I got up around 5:20 AM to get ready for the bike ride. After eating breakfast and getting dressed I left home at 6:40 AM for the short drive the start location at Humble ISD Career and Technology Center on Will Clayton Parkway. Arriving a few minutes before 7 AM I found a parking place not too far from the registration tent. I preregistered so it didn’t take long to get my wrist band and number tag for the front of my bike. After that I positioned myself on a route other people would take to register and handed out Texbiker.net business cards giving all that I had away. One person complimented me on the website.

From there I returned to the Jeep and sat inside to keep warm until 7:35 AM. With the 8 AM start that gave me time to get the Lynskey R300 out of the Jeep, put the wheels on and finished getting dressed for the ride. Weather at the start was 53 degrees with a steady NE 7 mph wind helping the wind chill. I dressed for cold with shorts, leg warmers, thermal long sleeve jersey, regular long sleeve jersey, wind jacket, and full finger gloves. In case it warmed up I put regular gloves in the jacket pocket. Weather like this is normally below my threshold for biking but I like the ride and it is close to home.

At 8:06 I pushed the start button on the Elemnt computer and prepared to ride onto Will Clayton Parkway headed east into the wind. It took riding to W. Lake Houston Parkway to get my body heat up to counter the chill. On Will Clayton Parkway we rode north. Not too long after riding on W lake Houston I heard a crash just behind me and looked in my mirror to a biker down on the pavement. He jumped back up and got on his bike.

I stopped at the first rest stop to get a cloth for my nose and when I left about 20 feet ahead another cyclist was down on the pavement with his head on the curb. His fall looked more serious. Several people were helping him as I rode by.

I was comfortable riding in the chilly weather but when mile 23 came it started raining lightly. I hoped it would go away and it did after a mile or so but the my legs felt the cold water drops as they came through the leg warmers’ fabric. When I rode out the rain the dampness went away with the help of the wind.

From that point the route was more friendly. I stopped at rest stop 3 and ate several cookies for energy and took another cyclist’s picture for him. I thought the next rest stop would be in Crosby but it wasn’t at the place the map showed. Riding from mile 29 at rest stop 3 to mile 43 where rest stop 4 in Deussen Park waited stretched my energry so at stop 4 I ate more cookies and several cups of Gatorade and rest for several minutes before setting off on the last 12 miles.

The last 12 miles went north into the wind for 7 miles and then turned west for 5 miles where I enjoyed a tailwind to the finish at 12:11 PM.

Links to Strava activity and SportTracks activity.

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