This week starts off warmer than last week. Today is Pi day, March 14 or 3.14. The bike ride began at 11:22 AM riding the Cervelo Caledonia Rival AXS bike. It felt great riding outside after Zwifting most of last week. I rode north along US59 to Tavola where I turned to the east to ride through Roman Forest. I call this the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route. The last time I rode this route was October 27th, 2021. I didn’t think it had been that long ago. The ride distance came in at 41.13 miles to get me back on track to reach my 650 mile goal for March. I’m up to 266.2 miles now. Riding time of 2:57:08.

Getting to Roman Forest wasn’t too hard thanks to the SE 13 mph wind but the ride back was much harder. The hardest section was on Valley Ranch Parkway from the southbound US59 service road to FM 1314. Stretches of road exposed to the wind (see the video for the flags at New Caney ISD football stadium) plus the rolling small hills into the wind. I shifted to an easier gear for that section. According to AXS.SRAM.com I changed the rear derailleur 30 times during the ride. The majority of the time I used the 35×15 gears with 35×13 next.

At Rock Creek Drive and Northpark Drive the missing brown and white dog was back. He chased me as I rode west on Northpark to the usual spot where he stops. I didn’t see the brown dog.

Weather conditions: start 70 (humidity 73%, dew point 61), partly cloudy, wind SE 13 mph; finish 76 (humidity 62%, dew point 62), overcast, wind SE 13 mph. I wore a new Bellwether Alterra long sleeve jersey under a wind breaker jacket. No need for leg warmers thank goodness. This jersey is a soft fabric, sleeves are the right length, it was longer than the jacket but that is okay. The rear pockets are different: two vertical ones with a zipper and one left side horizontal with a zipper. I was comfortable and the jersey and jacket combination went well. I used the jacket pocket to hold the GoPro camera.

Strava ride summary data and RWGPS route map.