Ho Ho Ho Riding to Huffman
I wasn’t the only bike rider to think this afternoon was the time to go for a ride. The first two bikers I met were approaching FM1960 on Fairlake Drive as I turned from FM1960 onto Fairlake. Not too much further on Old Atascocita Road I met the next rider as he was going west while I was headed west. Later on the way back home on Kings River Drive the next ride passed me going the opposite direction.
The sky was mostly cloudy when I rolled out the driveway at 1:18. The temperature was 72 but had been 73 shortly before I left. I decided I wouldn’t need leg warmers or the jacket but wisely wore a short sleeve jersey over a long sleeve one. The wind had a chill to it whenever I was in the shade and the extra coverage was needed. At the beginning the wind was about 7 mph but by the time I got back home at 3:36 it had stepped up to 15 mph with 18 mph gusts from the SSE.
It was good to be back on the Stradalli RP-14 road bike riding my most used route to Atascocita – Walden – Huffman. With the wind I expected I wouldn’t ride as quickly as I did averaging as much as 15.7 mph before settling at 15.5 mph when I got home. This route totaled 31.97 miles today bringing within 18 miles of reaching my 6500 miles for the year. REaching my goal looks like a sure thing but I don’t want to count it before it happens.
As I rode I saw numerous homes decorated for Christmas. Several had piles of deflated things laying in the yard waiting for nighttime to return to full size. On Atascocita Shores Drive there was very large white sled in a front yard with two equally large white reindeer waiting to pull it on its rounds. There were a few homes with people putting up outside decorations as well.
Before I crossed Lake Houston going east I thought it would be chilly with the wind coming off the water but it wasn’t too bad with the sun warming me as I rode. Going west was not bad either. The wind was coming from a good angle that did not slow me down so that I could ride at 20+ mph.
I was hoping the Kingwood High School traffic would be gone by the time I needed to cross Kingwood Drive going north but the cars kept coming in a steady stream. One pickup in front of me got impatient and pulled out in front of a car squealing tires in the process. In the past I have tried crossing with the traffic lights at W. Lake Houston Parkway and Kingwood Drive but the timing is slow and can take 5 minutes or so to get across. The street by Fuddruckers is usually quicker but not today.
Looking forward to another ride soon but Saturday is busy with other commitments. Sunday and Monday may be rainy.