A rude realization as I clicked the Bolt computer into the mount on my Lynskey Helix bike for today’s bike ride! The front tire was flat. It only took a few seconds to move the Bolt computer to my Canyon Endurace bike standing beside the Lynskey. I’ll look at the flat tire after the ride, I thought. On Thursday I usually ride south and east to Huffman but Kingwood Park High School starts later on Thursdays and the traffic takes extra time and precaution to ride through. My solution today, ride the Reverse Atascocita – Huffman – Walden route. Instead of Kingwood Park being at the beginning of the ride it will be towards the end in the last 3 miles. I’ve biked this route just two times previously, all in 2023. Because of the reverse direction in many parts of the ride I need to pay attention to the turns and streets. The usual mileage marks don’t apply.

Riding away on the earliest start this week at 9:02 AM put me in the reverse mode for the ride. I added a couple of streets that are included in the usual direction for some variety and because I thought of them in time. Reverse streets look different. Biking south on FM 2100 to Old Atascocita Road was very different from riding north a hundred feet to my left. The bumps and rough road I memorized on Old Atascocita Road going east are completely different headed west. On the way back the road construction at FM 1960 and Atascocita Shores Drive closed the left turn lane so I had to be creative there to ride south and into Walden. On the north side of the San Jacinto River turning left into Kingwood Greens looked very different from exiting there and going south. Fortunately there was a break in the traffic to let me turn left quickly into Kingwood Greens. Biking streets in Kings Forest, Bear Branch, North Woodland Hills, Sherwood Trails, and Hunters Ridge in reverse provided views I don’t see very often. Near the end I forgot to make a turn and had to loop around on extra streets to finish at 11:41 AM. I might ride this route again next Thursday to get better on it.