I needed 58 miles to reach my March goal of 631 miles before I started today’s ride. I decided not to ride the Clay Walker Band Against MS ride because it was too cold (47 degrees) and I plan on riding the Ride Like An Eagle bike ride on April 2nd which covers most of the same route. Maybe by April 2nd it will warm up some.

The sky was less blue than yesterday and the temperature added a few degrees but not as much as I prefer. When I start riding at 12:34 it was 72 degrees at my home weather station. The wind was from the SE at 8 mph which caused me to wear a short sleeve jersey over a long sleeve jersey. This was okay but whenever I rode into the wind or in the shade it was a little chilly even after I warmed up.

Riding the “SR242 – FM1314” route for the first time this year I made a couple of changes: shortened the route by about 2 miles before leaving Kingwood and stayed on the US59 northbound service road all the way to SR242. In the past this route is around 47 miles long but today it ended up at 44.5 miles. Last Saturday while driving to the Grand Parkway Bike Ride I saw the closed lane on the service road before Community Drive was open. This meant I could stay on the service road without the lanes coming to one in front of the Rosewood Funeral Home. The new service road now has a little hill at Community Drive to meet the Grand Parkway access roads. Traffic was accommodating and there was plenty of room. Going to the north the wind was behind me and helped get my average speed up to 15+ mph by the time I reached SR242. West bound on SR242 I improved the average speed to 16.0 mph even though I stopped to take these pictures.

The Indian Paintbrush wildflowers are blooming almost the entire distance from US59 to FM1314. I didn’t see any Bluebonnets though. Just before I got to FM1485 another biker was riding the opposite direction in a tight aero tuck. We waved to each other.

Turning left onto FM1314 for the ride back to Porter put the wind at my left front quarter and my effort increased. I managed to improve my average speed despite the wind to 16.2 mph until I stopped at the Cumberland Shell for a break. I needed some Powerade and ate a couple of granola bars to fuel the ride back home from there. The Edge 520 screen as I arrived at the Shell station.

Other than stopping for traffic lights this was the first break on the ride. I sat in the sun to keep warm because the breeze was chilly. The weather screenshots while I was eating.

From the Shell station I estimated it was 13 or 14 miles to home. For variety after riding through Briar Tree subdivision I turned left into the Auburn Trail subdivision to get to the southbound US59 service road. While I was riding through Auburn Trails a mother was walking with a very young boy (maybe 2 years old) coming to the side of the street she knelt down and showed the boy that I was approaching. As I got near they waved and I waved back.

Entering Kings Manor and Kingwood slows me down with all of the street intersections and riding on the greenbelt rail along Kingwood Drive. My average speed dropped to 15.7, then 15.6 and finally settled at 15.5 mph when I got home at 4:09.

With today’s miles I am within 13 miles of my March goal. I think I can meet my goal.

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