Looking for something to blame for starting today’s bike ride after 9 AM I will pick on Words2. I was trying to find a high scoring word to regain the lead but I settled for a low scoring one. That out of the way I rode my Lynskey Helix bike heading south and east to Huffman at 9:25 AM and finishing at 12:09 PM. This is the first ride that direction this week which is unusual. The “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route averages around 34 miles the 20 times I biked it in 2022. Today I rode 34.51 miles improving my week’s total to 117.41 miles and August is at 561.3 miles narrowing the gap to my 800 mile goal for August. Year to date I am up to 6,334 miles, which puts me 13 miles behind YTD 2021 and 13 miles ahead of YTD 2020. The Lynskey is getting close to 1000 miles of biking. My next ride on the Lynskey should put it over that mark.

The streets didn’t change much from my recent rides on the route. Road construction at FM 1960 and Atascocita Shores is moving along on the westbound side. The piles of dirt have been leveled probably in preparation to lay the asphalt layer before pouring concrete. Maybe riding the open space between the barriers riding west to Atascocita Shores Drive won’t be necessary for too long. A rare train blocked the crossing on Old Atascocita road and I found a small patch of shade to wait for it to clear. Two other cyclists crossed my path, one in Kingwood Greens and the other on Pinehurst Trail Drive.

It feels like the heat is loosening its grip a little bit with the starting temperature at 83 and the finish at 92, not the upper 90’s to 100. Riding and finishing around noon avoids the maximum heat part of the day. Wind was not strong today allowing me to pedal at a good speed. Weather summary: start 83 (humidity 85%, dew point 78), mostly cloudy, wind SW 5 mph; finish 92 (humidity 58%, dew point 75), partly cloudy, wind W 8 mph.

I peaked at the the weather in Wichita Falls for Friday 8/26 (as far ahead as the 10 day forecast goes) and saw a high of 89 with partly cloudy sky. The low shows 71. But that is in the future and subject to change. If Saturday is similar then not hotter than hell for the bike ride.

Data from AXS.SRAM.com ride report shows I spent the most time in the 33×13 gears at 1:38:02 or 23.4 miles. I ordered a new Rival crankset with 48×35 gears for the Lynskey Helix to make it the same as my Cervelo Caledonia.