterbottle. That didn’t take long and I was off biking west on Wolf Road. At FM 2100 I stopped at the Texaco store and added ice to my water bottle.

Riding south on FM 2100 I wasn’t aware of the detour around the Luce Bayou project. The shoulder disappeared forcing me onto the main detour lanes with a concrete barrier on my right. Fortunately while I rode through the work zone no south bound traffic accompanied me until I got past the concrete barrier and moved back to the shoulder.

My thoughts were to stop at the Huddle House restaurant in Huffman and use my free waffle coupon but when I got there I wasn’t hungry and remembering the apple fritter from yesterday’s ride and the sugar overload I decided not to stop.

Biking south on FM 2100 into the headwind was taxing but making the right turn onto FM 1960 the wind shift to my left and pedaling became easier. The ride from there back to Kingwood went smoothly. At Fuddruckers I saw another cyclist as I waited to cross Kingwood Drive and we exchanged hellos. The last 2+ miles to the finish went well and I finished the ride at 1:29 PM.

Weather on Wednesday could be very wet as a tropical storm heads to the gulf around Houston. I probably will not be able to ride. It should move on by Thursday morning and maybe I can bike then.

2019 and 2018 are separated by only 10 miles while 2017 and 2016 trail by larger margins.