My plan was to leave early on today’s bike ride. But as I was eating breakfast the temperature starting dropping and the wind picked up. From 71 it fell to 63 degrees. I wasn’t sure if it would warm up and checking the weather map wasn’t encouraging. I continued eating and began to watch the final stage of the Itzulia Basque Country hoping it would warm up. Around 9 AM the temperature stopped going down and slowly increased to 72 when I started the bike ride at 11:22 AM. The ride finished at 1:49 PM.

Route selection today was “Atascocita – Huffman – Walden” which usually on Saturday means seeing other cyclists. But the late start probably put all of them at home by the time I reached FM 1960. I saw two other cyclists, one at Town Center in Kingwood early in the ride and the other on Atascocita Shores Drive on the way to FM 1960. There was a car with a bike rack in the church parking lot on Fairlake Lane where some riders start. But I didn’t see the cyclist along the route.

Today’s route followed the one I used last year before changing first 4 miles in 2021. I rode 32.2 miles today pushing the week’s total to 219.22 miles. This is the highest week in 2021 so far. I could add to it if I bike tomorrow. April totals 358.11 miles, 60% of the way to my 600 mile goal. 2021 now leads 2020 YTD miles by 17 miles.

The wind that arrived with the temperature drop was challenging most of the ride. I dressed thinking it would get close to the forecast high with shorts, a long sleeve jersey, and a short sleeve jersey on top. Weather: start 72 (63% humidity, 59 dew point), a few clouds, wind N 16 mph; finish 81 (32% humidity, 48.4 dew point), a few clouds, wind N 15 mph gusts 22 mph. Those gusts hit me as I rode west over Lake Houston more than the east bound ride. I thought being close to the concrete guardrail would shield me some but it moved me around when a gust blew from my right side.

Strava reported two local legends for me. The same segment with one the reverse direction.