I delayed the bike ride today waiting for the temperature to get to 70. About 11:30 it made and I got ready to roll. Pressing the Elemnt start button at 11:59 I began the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route but with a different first 3 miles. I still biked 33.6 miles today even with the altered route. After Wednesday’s meeting with the City of Houston engineers to test traffic signal sensors I added a magnet to my front wheel to see if that trips the sensors.
I rode to the spot where we tested the sensors on Wednesday to see if the magnet helped. I tried to be the only one at the intersection but a car pulled up behind me on the north side of Northpark Drive at Woodridge Forest and may have tripped that signal. Riding across the west bound lanes I rode over the sensor and pulled up to the light at the east bound lanes of Northpark. Looking behind I saw a pickup truck in the left turn lane waiting for the light to change. Then the light changed for me to cross. I don’t know if the magnet did it or the truck so not much help there.
The next traffic light was at FM1960 and Pinehurst Trail. I tied to be the only one there but a couple of vehicles arrived and tripped the signal. Again no conclusion there. After that all the traffic signals had other vehicles besides me so no way to tell. I will leave the magnet on the wheel for a few rides and see if I find any lights that trip.
Yesterday afternoon a cool front passed through and lowered the temperature. When i checked this morning it was 57 degrees around 8:30. I knew it take awhile to warm up and decided to wear a long sleeve jersey in addition to a short sleeve one. At the beginning of the ride I thought I needed a jacket but waited for the exercise to warm me. After the first turn right I tugged the zippers of both jerseys closer to the top and waited for the route to leave the predominately shady areas. The wind was brisk from the north at 12 mph which didn’t help but I figured the extra effort to ride in the wind meant exerting more energy and warming up sooner.
I made my along the route with intermittent places where the wind helped and then slowed me. Arriving at the Huffman Chevron I didn’t buy the blue Powerade since I wasn’t hot and had not drank much water from my water bottle. Normally I sit in the shade but today the spot was in the sun because the breeze was chilly. I didn’t want to stay too long because I would cool down too much. My Elemnt screen when I arrived and the weather while I ate a Kashi Trail Mix bar and a small package of animal crackers.
Refilling my water bottle I got ready to leave and clipped in at 1:59 to finish the ride back to Kingwood. Earlier when I passed Kingwood High School a lot of cars were lined up to pickup the students so I figured an early dismissal and light traffic when I came back to cross Kingwood Drive. That was the case but I crossed at the signal at Kingwood Drive and W. Lake Houston Parkway. I stayed on the greenbelt/sidewalk after crossing Kingwood Drive and saw the progress on the new HEB Grocery store that opens October 26th. It looks like they have work left so everything may not be finished when they open.
I stopped the Elemnt computer at 2:50 to end the ride. The temperature improved to 76 degrees by then but the long sleeve jersey still felt nice when I walked in the shade to put my bike away. The temperature will increase gradually over the next few days to the mid 80’s, more to my liking.
With today’s bike ride I reached 98% of my mileage goal for October, leaving about 12 miles to ride. I plan on biking tomorrow so I should pass the goal but I may need to wait for the warmer part of the day to arrive. While I wait I will watch the Abu Dhabi Tour on www.cycling.tv like I did this morning. I started watching this morning as the pack was sprinting the last 1.9K.
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