Biking north with a nice 12 mph tailwind I fantasized about a self driving car meeting me about 40 miles up the road to drive me back home to avoid the headwind. That didn’t happen of course. What did happen was today’s bike ride on my Cervelo Caledonia following my New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch route. I rode away at 11:49 AM and finished at 2:48 PM. In between those times I rode the tailwind to Tavola after fighting the wind to get to US59. After making the loop through Tavola and onto Roman Forest Blvd. riding west the real work began. At the start of the ride the airport weather showed the wind from the south at 12 mph with 22 mph gusts. When I finished the wind switched to the southwest at 13 mph and 25 mph gusts. Whenever I got out in the open biking back to Kingwood the wind gusts attacked me. I used the 35×15 gears a majority of the time from Roman Forest Blvd. to Kings Manor changing to the 35×13 for brief tailwinds as the road changed directions. A few times trees and buildings broke up the wind and I used the 35×13 gears. My legs got a workout but didn’t stop turning the pedals when called upon.

This was the first time biking this route in 2023. Strava found 2 other matching rides. I tried to ride what I thought was the usual streets on the route but I missed some. Maybe I need to load the route onto my Wahoo Bolt computer and use the turn-by-turn to stay on the route better. The chart below compares the 3 rides. I rode several segments that count towards the Strava local legends. Maybe I can grab one or two soon.

Year to date mileage for 2023 leads all my other years since 2011. But it’s only 11 days into the year.

Weather: start 76, humidity 72%, dew point 66, mostly cloudy, wind S 12 mph gusts 22 mph; finish 81, humidity 60%, dew point 66, mostly cloudy, wind SW 13 mph gusts 25 mph.

These charts show gearing time, distance, and average power per gear.