A change in the weather for today’s bike ride. The blue sky departed and the wind increased. A wind advisory was in effect and I felt it. Getting home from church the wind knocked over a large plant on the patio. I knew it would be tough bike ride into the wind. I didn’t know how tough until I checked the weather as I got ready to leave; 45 mph gusts from the south. Thankfully the route I chose, “Forest Cove – Oakhurst – Valley Ranch”, went west and north more than south into the wind. I pushed the Lynskey R300 bike out to the driveway with the tree moving from the wind. I pressed the start button on the Bolt computer at 1:35 PM setting of on the ride.

The route took me south to the San Jacinto Bayou Greenway, west to US59, and north through Oakhurst, Briar Tree and Valley Ranch. Up to that point the wind mostly was from behind. But when I rode to the US59 south bound frontage road at the Valley Ranch Texaco the wind was waiting. From there to Northpark Drive a headwind fought me all the way. While riding south I spotted two “pilot” trucks passing with their height checking poles up. That warned me an oversize load was coming. I kept pedaling until I saw it in my mirror. As it approached I pulled to a driveway and waited for the load to pass. As it neared it veered to the left and up onto the freeway. I could’ve stayed on the road and pedaling but I didn’t know that. Maybe the short rest allowed my legs to recover some to make it to Northpark Drive.

The weather I faced: start 80 (humidity 55%, dew point 62), partly cloudy, wind S 22 mph gusts 45 mph; finish 76 (humidity 64%, dew point 63), overcast, wind S 20 mph gusts 39 mph. I dressed light since the temperature was 80: shorts, short sleeve jersey and arm sleeves. As strong as the wind was it felt cooler than 80 but I was comfortable. By the 3:44 PM finish the temperature went down 4 degrees.

Four times I biked today’s route so far in 2022. Today was the longest and slowest. All 4 rides were on the Lynskey R300 bike because I usually ride it on Sunday. The warmest ride was 3/27/2022.

Wrapping up the week I biked each day for a total of 233.17 miles averaging 33.31 miles per ride. All the rides were less than 40 miles. I rode my Cervelo Caledonia 5 times and the Lynskey R300 2 times. This is the 4th week in a row with 200+ miles. I am up to 345.99 miles for the month, 53% of my 650 mile goal. I have biked every day starting February 17th. Year to date I rode 1,654 miles (road and Zwift). This trails 2021 by 142 miles, 2020 by 206 miles, and 2019 by 121 miles.