At the traffic light in Huffman as I waited for it to change I ran my tongue over my lips and felt the pollen. Earlier I noticed pollen collecting on my water bottle cap too. While spring isn’t here officially it feels like it. Another sign is the beautiful azalea blooms along today’s bike route. Leaving home at 10:01 AM on my Lynskey Helix bike I chose the Atascocita – Walden – Spanish Cove route. This was my first ride after driving home from Harlingen yesterday. I thought I left the wind back there but it must’ve tagged along.

Weather conditions: start 76 degrees, 84% humidity, dew point 71, overcast, wind E 9 mph; finish 77 degrees, 80% humidity, dew point 70, overcast, wind SE 14 mph.

Riding through Kingwood the wind wasn’t too bad but heading south on West Lake Houston Parkway the places out in the open were windy. Going east over Lake Houston the wind gusts accentuated by traffic passing on my left required a firm grip on the handlebars. A young man on a bike with a gas engine passed me going the opposite direction. I saw a man on a MTB in Kingwood earlier and that was all of the bikers spotted today.

A very unusual thing happened as I rode east over Lake Houston. A car pulled onto the shoulder as I approached from the rear. A man got out waving for me to stop. I pulled over in front of the car and he came over. He wanted to ask about bicycles showing me a picture on his phone. As we talked he told me he lived in Richmond, TX, and wanted to know where he could help learning how to ride and where to see more bicycles. We talked for 5 minutes or more. He thanked me and I gave him a Texbiker business card. He told me he would call me with more questions. I told him I would be glad to answer them.

As I rode back into Kingwood I noticed my right shoe would not come loose from the pedal. I managed to get it out at the traffic light at Kingwood Drive and rode on. Behind the buildings I tried again and this time I couldn’t get it loose so I unclipped my left shoe and stopped. The shoe out with a lot of twisting and when I looked at the cleat a screw was missing and the other ones were loose. I tightened the two screws and finished the ride. At home I had an extra screw, put it in the cleat, adjust the position and tightened the three screws. I checked my left cleat and it was a little loose so I fixed it too. Maybe the chip’n seal roads around Harlingen vibrated the screws?

I finished the ride at 12:53 PM. The mostly tailwind from FM 1960 through Atascocita Shores and Kings River made for easier pedaling. A nice ride to start my March bike rides. My goal is 650 road miles this month. That works out to an average of 21 miles per day. I’m behind already after not riding yesterday. But year to date 2023 is still ahead of years 2011 through 2022.