March wind is not letting up. I watched two road races from Europe before leaving on today’s bike ride, Paris – Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. They rode some hills but no wind like I did today. I chose a northerly route which meant a tailwind for the first 17 miles as I biked my “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route for a total of 35.31 miles. My week now totals 138.07 miles and the month 264.3 miles, all road miles. I rolled out on my Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike at 10:53 AM and finished at 1:58 PM.

Not all was smooth biking though. As I headed south on the US59 southbound frontage road approaching the Montgomery County Courthouse Annex my front tire started losing air. I pulled into the parking lot and spotted a bench to check for the problem. I found a small piece of sharp rock, plucked it out and got the tube out of the tire. I found the hole and prepared it for the patch. That’s when I found out the glue was almost all dried out with just enough to cover the patch area. The glue dried and I applied the patch. Waiting a minute or two before stuffing the tube back in the tire for the glue to cure it looked good. I pumped the tire up and it held pressure. This took about 20 minutes which somewhat fast for me. Back on the road I battled the headwind some more. This photo is after I fixed the flat.

Weather conditions: start 75 (72% humidity, 65 dew point), overcast, wind S 15 mph gusts 23 mph; finish 77 (68% humidity, 65.6 dew point), overcast, wind S 16 mph gusts 24 mph. The wind was strong helping me get to Tavola but extracting a price on the return. It was warm enough for me to wear shorts, a long sleeve jersey and a short sleeve jersey without a jacket.