Boy was it windy again today but not as bad as Sunday. I left on today’s bike ride at 11:39 on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. I ended up biking 33.33 miles in 2:17.31 time averaging 14.5 mph. Riding to FM2100 and Old Atascocita Road I faced the stiff headwind but turning to the north on FM2100 I enjoyed the nice tailwind to Huffman. I did not take a rest break as usual (a new different approach to see how I do). The weather at the start and finish.
The wind gusts are what get you. Sunday the wind gusts were 45 mph and more so the 24 mph and 22 mph today seem tame until I tried turning the pedals and get up to any speed near 20 mph. The 81 degrees was great. I wore a long long sleeve jersey (not a thermal one) and a short sleeve jersey atop biking shorts. Except for riding over Lake Houston with the wind chilled by the water I could’ve wore just the short sleeve jersey. On the west bound leg over Lake Houston I glanced up to see another bicyclist riding east but not in time enough to wave.
January mileage increased to 345.53 miles exceeding my goal of 300 miles. I may need those extra miles if February’s weather takes a turn to the cold or wet. The weather will cool down tomorrow with a cool front coming through. Not sure if this will stop me from biking.
Update: After last Saturday’s ride at Coldspring when I washed my bike back at home I noticed the tires were showing their age with over 7,000 miles. Yesterday I put new tires (Continental Gator Hardshell 700×23) on and waxed the chain. This is the most miles I ever rode on a set of tires. The number of flats was small but I did experience a cut on the front tire that required a boot to keep riding it. Some other parts replacement coming up: new KMC chain, new Ultegra CS-6800 cassette and new brake pads. Carbon wheels must be hard on brake pads. My previous bikes without carbon wheels rarely needed brake pads. When I installed the new tire on the rear wheel and aired it up the tube blew out. I don’t know if I pinched it or the tube was weak. The tires were really tough to get on the rims and I used two tire tools to get them on. The tube that blew out had three patches but the blow out was not one of them. The new tires rode great.
Links to RideWithGPS.com and Strava.com.
