With about one third of the year over it is difficult to find bike routes that I haven’t rode a number of times but today I rode a route for just the second time this year. The route is really extension of another route, Community Drive – Valley Ranch – Cumberland, going passed Cumberland Blvd. on FM 1314 to Gene Campbell blvd. and then making a u-turn. I call this route Community Drive – Valley Ranch – Gene Campbell Blvd. The last three times I rode this route it was over 37 miles long but today I rode a few different streets biking 36.48 miles, about the average for all of the rides on this route. I used four different bikes on this route since I started riding it in August 2021.

Today I rode my Cervelo Caledonia bike with wheels down at 11:17 AM and finishing at 2:20 PM. Weather conditions warmed from yesterday so I wore a long sleeve jersey instead of wind jacket with my short sleeve Texbiker.net jersey over it. Weather: Start 76 degrees, humidity 78%, dew point 69, overcast, wind SE 14 mph; Finish 82 degrees, humidity 67%, dew point 70, mostly cloudy, wind SE 17 mph.

Before the ride I watched the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland. A group at the back of the race made a wrong turn on the course and rode several km before they realized it. Even the pro’s can get off course.

The ride to Gene Campbell Blvd. going NW on FM 1314 was easy thanks to the 14 to 17 mph tailwind. After making the u-turn at Gene Campbell Blvd. it became a headwind. I thought my overall average speed would go down with the headwind but I managed to keep it at 13.9 mph all the way to Old sorters Road where I turned off of FM 1314. Riding through Briar Tree and Oakhurst I was able to maintain that average speed and beyond until I got back into Kingwood. My legs were good enough to battle the wind. I used the 35×13 gears for a longer than usual time, 2:10:41 (31 miles) out of a total moving time of 2:39:43 according to my AXS.SRAM.com ride report.