I got carried away working on my computer and a website delaying the start of today’s bike ride. I saw the time and got ready to ride. When I checked the weather before leaving I saw the big story for today was going to be the wind. And that wind was strong. I chose my Atascocita – Walden – Spanish Cove route going south and east. The wind was from the north following a front that moved through earlier this morning with some rain. The streets dried quickly thanks to that wind. I probably could’ve started the ride around 10:30 but I didn’t push start until 12:17 PM as I pedaled the Cervelo Caledonia onto the street.

As I rode through Kingwood on my way to W. Lake Houston Parkway I could feel the wind but the trees and houses buffered the strong gusts. Because it was 74 degrees I opted to wear shorts, a long sleeve jersey and a short sleeve jersey on top. The first 15 minutes were chilly from the wind and shade as I warmed up. From then I was cool but not as chilled. The chilliest part was riding east over Lake Houston with the wind gusts cooled by the water. Overall weather conditions: start 74 degrees, 52% humidity, dew point 55, mostly cloudy, wind N 21 mph gusts 28 mph; finish 74 degrees, 52% humidity, dew point 55, mostly cloudy, wind N 24 mph gusts 30 mph.

I needed 44 miles as I began the ride to reach my 650 mile goal for March. Today I rode 35.43 miles getting me with 9 miles of that number. This was about the average distance for this route as I stayed pretty close to usual roads and streets though I was tempted to go off the route a couple of times. In Spanish cove I rode a little farther west to see what the workers were doing but it wasn’t enough to make a difference. they were working on a gas line.

Riding east over Lake Houston with the wind gusts coming one after another was very hard. It was so strong that I had to lean the Cervelo to the left to compensate and when a gust hit the bike would be pushed to the right. I had to keep a firm grip on the handle bars to maintain control. I was relieved when I got across the lake. I wondered how it would be riding back towards the west.

The ride west over the lake was about as opposite conditions from what I expected. The wind was not in my face but from the right rear quarter as a tailwind. The gusts seemed to push me forward and I used that to keep my speed around 18 to mph. I stopped on the west side to take a screenshot of the weather and saw the gusts increased to 30 mph from 28 mph when I started.

Biking back to Kingwood through Atascocita Shores and Kings River the trees and houses held some of the wind at bay. Riding north over the river was hard. I was glad to finish at 3:03 PM and get away from the wind.