Last night I was thinking of possible routes for today’s bike ride and thought the Community Drive – Valley Ranch – Forest Cove one would be good. Then today as I got ready I went over the potential roads to ride. Looking in SportTracks I found 7 previous rides with the same route name. The most recent was December 17, 2021, and then there was a large time gap back to 2013 when I rode my Motobecane Le Champion LTD bike. The roads I rode today were similar thus I used the same route name but included some different ones. Leaving Kingwood I rode through Woodridge Forest and Brooklyn Trails which did not exist in 2013. Biking through Valley Ranch on side streets that I only began using in the last couple of years. In Forest Cove today I rode the San Jacinto Bayou Greenway which is relatively new, especially the portion from Hamblen Road to Marina Drive. Today’s ride covered 32.25 miles which is longer than the previous rides by about 2 miles, reflecting the different streets on the ride.

The maps below show the difference in the routes from 7/25/2013 and today. Most of the POI in the 2013 map did not exist in 2013.

The ride began at 11:11 AM and finished at 1:42 PM. The wind increased significantly making the return to Forest Cove hard on my legs. On the way to Community Drive a tailwind helped but I didn’t realize how strong the wind became. The temperature ranged from 70 to 76 and some clouds moved in but the sun still commanded the sky. I wore shorts, a long sleeve jersey, and the new white Voler jacket from Wednesday’s ride. Weather for the ride: start 70 (humidity 70%, dew point 59), fair, wind SE 9 mph; finish 76 (humidity 64%, dew point 63), a few clouds, wind S 10 mph gusts 25 mph.

I rode my Cervelo Caledonia bike so I could check the gear noise and shifting from Wednesday. I’m happy to say putting the flat side of the chain on the outside instead of the inside fixed the problem. Shifting today was crisp and quiet. Hopefully I don’t make that mistake again. With the shifting fixed below is how I used the gears and applied the power. A couple of times on the ride south to Forest Cove I should’ve shifted from the 35×13 gears to 35×15 to help my legs. I did shift prior to stop signs and traffic lights to save my legs some.