I started off the week riding north to Roman Forest Blvd. on my Cervelo Caledonia bike. It was a good ride and I looked forward to riding Tuesday. But weather intervened and I did not ride. Instead I drove to Bike Lane in Shenandoah to browse their bike inventory. Some of the new gravel and MTB’s sported what looked like 52 tooth rear cassette cogs, big as a small dinner plate.

That day off the bike put me behind on reaching 200+ miles for the week and my 700 mile goal for April. This required 3 consecutive 40+ miles rides to reach my goal. So Wednesday I rode a southern route I haven’t been on in almost 4 years taking me just north of Crosby, TX, and adding 47.53 miles to the week’s total. Thursday’s ride also was over 40 miles with the riding going north and looping through Roman Forest. I rode on a portion of Galaxy Blvd. that was new to me. Friday’s ride returned to the south extending and adding to the Atascocita – Walden – Spanish Cove Drive route to Indian Shores Drive. I needed a new name for this route: Atascocita – Walden – Indian Shores Drive. I was now within 36 miles of hitting 200+ for the week. To get there I used my Atascocita – Spanish Cove – Walden route but added numerous extra streets for a total of 37.44 miles, enough to nudge the week’s total to 203.08 miles. I wanted to ride Sunday but the weather didn’t cooperate. Overcast skies, temperature below 60 (my lower threshold) and the threat of rain when I got home from church kept me inside. It wasn’t a wasted afternoon because I watched the men’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège race from Belgium. I watched the women’s race before leaving for church.

While watching the Liège-Bastogne-Liège I worked on my Cervelo Caledonia bike putting on a new Continental Gator Hardshell 700x28c tire on the rear wheel, taking the Continental GatorSkin 700x28c tire from there and replacing the front Continental Gator Hardshell 700x28c tire with 7,156 miles on it. The front tire doesn’t wear as fast as the rear tire and the rear tire was installed on March 3rd at 6213 miles, 943 miles ago. This time I didn’t as much trouble mounting the tires remembering to put the beads in the valley of the rim.

Starting the new week I need 64 miles to reach my 700 mile goal for April. Monday’s weather looks favorable but the following days might be different.