When I got up this morning I wasn’t sure the weather would cooperate for an outside bike ride but by 10 AM the streets dried off and rain moved on. I watched the women’s and men’s cyclocross race from Belgium, X2O Badkamers Herentals, on GCN+. Lots of mud but no sand or barriers to contend with. Glad I don’t run through mud when I’m biking.

I managed to get started before 11 AM riding my Cervelo Caledonia bike. I headed south and east on my Atascocita – Walden – Huffman route. The NW wind mostly helped me on the way to FM 2100 except crossing Lake Houston where it was from my left and felt strong. The ride back to the west wasn’t as windy for some reason. Maybe because the side barrier blocked some of the wind.

At the start of the ride I heard the rear cassette grinding in the #4 cog. I tried shifting to a couple of higher gears but it didn’t make much difference. It quieted some when I shifted to the #7 gear, #8, and #9. I thought I had found the problem a few days ago but that didn’t last. When I stopped at Kingwood Greens Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway I had an idea to check the chain. When I looked it was installed upside down. The SRAM Rival chain has a flat side that is supposed to be on the outside of the loop and I had put it on the inside after getting the new crankset installed. When I got home I fixed the chain and now it runs and shifts quietly. A small erro makes a noisy difference.

Only 3 days into the new year I looked at the year progressions for YTD miles and was surprised to see 2017 has more miles than 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 so far. 8 miles more than 2023.

The weekly effort is helpful to see how I’m doing. Matched rides is interesting to see how I do. This is from my new Strava subscription.