Watching the Strade Bianche race in Tuscany as I ate breakfast inspired me for today’s bike ride. Gravel sections over 63 k and the dust kicked up were not on my route today. I would ride on concrete and asphalt. After those races ended and while I waited for the temperature to get above 60 degrees I changed the handlebar stem on my Blue Norcross AL bike that I use for Zwifting. It had a 110mm stem and I replaced that with the 100mm stem I took off on my Lynskey R300 bike. Bike parts can flow just like hand me down clothing.

Normally the first Saturday in March I ride the Baytown YMCA Gator Ride but it is postponed to later in March or April. If that is the case the weather probably will be much warmer than in the past. Some times the weather is windy and chilly, in the 40’s one year.

Once the temperature crossed 60 degrees I got ready to ride. Dressing for cool weather I wore shorts, polyester t-shirt, long sleeve thermal jersey, leg warmers, windbreaker jacket, and full finger gloves. It wasn’t until the last minute when I took a screenshot of the Bush IAH weather that I realized all of that clothing would come in handy to stay warm. Weather conditions during the bike ride: start 62 (48% humidity, 42.4 dew point), a few clouds, wind NE 16 mph gusts 25 mph; finish 67 (38% humidity, 40.3 dew point), a few clouds, wind NE 13 mph. The wind chill effect made my cheeks cold. More than that the headwind as I rode east over Lake Houston tried to push me to right several times while chilling me keeping my speed around 13 mph. Thankfully the return trip had a tailwind and not as chilling and faster at 18 mph and higher. Wheels down at 11:15 AM and finished at 1:51 PM.

The route was my typical Saturday one biking “Atascocita – FM 2100 – Walden”. I altered the starting 4 or 5 miles riding through Woodridge Forest and then into North Woodland Hills before heading south. I guessed the ride would be 32 miles but it turned out to be 33.63 miles. My week’s total is up to 183.47 making a 200+ mile week look possible. Month to date is the same number. I reached my Zwift goal for March on yesterday’s ride. I need 494.2 miles to reach my road miles goal. Year to date I am at 1,395 miles (road + Zwift), 45 more than 2020 at this date.

I saw five other cyclists along the route, 1 on Atascocita Shores Drive on the way to FM 1960 and the other 4 east of Lake Houston between FM 1960 and FM 2100. There were several cars parked at the church on Fairlake Lane where some cyclist like to start and finish.