To continue the theme of doing rides different this week I decided to ride my “Atascocita – Balmoral – Walden” route in reverse. I’ve not done that before and I had to think of how to order the streets and make a couple of accommodations due to traffic direction. I should adjust the route name because I went through Walden before getting to Balmoral. The bike ride started at 9:09 AM and I finished at 12:02 PM riding my Cervelo Caledonia bike. This was the 10th ride on the route this year and I biked 34.6 miles which is about the average distance for the route. The last time I rode to Balmoral was July 28th. I wanted to check the construction progress of the railroad overpass on Timber Forest Drive south of Greens Road.

An overview of the ten rides.

Riding a route in reverse changes the look and the road surface that I am familiar with on the other side of the center line. New pot holes to look for, new shifted concrete to avoid. The first route adaption came at Magnolia Cove when I crossed W. Lake Houston Parkway. I wanted to separate where I rode on the return from the south bound direction so I moved to the south bound lanes of W. Lake Houston Parkway to go over the river and then made a left turn at Kings River to get back to the reverse course. Some streets I rode in reverse for the first time: Trophy Place Drive in Walden, Timber Forest Drive north from Atascocita Road to Upper Lake Drive, Upper Lake Drive from Timber Forest to Atasca Oaks. It was the second time to ride Radura Road into Balmoral and with the Bolt computer map I found my way to Balmoral Blue Lagoon and Greens Road. The video gives a view of the railroad overpass construction.

Yesterday was the last day for sunset to be later than 8 PM until May 4th 2023. Today also is likely the last 100 degree day with rain arriving later and lowering the daily highs to the low 90’s. After the ride as I write this rain came with thunder and some electricity outages. I’m glad I beat that home. It was hot while I biked and the wind seemed to come from whatever direction I was going. Weather overview: start 86 (humidity 77%, dew point 78), mostly cloudy, wind S 5 mph; finish 90 (humidity 61%, dew point 75), mostly cloudy, wind W 10 mph.

Because of my battle with the wind I didn’t think I used the 35×13 gears that much but the AXS.SRAM.com ride report shows I pedaled 1:56:04 (25.2 miles) out of the total moving time of 2:47:24 which surprised me.

Strava reported these top results: PR on Timber Forest to Upper Lake (7:12) and 2nd fastest time on Timber Forest (3:44). The Strava Local Legend for the first segment is Fernando Romero with 3 efforts.

A rare notice from RideWithGPS.com told me I set a new personal record on Upper Lake Drive.